Audrey Hepburn: Still The Fairest Lady
Time Magazine wrote their own tribute to our lovely Audrey on the 14th anniversary of her death. At first, I was wishing I had just posted their story instead of writing my own awkwardly expressed tribute, but the more I read, the more I was disgusted that this article was printed by no less than Time. While starting out as a lovely remembrance for one of the few top-notch celebrities who lived their life drama-free and managed to turn their life into something meaningful, it quickly degenerates into a crass article that you'd think was talking about Lindsay Lohan or some other tartlet that isn't held very high in anyone's esteem. To give you some lowlights of this "serious piece," author Richard Corliss accuses Audrey of having anorexia during her UNICEF work to make the starving children she was visiting feel better about themselves, and gives a very crass image of Albert Finney's attraction to Audrey during filming of Two For the Road. I understand the idea behind not whitewashing the past and being wary of putting anyone on too high a pedestal, but why is making up drama considered an okay thing to do? In journalism, no less! Audrey faced this even in her own life, and she said, "If you lead a simple life, and that story is written, then that story will not satisfy. It needs an angle. Suppose there is no angle?" I guess Time's answer is, "Make something up." If you'd like, you can read the story for yourself (note that there are two pages), and then click on the author's name to write him a letter.
Seemingly in answer to the work mentioned above comes another article called "What Ever Became of Class?" Though it's not particularly an Audrey-heavy article, it does draw heavily on her image and that aura she and a few others had of real grace and style. Audrey's name was evoked a lot in recap articles about the Golden Globes, and it seems that people are finally realizing that Hollywood has lost its class. "Where's Audrey Hepburn when you need her?" columnists wailed, and in today's article, Audrey, Grace Kelly and Jacky Kennedy are invoked to remind women of a more subtle femininity. Girls today are taught how to be women by buying toy stripper poles and wearing tube tops. Has subtlety died when we weren't looking? The article ends on a cautiously optimistic note, and invokes a line from the aforementioned Sam Levenson poem Audrey loved, talking about a women's charm: ". . . The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides."
Time Magazine wrote their own tribute to our lovely Audrey on the 14th anniversary of her death. At first, I was wishing I had just posted their story instead of writing my own awkwardly expressed tribute, but the more I read, the more I was disgusted that this article was printed by no less than Time. While starting out as a lovely remembrance for one of the few top-notch celebrities who lived their life drama-free and managed to turn their life into something meaningful, it quickly degenerates into a crass article that you'd think was talking about Lindsay Lohan or some other tartlet that isn't held very high in anyone's esteem. To give you some lowlights of this "serious piece," author Richard Corliss accuses Audrey of having anorexia during her UNICEF work to make the starving children she was visiting feel better about themselves, and gives a very crass image of Albert Finney's attraction to Audrey during filming of Two For the Road. I understand the idea behind not whitewashing the past and being wary of putting anyone on too high a pedestal, but why is making up drama considered an okay thing to do? In journalism, no less! Audrey faced this even in her own life, and she said, "If you lead a simple life, and that story is written, then that story will not satisfy. It needs an angle. Suppose there is no angle?" I guess Time's answer is, "Make something up." If you'd like, you can read the story for yourself (note that there are two pages), and then click on the author's name to write him a letter.
Seemingly in answer to the work mentioned above comes another article called "What Ever Became of Class?" Though it's not particularly an Audrey-heavy article, it does draw heavily on her image and that aura she and a few others had of real grace and style. Audrey's name was evoked a lot in recap articles about the Golden Globes, and it seems that people are finally realizing that Hollywood has lost its class. "Where's Audrey Hepburn when you need her?" columnists wailed, and in today's article, Audrey, Grace Kelly and Jacky Kennedy are invoked to remind women of a more subtle femininity. Girls today are taught how to be women by buying toy stripper poles and wearing tube tops. Has subtlety died when we weren't looking? The article ends on a cautiously optimistic note, and invokes a line from the aforementioned Sam Levenson poem Audrey loved, talking about a women's charm: 
3 comments:
Such a nice article on class. Seriously, people like Paris have stopped making me sad. I go ballistic nowadays. They have made a cynic out of me :)
Is there any merit to his claim that Audrey was anorexic during her Unicef work? That's the first time I ever heard such a thing.
I have never heard anything about her being anorexic that late in life before that article. And really, why start an eating disorder at 60? I think someone was just careless with their writing. :P
Post a Comment