She’s Scary Smart
Nov 24th, 2008 by brangelina
So, I saw that Angelina Jolie was in Yahoo’s Top 10 searched items Friday and I wondered why. She hadn’t been making a splash anywhere the last few days. Then, I found the New York Times article about how Angelina manipulates the media.
First off, I talked about this issue back in February in the post: Everybody plays the fool …
I started out with an attitude reading the NYT piece. After looking over it though, I felt they portrayed the situation fairly accurately … sort of. Now, a day later, I have an attitude back and I’m ready to rant.
The story kind of stays on edge giving subtle digs as well as praises. It’s good journalistic work. I still have a sense though that the writer, Brooks Barnes, is somewhat annoyed about her tactics. It’s like, how dare she try to tamper with our domain.
Listen, I’ve been watching this for years. It’s not like she’s wielding a garden hose which she can turn on and off and direct where the water goes. It’s much more like the media turning a fire hose full blast at her and she’s behind a shield trying to protect herself and direct the water to more useful places where good fruit can grow. Maybe Angelina does likes to get wet “some” with attention … probably not but so what if she does. Everyone needs water to survive … get too much of it though and you’ll drown.
Shifting the focus is one of Ms. Jolie’s best maneuvers, magazine editors and publicity executives say. When she became romantically involved with Mr. Pitt, for instance, she faced a public relations crisis — being portrayed in the tabloid press as a predator who stole Mr. Pitt from his wife, Jennifer Aniston.
This time, it was Ms. Jolie’s charity work that helped turn the story. Long interested in international humanitarian work, Ms. Jolie appeared in Pakistan, where she visited camps housing Afghan refugees, and even met with President Pervez Musharraf. Ms. Jolie and Mr. Pitt made a subsequent trip to Kashmir to bring attention to earthquake victims.
I don’t believe Angelina used the media to save face but rather she saw the opportunity to focus the media on what really matters.
Ms. Jolie’s attempts to lasso the media have occasionally backfired. In 2006, when she sought the privacy of Namibia to give birth to Shiloh, the government refused to grant visas to journalists unless they had written permission from the couple. Magazines complained harshly.
Forget you! The media chases her everywhere across this earth attempting to satisfy our crack addiction for every detail of her life. I guarantee, if there was a cable TV station that had a constant camera on them, that network’s ratings would beat beat a bunch of other channels. It would truly be like The Truman Show. You do what you can to protect your privacy.
Angelina is not a toy that the media can just throw around. She’s the main topic and it’s her right to control how she’s portrayed wherever and however possible. Most of the time, it’s totally out of her control. Most media outlets run with “whatever” story about Brad and Angelina that will land them some bucks. It’s not the media’s rightto have total control of the situation. “Magazines complained harshly.” … oh please! It was a foreign country. Western “rights” do not have to be honored in Namibia. Why do you think they went there? … to … get … away … from … you … vultures.
You media guys use Angelina for your own profit. She uses you for the good of mankind. Guess what, she’s winning the battle and that does makes her scary smart.
Megastar fame has ruined many people (Michael Jackson, Marlyn Monroe, …). They are/were ultimately responsible for their own outcome but I believe the media certainly played a big part in their destruction and those guys end of reaping a great amount of money from it too. Both Brad and Angelina should be greatly commended on how they have survived their fame so far and even directed it for worthy causes. I believe Brangelina realizes fame is both temporal and trivial (… now they have the tougher task of surviving parenting.)
I guess it boils down to what do you think Angelina Jolie’s deepest motive is: her own fame or helping the world.
P.S: CBS is now reporting that you got your facts wrong Mr. Brooks Barnes.
People magazine is said to have paid $14 million dollars for the photo spread of her newborn twins. The cover of Baby Shiloh reportedly fetched more than $6 million.
But, according to The New York Times, the magazine also had to promise positive coverage of the star family.
People Deputy Managing Editor Peter Castro flatly denies it, saying it’s “absolutely not true. People magazine never promises good publicity or any kind of editorial control. … I guarantee you that, if Angelina Jolie screwed up, People magazine, along with a lot of other magazines, would be all over that story.”
CBS goes on to say:
People at the U.N. think of her almost like a diety,” says Hollywood image expert Michael Levine. “She’s almost like a beautiful Mother Teresa.
Stop complaining and deal with it Mr. Brooks Barnes.
I just saw the comment you left on Pittwatch. I’m sorry I didn’t catch it earlier. Interesting input. I hope others were able to come on here and read your insight.
Thank you !
It’s nice to know that I’m just not talking into the wind.
angie is a whore who brags about being a seductress and stealing other womens husband while trying to get pregnant not a good role model for any young person i’d be thrilled to see this slut disposed of completely washed up. i hope one day hollywood and it’s troubled meaningless stars realize how nasty they truely are it’s disgusting to even hear, high hopes you all get aids good luck sluts!
I’ve seen the covers of magazines at the check out all year that purport that this Brangelina is some genetically superior super family that we all should be bowing down to in homage and adoration, so I did a little research and I found two very common things in Angelina’s life…looks and charity work…that’s it folks…a lot of people have accomplished both. She doesn’t hold a degree in theoretical physics from MIT and she doesn’t spend her days teaching first graders to read; in other words, she ain’t a genius. You’re not a hero because you can pose pretty and hand food to a starving child; actually, the world would probably have been better off if you’d just walked away from the married man. But, I know, I know, I’m being old-fashioned…I mean they’re the loves of each other’s lives right and they’re so beautiful that it doesn’t matter that Brad took an oath before God and man. Hey, if you are incompatible there for a while, you’d better start moving on.
That this is what our country has come to is astounding to me, that we put on a pedestal such wishy-washy people is so disturbing to me that I am on a mission to shed some light on it. That we fall for this hype is so very disappointing. “Scary Smart?” Please. Show me the degrees. Show me something substantial—don’t give me pictures of her in black veils looking tragic and emaciated beside human beings who have no choice but to be starving, and don’t give me quotes from a group of star-struck men (The U.N.) who think because you wear a subdued pencil skirt and simple make up that you must know the difference between Communism and Fascism…I mean shouldn’t someone who is appointed a U.S. Ambassador have a college education? And, hey, if you can get her to name the last ten presidents of the country that’s made her so rich, then I’ll declare her a genius right along with you. I’m afraid it would be easier for her to name the last three decade’s most influential designers than to give us any PROOF of this so-called scary smarts or super-genius IQ. PEOPLE, just because someone can pretend really good doesn’t make them CIA operative material. And, as far as her being really clever at manipulating the media, who cares! Any woman with great cheekbones who looks really cute pregnant can do that. It ain’t rocket science.
There are many, many people out there putting their lives in danger every day not just in between movies, red carpets, and summer stays at a French chateau that costs in one night what it would take to feed a small African province for a year. OH, THE HYPOCRISY!! And these “real” heroes aren’t worrying about getting a facial peel that morning so they can look wan and organic as they stroll through a heavily-guarded village while cameras flash. They’re worried about some rogue government taking them away in the night because they’re trying to give some villagers the tools for a happy, healthy life.
This woman is a great actress and she’s very pretty and she’s proven that she can steal a mate and procreate and gather children at lightning speed. And, like many other lovely actresses before her, she can do charity work, BUT MOTHER TERESA SHE IS NOT!! These people live in luxury (don’t give me any nonsense about donations or frugality; they give some not all and probably a lot less than they would like you to think)—they live in splendor and they made all that splendid money because they are pretty and can pretend and because of the luck of timing. When Angelina moves in to a trailer down the street and starts spending her every waking moment reaching out to the dying and despairing then I’ll consider the Mother Teresa comparison. Mostly I just see her coming out of toy stores or showing off her Adderall-sculpted post-twins body. And anyone who believes you lose that much weight naturally just wants to believe these people are genetically mutated super humans. Oh, if you only knew what they have access to!!
Because I am a child advocate and because so many of you are actually falling for the pretty covers (TELL ME YOU’RE NOT BUYING THAT TRASH) you see in the checkout line, I’ve got one more shout out….this one is for all the children wearing skull and crossbones onesies —cause their mommy and daddy are still trying to be cool:
PLEASE, PLEASE no more pictures of you breastfeeding.
WE get it!! You’re the perfect earth mother now. If we promise that we’ll have the memories of you as a bi-sexual, knife-obsessed, brother-come-here-and-let-me French-kiss-you, billy-bob-blood-exchanging, adulterer surgically removed from our brains will you PLEASE just stay home and take care of these human beings you’ve brought into this world and adopted.
Kids are kinda funny in that they’re not at all like adults…wow, go figure..I guess you and Brad didn’t read that book…kids don’t get an adrenaline high if they see the slums of India and tour the Louvre all in the same day; they just want to be in their own bed every night. Save the philanthropic globe-trotting and showing off for after you’ve survived all those hard, boring years when you’re just trying to develop their characters so that they won’t grow up to make other human beings miserable from their selfishness and immorality. That would probably do more good than a thousand speeches to the U.N. It may not be as sexy, but,hey, one normal adult usually begets another and so on. That’s how we normal folk help save the world,….the hard way. Ironically enough, the molding of a decent soul is a pretty unglamorous undertaking and usually,—- sorry to denigrate that elaborate war-themed birthday party—(HEY, I THOUGHT YA’LL WERE AGAINST WAR?)—anyway, usually, our kids don’t need us to be cool, they just need us to be normal.
Oh, one more thing….:) If you think that these people aren’t so addicted to this attention that they wouldn’t go in to full-out withdrawal –shakes and all– if they didn’t make the cover of IN TOUCH at least 10 times out of the year, then you really do live in a Pollyanna world.
Clue: People don’t roll out of bed looking like that and just idly wander on to red carpets, into very public stores, and into world leaders’ domains because they are grieving over their lost privacy and wish–sniff, sniff– we would just leave them alone…booohoo boooooohoooo. Are you kidding? Their bank accounts and kids’ trust funds depend on them milking this great performance till its very teat falls off from all their desperate yanking. :)