You know how, a few weeks ago, I didn’t write a post about Fifty Shades of Grey? Well, now I’m not writing a post about Kristen Stewart.
I’m not writing a post about Kristen Stewart even though her name has been all over the news. Apparently, she cheated on Cedric Diggory, and people are very mad about that. People are calling her “trampire,” dumping her from their films, and telling her that she’s a dirty slut for breaking his heart.
At the same time, other people are leaping to her defense. Some writers are talking about why slut-shaming Kristen Stewart is bad for young women. Other actors are talking about why growing up famous is difficult.
There’s very little middle ground in the discussion about Kristen Stewart. She’s either a hell beast whore succubus who broke Robert Pattinson’s heart, or she’s both a victim of pervy Rupert Sanders and some kind of feminist icon for exploring her sexuality.
I don’t want to write about Kristen Stewart because I don’t want to jump on the hater train. I don’t think an actress should be dumped from the sequel of her film because of personal life issues. I don’t think she deserves to be raked over the coals for an issue that only personally concerns a small number of people (herself, her boyfriend, her married lover, and his wife and children). I don’t think she owes anything to her fans or followers for the choices she makes in her private life. I don’t think it’s fair that she gets the bulk of the criticism while her older, married director is left relatively unscathed.
I also don’t want to write about Kristen Stewart because I’m equally reluctant to turn a Hollywood actress into a feminist hero because she boinked a married man. Unlike a certain writer at Alternet, I’m not “glad” that Kristen Stewart cheated, because I don’t think young women who fantasize about Edward Cullen are necessarily going to carry those fantasies around for the rest of their lives. I don’t think she’s a victim of evil Rupert Sanders, and casting a 22-year-old grown woman as a “victim” is infantilizing and, to me, the opposite of what feminism is about. I also don’t think Jodie Foster has a feminist leg to stand on when she defends wife-beater Mel Gibson and chooses to work with child rapist Roman Polanski, and I think maybe she should reconsider those choices of hers instead of spending time talking about how hard it is to be famous.
I don’t think Stewart is a victim or a hero. I don’t think she should be shunned by society for sleeping with a married man, but nor do I think she should be glorified for it in some kind of backlash to the backlash.
I also don’t think the fact that she cheated is any of my business in the first place and therefore not worth blogging about.
And that’s why I’m not going to write about Kristen Stewart.
Well, no, I’ll say one thing about Kristen Stewart: I might be the one person who thought she was better in the Twilight movies than in Into the Wild. Her mouth-breathing poutiness drove me bonkers in Into the Wild but I thought she made Bella Swan considerably less annoying than she was in the books.
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I completely agree on all points (including your note about her acting in Twilight. I don’t think she’s a bad actor, personally. I liked her in Panic Room too.) The way people have been talking about it is driving me nuts. She’s not a hero or a victim, she’s just a person who’s going through life just like the rest of us and is bound to make a few mistakes along the way. And, hey, at least SHE didn’t have a wife and kids *cough cough* I don’t get why all the blame goes on her, though I suspect it’s the hype from Twilight causing it, but it sends a pretty bad message. That she, as a woman, is somehow more responsible for the affair than her partner, a married man twenty years her age. That’s pretty disconcerting.
Also, ugh, Roman Polanski. I can’t watch any of his movies now, it just makes me feel sick. And Mel Gibson’s an ass, which sucks, cause I actually like Jodie Foster.
I still like Jodie Foster, too, but my respect for her has dropped a little since she decided to work with Polanski, I admit. I feel the same way about Kate Winslet. (And Christoph Waltz, John C. Reilly, really ANYONE who chooses to work with him or defend him, but I looooooved Kate Winslet so that one hit me the hardest).
I agree with most of what you’ve written. However, I do not see a connection between Jodie Foster’s attitude towards Mel Gibson and Roman Polanski, and her ability to write a sensible essay on the problems of child actors vs. the media. If you want to dismiss her essay, you have to do that by discussing the essay itself, not by merely pointing out that the author has loathsome friends.
Everyone is wrong sometimes. No one is wrong all the time. I am not saying that her essay is good; I’m saying that ad hominem arguments are bad.
However, I do not see a connection between Jodie Foster’s attitude towards Mel Gibson and Roman Polanski, and her ability to write a sensible essay on the problems of child actors vs. the media.
Jodie Foster can speak eloquently on the subject of child actors who grew up with the media spotlight on them, and she can understand the pressures that a child actor in the spotlight might face. Yet in the case of a child who was thrust into the spotlight against her will because she was the rape victim of a powerful director, she sides with the rapist. That’s the connection.