One of the things that struck me while researching the twelve women we profiled in 2019 is how often the women, particularly in conversations about their careers, spoke about how their beauty made them feel pigeon-holed in their careers. Stars like Linda Darnell or Hedy Lamarr, who had long, accomplished careers, almost always ended up being pushed aside for their beauty, frequently with their films simply exploiting their looks at the expense of their talents. This is a problem that has always been pronounced in Hollywood, and is hardly limited to actresses of the Golden Age-you just need to look at Oscar winners like Charlize Theron or Halle Berry on a magazine cover to know that Hollywood is oftentimes too focused on their beauty at the expense of taking a constructive look at their creative efforts. This is particularly true for women that are more often described as "sex symbols" than actresses or artists, and so I am increasingly curious about women who have bore the burden of this title, and take a more objective look at their filmic output and acting performances, rather than the glamorous facades that were almost always the most played currency for the actresses thanks to studio marketing.
As a result, for 2020 we will be looking at the careers of twelve women who in the public consciousness are thought of as "sex symbols first, actresses second." This is obviously subjective, but I think the dozen women that I've chosen it's fair to say that even if they are celebrated as actresses, their physicality or sexuality take a larger stage in their careers than their films do. Actresses like, say, Ingrid Bergman or Elizabeth Taylor or Faye Dunaway are incredibly beautiful, but thanks to Oscar wins and auteur interest, I'd argue they are thought of hand-in-hand with being actresses (we will profile one Oscar winner in this series, but you'll understand why she's included when we get to her). Like last season, we will focus exclusively on films that I have not seen, so as I'm coming at these actors with as fresh of eyes as possible (plus, so I can see some new-to-me movies); this may mean for some of the more well-known actresses we'll be getting to "deep cuts" in their careers rather than their most famous roles, but we'll discuss that when we get to such stars. We will start in the 1930's (with apologies to Clara Bow and Theda Bara), when studio machines seemed to discover the first seismic sex symbol who would be the model for about four decades of future sex symbols, and then end in the 1970's. This isn't because I don't have any interest in going past this era with this series (I may devote future seasons to more modern stars), but because in the late 1970's we saw a drop-off in the women that were in the mold of the traditional cinematic "sex symbol." Instead, that trope over the next few decades went to TV (Farrah Fawcett, Pamela Anderson, Sofia Vergara), as well as accompanied the rise of the supermodel (Christie Brinkley, Cindy Crawford, Tyra Banks), and then eventually pop stars (Madonna, Beyonce, Katy Perry) and reality TV figures (Paris Hilton, the entire Kardashian clan). Film sex symbols became rarer in the era of the blockbuster, with only figures like Jennifer Lopez and Megan Fox enjoying runs that compared to the stars of previous eras. As a result, we'll end this series in the 1970's, but in the meantime I'm excited to share this new season with you, as we take a look at the actual filmic output of twelve of Hollywood's most famous bombshell actresses. We'll kick off with our first star on New Year's Day.
No comments:
Post a Comment