Fair warning: I’ve had the subject of a woman’s value on my mind for a few weeks now and I’m going to share my thoughts with you over the next few days. I’ve been trying let my thoughts settle and gel into one cohesive post; but, they’re jut not doing it. My thoughts are coming from several directions and just won’t boil down to 700 words or less. While I not a professional writer, I have learned not to try to wrestle my thoughts into submission. I have to let the story tell itself or else I’m not happy with it at all. Thus, I’m just going to put my thoughts down in the way they’ve been demanding and we’ll just go from there.

On The Face Of It

Renee Zellweger was the talk of the internet recently when she showed at at an event looking quite different from before. Now, bear in mind that she’s been out of the limelight for a little while now; so, it’s not like there were photos from last week to compare to. A few years have passed; but, there was a great deal of speculation about what kind of work she might have had done and popular opinion seems to be that she had an eyelid lift or some such thing. One talking head at TMZ seemed to lament the change in her eyes, saying, “This is the thing that made Renee Zellweger herself.”  Really.

You may be surprised to hear that I am a big fan of Russell Brand. While his style of expression is certainly different from my own, I think the man is brilliant and I certainly would not want to be the focus of that razor brain of his. In response to the talking head, Russell lampooned that it was, indeed, her eyes that made Zellweger herself,  “not any kind of essential relationship with an unknowable entity, not her personal experiences that she’s been through, not her talent or her charm, or her individual experiences as a woman. It’s her eyes. That’s what made her herself.” (I’ve attached the video where Russell sounds off below. It’s brilliant. Check it out.)

Certainly, Zellweger is an actress and, as such, is judged largely on her appearance; however, this whole hoopla reduces her to even less  than a cardboard cutout. She is just the eyes of a cardboard cutout. I’ve seen several of her films and have to say the the Bridget Jones ones usually mentioned with her are probably my least favorites. She was great in One True Thing, Deceiver, White Oleander and Chicago. And, honestly, she made Cold Mountain for me. Without her character Ruby, that just would have been two hours of my life I’ll never get back! My point is this: the woman is talented and is more than just the eyes of a cardboard cutout.

Another woman who has been reduced to a single dimension is Reeva Steenkamp. Think about the news reports. What do you know about her?

1. She was a model.
2. She was dating Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius.
3. She was hiding in the bathroom when Oscar shot her to death.

Three things – and two of them are related to Pistorius and have little to do with Steenkamp herself! So. She was a model. That’s it. She was a pretty face and nothing more. Except that she was more. Her murder and his sentencing are what started this whole line of thought in my head. I’ll share more about that with you tomorrow.