Sunday night began the most wonderful time of year for me – awards season. The Golden Globes kicked off my favorite couple of months, and it delivered almost everything I love to see at an awards show: my favorite celebrities, great dresses, awards given to those who deserve it (Amy Poehler, anybody?). But before we get into the BAFTAs, SAG Awards and the Oscars, I would like to extend a formal invitation to the judges and society in general: Stop the Jennifer Lawrence madness.
I have seen “Silver Linings Playbook.” I’ve seen “Winter’s Bone.” Lawrence is extremely talented; there should be no doubt in anyone’s mind about that. I’m not here to dispute her abilities. I do think, however, that there is a sort of pandemonium surrounding her lately, and, frankly, it’s tiresome.
I cannot log onto social media without seeing some Buzzfeed list of .gifs of Jennifer Lawrence tripping down the red carpet or flipping off a camera or making silly faces behind another celebrity being interviewed. People marvel at how freely she talks about eating food like she’s not an actual human being that needs it to survive.
She’s been marketed as the “normal” people’s celebrity – she’s just like us! She eats! She trips! All of that is well and good initially, of course. It was refreshing for a bit, but it got boring to me after the first month of “The Hunger Games” publicity, when every little quirk she displayed was shoved down my throat.
When I watch J-Law (she’s even got one of “those” nicknames) in interviews, the ones where she gushes about pizza don’t stand out to me. By now I’ve seen a thousand of those with her. No, the ones where she expresses actually interesting viewpoints about social issues are the ones I like watching. Her portrayal of her self-image, though, is boring and one-dimensional, and I know she can do better.
Society’s obsession with Jennifer Lawrence goes beyond just the goofy faces, however. More dangerous implications lie beneath her comments about weight and Hollywood.
A trend has arisen about “real women” with regards to weight – real women have curves, real women this, real women that – unnecessarily driving a wedge even further between women. Just as you can shame fat women for their bodies, you can shame thin women.
In an interview with UK newspaper The Mirror, J-Law was quoted as saying, “I’d rather look chubby on screen and like a person in real life.” This implies that anyone who is naturally thin doesn’t look like an actual person and is incredibly problematic. There’s no reason to decide which body shape is natural and right because that’s just not a decision you can make for other people.
And we as consumers are also implicated in this cult of Jennifer Lawrence because we play into it. We laugh when she acts up on the red carpet; we’re convinced she’s the everyday model of “real” womanhood; we give her a cheering audience, in essence. There is nothing wrong with liking her acting or being a fan of her movies. I certainly am. But we need to acknowledge that just because someone is a great artist doesn’t mean they are a great person, and we need to learn to separate the two aspects. Until then, the reception Jennifer Lawrence’s comments about pizza receive will continue to annoy me.
Beth Lindly is a junior majoring in journalism. Her column runs biweekly on Wednesdays.
