This article is one of the more difficult ones I’ve embarked on simply because it concerns one professional to another. The other professional is Michelle Malkin. Saying anything negative about Ms. Malkin in the blogosphere runs akin to taking the Lord’s name in vain, hmmm, more like hard-core blasphemy.
Michelle Malkin- you know the little spark plug of well-deserved fame- yep, same person who is a Fox News Contributor, often seen hosting on Bill O’Reilly’s The O’Reilly Factor; same flash of brilliance who’d as soon take on Louis Farragon as Jeremiah Wright. Yeah, yeah, same spark plug that has more readers in a day than I’ll see in a month. Same person I’ve admired and respected for years.
However, and we’ve all been warned about this- indeed I more so than anyone- we need to stay within our areas of expertise because when we stray into other matters, for all intent and purposes, it makes us look like fools.
I was over at Michelle’s site (Michelle Malkin.com) as I do regularly and happened upon that one proverbial article that haunts us like crazy. I will not be disrespectful to Ms. Malkin. However, I feel it is incumbent upon me to perhaps straighten out a few errors in her story vis-a-vie Ms. Miley Cyrus, Annie Leibovitz, and Vanity Fair Magazine.
With all due respect to Ms. Malkin, I feel her reporting of the now infamous Cyrus-Leibovitz-Vanity Fair Magazine fiasco is far more sensationalism than reality. Furthermore, one needs to consider the totality, evaluate the facts, and if nothing else, realize that ‘Hollyweird’ is an industry that lives to spin.
I don’t know how many times I’ve asked those questions over the years as a parade of young Hollywood starlets has burst onto the scene with wholesome charm, achieved dizzying fame and fortune, and then crashed back to Earth half-naked with corrupted souls and drug-glazed eyes.”
Ms. Leibovitz, Miley and parents were all in agreement when the shoot was discussed two weeks prior to the event when every piece of designer-wear, ad nauseum, were discussed and approved. A storyboard artist had even worked with Annie Leibovitz before to assist in how the shoot would appear.
Please make no mistake about it- as you know- the decisions are made in the editorial offices with creative directors, stylists, publicists, and every other P.R. person under the sun, including attorneys. Then lest we forget, there will always be the ‘approval session’ where each shot is meticulously inspected before going to print.
And finally the majority of ’stars’ with their names on the Hollywood Walk of Fame couldn’t act to save their own lives, let alone any starving person in Africa. Unlike O’Reilly and Fox News, Hollyweird’s business is very much a spin zone.
Education 
Entertainment 
Life 
Pop Culture
May 2, 2008 at 6:36 pm |
Sorry, Thinker, I think I am going to side with Malkin more than you on this one..though frankly I am a little confused as to what side you are on in theses last two posts.
I mean, I think there is no question in my mind an erotic element was meant by Leibovitz in that particular photo. I don’t think I am being a dirty old man by saying so. We have seen TV starlets take that exact same pose after a sex scene many many times. Certainly the repetition of that pose was meant to recall those images. Leibovitz knows what she is doing. She was after the shock value of bringing up those images and then slapping you in the fact that not only is this a 15 year old girl, but Miley Cyrus.
So, just because it did not “expose” anything doesn’t somehow make it less manipulative. Malken’s notch in the belt image is probably apt.
Yet, I do agree with you that somehow the idea that the father was “taken” my Leibovitz sounds a little far fetched to me as well. Nor does his excuse sound right either. After all, leaving during a shoot with a photographer in that situation is probably almost as negligible as approving the picture directly (which he may have done as well per your comments. But maybe not; photographers can often go outside the bounds of agreement stating the desire to be “fun” and “creative.” Been there on a much smaller scale.)
And even if dad was gone, when the clothes came off and the silk blanket came on why didn’t grandma (if not Miley–15 is not brain dead, for God’s sake) and the others start screaming? It would not have gotten nearly that far with my daughter and she is 18! (Nor would she have put up with it. She probably would have broken the photographer’s nose herself for suggesting it.)
So this was either extreme negligence or a premeditated desire to “break out of a goody-goody image.” In either case, the tone if not every line of Malkin’s article is dead on.
May 4, 2008 at 9:39 pm |
Caine,
It is great to hear from you as always, and thank you for the insightful response. Quite openly, this is my fourth attempt at responding to your comment; however, the first three we’re longer than the original posts were, and knowing you as I do…I feel it’s very safe to say: “To each his own” or “everyone has their take on something…or opinions are opinions,” and we all have them.
I really enjoyed your take on Ms. Malkin’s ‘tone’ as you put it; and yes you’re right…after re-reading her reaction she does come off a bit hard (for me). I understand her position vis-a-vie the parade of young starlets; however, I could not possibly agree with Miley Cyrus as being one of them.
I hope you enjoyed Mark Feeney’s piece in the Boston Globe as much as I did! His article was the one that I was privy too that left the hyper-sensitive subjective point of view out and the business aspect of changing the brand objectivity, without ownership, that appealed to me. Okay then…now for the scores:
You may have agreed with Michelle’s posture or tone more than mine; however, the score indicated otherwise as well as your choice of wording. You espoused (72) words agreeing, supporting, or otherwise with M.M.’s article. With respect to my piece, word choice was (109) in support, agreeing, or favoring my article.
You have no idea how important your insights are to me; therefore, I will continue to pray for you and yours as I do daily now…
CHEERS!
onemorecup