Sublime vs. Ridiculous

Taking a break from politics for a minute or two…

I would like to extend a hearty “Yee Hah!” to Britney Spears for giving birth to a baby boy yesterday (I’d fire a shotgun into the air without looking for no good reason if I could to celebrate further, but I guess I’ll have to settle for watching a Nextel Cup auto race and a bar-fight-filled music video with Toby Keith). I hope she and Kevin Federline (he of the two children from a former girlfriend) and their progeny are doing well. I complimented Mrs. Federline a few months ago on finally mastering the mechanics of conception, and I’m glad that parenthood has arrived for them without any complications. Even maturity-challenged individuals have a right to experience 2 AM feedings, a nonstop stream of “Barney” TV shows, and projectile vomiting as part of the joys of parenthood.

(By the way, I heard this morning on the Preston and Steve show in WMMR in Philadelphia that the couple closed a wing of the maternity ward where the baby was born so the Federlines could perform something called “sock sledding,” which is undoubtedly some nouveau riche hillbilly ritual. My guess is that it is intended to celebrate and encourage fertility, but what do I know?)



I happened to hear about the birth of the baby while I was watching a documentary about the film actress Greta Garbo the other night on Turner Classic Movies to commemorate what would have been her 100th birthday on September 18th, and it got me to thinking (always dangerous, I know).

It’s not really fair to compare Britney Spears to a film actress since, to my knowledge, she hasn’t appeared in a movie except for her 10 or so seconds in “Fahrenheit 9/11” where she stared vacuously at Michael Moore and chewed her gum while stating that, “we should just trust our leaders” and, basically, take a pass on our duties as citizens in this democratic republic (of course, we have been “reaping the whirlwind” ever since because too many of our fellow citizens followed Spears’ idiotic lead…yep, you’re right: I always have to work in politics somehow).

However, for better or worse, Spears is an iconic figure for our times among female entertainers not just because of her ability (which is marginal at best as far as I’m concerned…from what I know, she’s been performing slight variations of her one hit over and over ad nauseum), but also because of what she represents to her fans. I would argue that her great fame and acceptance stems from the fact that she embodies what other women want to be in many ways (highly independent and self-sufficient with a minimum of talent and, of course, highly desirable to men also).

In her day, this partly described Garbo, though that doesn’t do justice to her enormous acting ability and dedication to her craft. Garbo started her film career as a “vamp” and a “femme fatale,” but who later in her career defined her film persona through more complex roles and characters (Marguerite in “Camille,” “Anna Karenina,” “Ninotchka”). At the height of her fame, she was definitely the most popular female actress in the world and made a fortune for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studios (the BS she and everyone else had to put up with from Louis B. Mayer was legendary). She was atypical among actresses for her day in that she was highly independent and self-sufficient as well, and that came across in her screen performances and the few details that were revealed about her personal life. What also came across when watching her onscreen was that she had the most exquisitely beautiful face of any actress before or, perhaps, since she made her films.

Again, maybe it would be more fair to compare Garbo to an actress like Renee Zellweger or Nicole Kidman (Hilary Swank has come out of nowhere as well – “Million Dollar Baby” is a great movie, though it is a dark, intense character study that is not a typical action movie at all). However, I’m thinking about female stature in the media here, which, again Garbo certainly had to a level never seen before up to that time. And I would take Garbo’s beauty, allure and complexity over Spears’ empty-headed, generously proportioned, generic blonde “brand” any day of the week.

A final note: As long as we’re on the subject of Hollywood, let us note the passing today of one of the great, legendary directors.