Since Kristen seduced me with her BAFTA speech, I have found myself feeling more and more protective of her. She did her duty as a presenter (probably invited in order to draw in the younger viewers) at the Oscars last weekend. Even though she was one of the few ladies who took the stage that did not have serious difficulty going down the stairs, the blogosphere hated on her for clearing her throat between sentences. I never realized coughing was such an ultimate faux pas!
Likewise, Joan Rivers (who, granted, is mean to everyone) spat some venom her direction. As her co-commentors tried to mercifully point out that K Stewart was cutting a pretty good rug on the red carpet as someone who was normally really bad at it or "anti-red carpet, anti-glam," Rivers tells her to then "get out of the business." I mean, seriously, how excessive! A talented, promising actress should not be forced out of the business because she feels uncomfortable with interviews, expensive dresses, and wild displays of self-importance.
But was perhaps more irksome was the response of some of my fellow Oscar-watchers. As Taylor Lautner and K Stewart came onstage to announce the tribute to horror movies, several girls around me started to boo:
Girls: (generally) Boooo!!!
Girl 1: (about Taylor) I like him. Don't boo him, boo her.
Girl 2: Yeah, she is so annoying. I'm not booing him, I'm booing her.
Girls: (at K) Boo!
I'm just as willing to jump into a hate-fest on Twilight and Bella, but people's ability to distinguish between the actor and the character seems to be rather selective, especially when it comes down to gender. I feel like in general no one is really blaming the Twilight boys for the fan frenzy that follows them around. Sure some people complain that RPatz is ugly and that they don't understand what all the fuss is about, but they don't seem to blame the rabid fan-girl pestilence up on him personally. It is rather the fault of the rabid fan girls. Taylor's plague of fan-girl locusts is slightly more tolerated by the critics, mostly because he is not RPatz and general Team Jacobness. But again, he is not blamed for the phenomenon. Rather the two male actors are often depicted as victims of insane, tween, vampire wannabees. However, this coutsey seems not to be extended to Kristen Stewart.
Instead she is hated on for (1) being Bella (and I find this the most sympathetic argument), (2) being popular, and (3) struggling with her fame. The boys of course have the likability of their characters working for them, but issuse (2) and (3) should be just as applicable to them as it is to K Stewart. However, instead the public seems to covet and sympathize with RPatz and TL, while booing Stewart off the stage and telling her to stop feeling sorry for herself. It is hard for me not to this as arising from (a) female viewers jealously of Kristen Stewart for being linked to these handsome men (and being gorgeous and popular) and (b) the unfair standards of perfection set for celebrity women rather than men. While it is ok for men to complain about being harassed by fans and tabloids, when Kristen Stewart-- a young and developing person-- struggles with the limelight, she should apparently throw in the towel, pack her bags, and never show her face again. It is additionaly irritating to hear her take such disproportional flack for the Twilight phenomenon, when compared with her male costars, especially since, let's face it, she's got the better credentials. Stewart has definitely proven herself to the industry and looks on track to continue to do so. Don't see Lautner or RPatz with a BAFTA, do we? If anyone should be staying the game, it should be K Stewart.
I was glad to see Stewart some what stand up for herself when she appeared on Leno. Defending her cough, for which she has been much ridiculed, she points out if she had not cleared her throat she would not have been able to finish the sentence, which she reckons would have irritated people more. Also, she adds that she finds the whole 'cough' controversy quite funny because she had been in fact so proud of herself that night for getting through the lines and the evening without any serious embarassments.
And I say, yes Kristen, be proud! It is the rest of us snarky women that should be ashamed.
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