If you’ve read one celebrity profile in a magazine, it often feels like you’ve read them all. Although it’s my goal to one day write those very profiles, even I notice their formulaic tendencies.
First, the reader is told about the fancy restaurant where the reporter meets Celebrity X. Lunch is delicious, and Celebrity X is nothing like you think. X is warm, inviting and dressed much more simply than the red carpet alter ego we see. Everything is calm, casual and simple. By the end of the piece, you’ve decided nothing would be better than grabbing lunch with X all the time and being best friends forever.
It’s very rare that a star actually says something controversial in those profiles. The whole point of a profile is to become a public darling before your next movie. But, Vanity Fair and Kristen Stewart threw out the playbook.
Ever the rebel, Stewart actually talked about something other than her latest project, ‘Snow White and the Huntsman,’ or her fan appreciation. Instead, she called out her media critics, saying, ‘I don’t care about the voracious, starving sh*t eaters who want to turn truth into sh*t.’
She went on to say she’s proud of looking less than stellar in half of her photos. ‘If I took perfect pictures all the time, the people standing in the room with me or on the carpet would think, ‘What an actress! What a faker!”
Truth is, if the media didn’t constantly question Stewart’s fashion choices and apathetic looks, she wouldn’t be as popular as she is. No celebrity would be popular without media scrutiny. She might not be the kind of actress who’s dying to see her face plastered on the cover of a tabloid, but that’s what is winning Stewart parts in films.
Hollywood knows her face will fill seats because people care what she does. Watchful – and opinionated – eyes are part of the job description.
Although it’s something neither party wants to publicly agree about, celebrities need the media and the media needs celebrities. Both sides would implode without the other. People, Entertainment Weekly and gossip sections simply wouldn’t exist. Actors wouldn’t enjoy half the perks they’ve come to expect because no one would be looking at them.
It looks like America and the United Kingdom aren’t the only ones with a special relationship.
Stewart did bring up one important issue between the media and stars: the very odd obsession the press has with how a celebrities look. It’s necessary that they’re flawless, graceful and well-spoken.
A girl who describes herself as ‘kind of a weirdo, creative Valley Girl who smokes pot,’ is never going to live up to those bizarre standards. You can tell Stewart is uncomfortable in interviews and on the red carpet. She knows that isn’t where she belongs.
Our expectations for the famous may not be fair, but they’re the sad rules everyone plays by. Those rules distinguish between ‘celebrity’ and ‘actor.’ Unfortunately, Stewart views herself as an actress. The press views her as a celebrity.
As a girl who wants people to remember her as ‘cool’ and ‘honest,’ according to her Vanity Fair interview, she wasn’t made to play the Hollywood game. I hope once the ‘Twilight’ hysteria dies down, the Valley Girl can return to her laid-back roots in movies like 2009’s ‘Adventureland’ and 2010’s ‘Welcome to the Riley’s.’
Stewart was draped in the best couture during her photo shoot, despite her disdain for looking like ‘an actress.’ With a Parisian fashion spread and an interview everyone’s talking about, maybe Stewart’s the best Hollywood power player of them all.
Ariana Romero is a junior magazine journalism and political science major. Her column appears every week. She can be reached at akromero@syr.edu or followed on Twitter at @ArianaRomero17.