Hollywood's Changing Relationship With the Blonde, Bruce Reid, The Stranger
Hollywood is a fallen empire, writes Seattle film critic Bruce Reid in The Stranger. 'Over the years, the industry has lost power, prestige, and its distribution monopoly.' But a more telling void in the current landscape, he says, is the disappearance of the archetypal Blonde. 'Is it sexiness that's gone by the wayside? Not in the least; plenty of today's actresses, including [Michelle Pfeiffer, Jessica Lange, and Reese Witherspoon], can be just as devastatingly erotic as the women of yesterday. What's missing is the sense of submitting to fate, of following the instructions of others.' The Blondes of old, says Reid, like Mae West, Marlene Dietrich, Lauren Bacall and Marilyn Monroe, were sculpted and molded by unforgivably egotistic, misogynistic moguls, who possessed 'a passion that, for the most part, has been lost in today's obsession with the bottom line.' -- LU
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