#SheFightsForHerVoice

[theswiftarmy]

#24 – Click, Click, Click… Flash, Flash, Flash…

Click, click, click…  Flash, flash, flash…  The red carpet whispers secrets from the present and the past…

Hollywood, like the music business, and the rest of the entertainment industry certainly has its share of stories to tell, but it also has many storytellers.  As Emma Watson mentioned in her British Vogue interview, if the story is indeed genuinely told from the perspective of who it’s told by and this writer would add perceived by that to whom it is told, then you may have many alternate endings to the same story.  Or, perhaps, you have many different stories entirely.  Emma Watson may have discovered the greatest tale in that we don’t know for certain if the person we think is the bad guy really is the bad guy.  How do we know which story is the real story?  How do you know who to believe?  Whose side is the side to be on?  Wouldn’t it depend on the version of the story you hear?  Or is it up to those told the story to decide.  But, here’s the thing, even if the story seems to come from one person, it may in fact be written by another person all together, after all, how many women recite lines of dialogue in Hollywood movie after Hollywood movie, lines that were actually written by men?  So, anyone watching a movie might think those are the genuine thoughts of that character, those words must be what she represents, or she genuinely thinks, or feels, and is the story to believe.  And one might argue, well, anyway, if she didn’t condone that dialogue why would that actress sign up for that part?  She could just turn it down after reading the script, right? But to have that kind of voice may just be a luxury many women in the industry don’t have, or perhaps, many women in the world don’t have, or maybe, there are just simply many people around the world in general who don’t have that voice, or choice.

And you say, well, maybe there are scripts written by women that have male characters in that same situation.  But, how many scripts were written by men and how many written by women?  Is it an even fifty percent?  I’m guessing it is not.  I’m guessing it is not close to being an even number in the least.  But what do I know… a humble industry outsider simply speculating based on the narrative of which I have been told, or, the story that I’ve pieced together.  I have to wonder though, how many lines in scripts were changed after the contract was signed and production started, and how many women decidedly wanted out of a role, but couldn’t for it would be a breach of contract, so they could not say or do anything about it, as they soon found that the contract made it impossible or at the very least exceedingly difficult to part ways.  Let’s not forget how much money was spent on filming already, and of course, if a career is on the line, well, just be a good girl and stick to the script that the men have written for you.  

I don’t know, maybe that’s never actually happened and I just have a really vivid imagination.  It makes me wonder, though, how much choice is there really?  How many women were locked into recording contracts they hated, but they had no choice?  If you continue with that thought and place the blame on the person making the choice, and you say “well anyone can make their own choices, so that’s their fault” then I give you the following to consider:  Take a Super Bowl game for example, the game itself seems quite rigged as to which roles women can even play.  I don’t see many women on the field for the duration of the entire game, do you?  I suppose there’s always the halftime show, which in itself seems quite limited to the roles women are expected to play even within that choice, there seems to be a certain expectation.  The choice already seems to be made for any woman trying to work in that specific scenario.  Where is the choice?  If by choice you mean, here are a few of the roles you may pick from: You may sing on stage, in a cute outfit, or you may dance around on the field, also in a cute outfit.  Really, just makes sure the outfit is cute.  Oh, and keep it short, the men have to get back on the field.  Just keep it cute and short.  If we filmed ‘Super Bowl The Movie’ one might see the following: Open casting call, roles for women limited, screenplay mostly written by men (oh, who are we kidding, it’s all written by men).  And they argue, well we certainly allow women, what about the half time show and the cheerleaders?!  Just keep the outfit cute and the performance short.  Sometimes choice just seems like a luxury certain individuals don’t have.

Depending on whom you ask, you may get a different story all together.  You may hear that the good girl is really the bad guy and you may start to believe it, even if it’s not true at all.  And maybe, just maybe, that story after it takes hold started with her simply being late to the red carpet.  And you think, “well, that seems quite innocent, how could that be such a big deal?”  Suddenly it becomes an excuse to prove that she’s not perfect, and she’s left behind trying to find a way back to where she was before, finding her own way back, because let’s be honest, if you’re anything but perfect, perhaps that means you shouldn’t get the job.  Maybe they should book someone else, give the music gig to another who won’t show up late, or cast another in that role instead.  Can’t have anyone showing up late!  Because what else does that say about your character?  

“She just shows up whenever she feels like it!  She did it that one time at the red carpet.  Who knows what other flaws she might have.”  Or, “Well, okay you can still have the part, we’re just going to have to pay you a little less because how can we be sure you won’t be anything but perfect, I mean, after all Miss, there was that one time when you showed up to the red carpet… late.  I heard the story from someone who heard the story from someone else, so it MUST be true!”

And you have to wonder, how many out there have that version of the story to tell?  And if you let those with a story to tell be allowed to tell that story, maybe you’ll find out there’s much more to the story if we would just listen.  But we don’t and instead she tells her story any way she can, she fights for a voice using words displayed on clothing, her weapon of choice, worn to the red carpet, or during a performance—an almost inaudible whisper to the world when she would rather yell, but what other option is there?  Sometimes having a voice is a luxury that some just don’t have.

Click, click, click…  Flash, flash, flash…  The red carpet whispers secrets from the present and the past…

Is she a good girl, or a bad guy?  No one can seem to tell the difference, but why?  Why indeed.  Perhaps because we have been programed to receive… Check out any time we like, but never leave, so we just stay checked out, and let our minds continue to receive what we’ve been told we’re supposed to perceive.

Click, click, click… That sound never really leaves you.  What the public usually doesn’t see is the massive chaos of paparazzi.  What the public also never sees are the red carpet nightmares, the time a celebrity woke up in the middle of the night hearing the shutter sound, the camera… Click, click, click.  

The paparazzi are a bit like obsesses mega fans that have very few, or, possibly no filters or controls.  They swarm.  Their cameras click and clack, even long after the photographs snap… that shutter sound never goes away.  For a celebrity, it becomes the worst sound, though they may not realize it’s happening until it’s too late.  At first it’s fun, the idea of someone taking an obscene amount of photos of you might feel intoxicating, all that attention, no apprehension, but after the first few drinks, after the buzz wears off, it changes, the click… click… click… a subtly almost silent alarm going off—that sound never goes away, but just gets louder and louder, each waking day.  Then come the flashes of light, at first such a delight, but those as well eventually take a toll.  You see them in your dreams, just one small flash here or there, until eventually, they’re everywhere…

What the public also never sees is that nakedness one feels on the red carpet…

Am I perfect?  Do I look okay?  Is my hair okay, how about my clothing, did I stand right?  Who will see this photo, and what will they say, will something go viral that isn’t perfect?  What if it’s an awful photo and it’s front-page news?

And then you think about it, over and over, “What IF something wasn’t right?” and that ends up out there in the world, shared to the masses.  You then think about the next time you have to walk the red carpet, and it becomes a hill to walk up instead of a flat surface—the incline gets steeper each time.  The days leading up to the event starts to take over your mind because it HAS to be perfect.  If it isn’t perfect there’s backlash, and it’s that backlash over that one tiny imperfection that everyone gossips about.  But you don’t want anyone gossiping, you don’t want to make a scene because that’s what they will talk about… Not how fantastic you looked, or your amazing performance, but that one mishap is like a trap you can’t escape.  

And isn’t that the plan all along?  It’s what the whales want.  The way the Hollywood Whales see it, you are your own best guard, and you don’t need someone to keep you in step, because you’ll keep yourself in step.  What better way to control someone than to have them control themselves with the constant threat of the their own career being pulled out from under them, the red carpet, in an instant, can be pulled out from under their own feet.  Just keep the paparazzi on them and they will always strive to be perfect since one bad photo can make people talk.  And maybe that’s how Taylor and other celebrities got so good at going out into the public incognito, it’s not because they love to dress up, it’s because they have to.  Because the Hollywood Whales are always there with their paparazzi to capture one wrong step, anything to use to control her, because when you have something someone else wants, you can make them do things you want.  Pictures are worth more than a thousand words depending on the picture.  But without even having that picture, just the constant possibility of any picture can change someone’s behavior.  The Whales know this, and they use it to maintain control.  But, pictures aside, The Whales have many other tricks up their sleeves.  For them it all comes down to owning what their adversary wants or needs.

So, you smile for the cameras, and listen to the whispers, it’s those whispers that you wake up from in the middle of the night.  The whispers where you wished you could have had that fight right then and there on the carpet, to just say what you really wish to say, how you think and feel, but the paparazzi is right there to capture it all and there’s nothing you can do but listen, and try your best to ignore the sound, the click of the shutters, the whispers and mutters, all around you, and you stare at the flashes of light and delay that fight.  And maybe it feels so real, you’re so sure the whispers are so close that one of them touched you on your back, or neck, but you’re not sure, and you can’t turn around to check, you can’t look away from the camera, you can’t tell your story because your story is just another of the red carpet’s tales for those Hollywood Whales to twist and turn and spin in their own way, and anyway who’s going to believe you over them, so the present quickly becomes another whale tale locked in the past…  Click, click, click… Flash, flash, flash…