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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