celebrity gossip, academic style

Katherine Heigl: The New Shrew?

A number of trusty tipsters have pointed me towards a bevy of articles (one on NPR here; another, more lengthy one you can find here from Newsweek) that, in light of Heigl’s recent visibility in promoting The Ugly Truth, attempt to grapple with the question of her stardom — and the backlash against it. Is she a shrew? Do people really hate her? And why?

The NPR Piece points to Heigl’s recent appearance on Late Night with David Letterman, which has been repurposed and used as ammo against her. In the clip, she complains about working an 18-hour day, but somewhat jokingly. Here’s what NPR reported:

When Katherine Heigl was on The Late Show With David Letterman in support of The Ugly Truth this week, he asked her about her return to Grey’s Anatomy, and she told him (it’s at about the 1:25 mark in this clip) that her very first day back was a seventeen-hour day. “Which I think is cruel and mean,” she said with exaggerated somberness, before moving on to talk about how it was great to be back, she misses former co-star T.R. Knight, and so forth. If it were anyone else, mentioning that she thought seventeen hours was a rather long first day, it would have gotten no attention whatsoever.

But she is not anyone else. She is Katherine Heigl.

Every time Heigl opens her mouth, the majority of the outlets that cover this sort of news gleefully write another story about what a horrible complainer and diva she is. (Two of those articles claim that she was on a “rant” and that she “railed at” producers. I challenge you to get “rant” or “rail” from that clip.)

The article then points out the following concerning her ploy against her own show last year:

People will tell you she got herself into this mess by insulting the Grey’s Anatomy writers by pulling her name from Emmy consideration last year and blaming the quality of the material she was given. That move was, indeed, not diplomatic in the slightest, despite the fact that she was absolutely correct about both the writing in general and the writing for her particular character. (What was she supposed to do? Submit the episode where she saved the deer?) There is a certain “you don’t trash your co-workers out loud” ethic that it would have been both wiser and kinder to embrace. (Although, of course, plenty of show “sources” haven’t hesitated to dish equally about her, except that they do it anonymously and avoid the consequences.)

…before going on to show examples of how her quotes have been taken out of context and used against here (including one in particular about smoking, which outlets used to complain that she swore she wasn’t addicted to smoking (even though she smokes regularly). Anyway. Point is, the press — especially the blogs — are out for her.

Newsweek offers a bit more of a meta-analysis:

How did Katherine Heigl fall so far and so fast in esteem? Part of it is pure sexism. Every decade has a Most Annoying Actress (not that long ago, Jennifer Love Hewitt was the object of tabloid disaffection), never an actor, and it’s a distinction doled out via a caveman’s principles. Heigl violates every archaic, unspoken rule of being America’s box-office sweetheart. A lot of actors smoke, curse, drink, and mouth off, but she gets the most grief for it. Last summer, when she was caught flicking a finished cigarette onto the sidewalk, Star magazine quickly tarred her as an environmentally unfriendly “litterbug” who inappropriately goaded a nearby police officer into letting her off without a ticket.

But then it goes on to do exactly what the NPR piece was highlighting —

• “more than simply daring to challenge chauvinistic mores, Heigl has shot herself in the foot with her delivery”
• “This week, she carped to David Letterman that she’d had a “seventeen- (dramatic pause) hour (dramatic pause)” workday on set, and that she was “going to keep saying this because I hope it embarrasses them [the Grey's Anatomy show runners].” Embarrass them for what? Keeping her employed? To a country nearing 10 percent unemployment, the remark was tone-deaf”
• And this doozy at the end: “Just like real life, in which Heigl seems unable to see the acreage between oversharing and keeping her mouth shut. Heigl might be an actress, but she could work on her act.”

So what is it? In a debate on my Facebook wall, two of my friends offered the following:

KL: while i think that gender plays a significant role in the Heigl backlash, i also think that she needs to step up her game. i mean how can she complain about Knocked Up and then star in The Ugly Truth? am i missing something here? they look about the same in terms of gender politics - except one doesn’t involve a baby, at least as far as the trailer acknowledges.

KW: heigl is a punching bag but that in my opinion it is fully deserved…i think what you said about the politics of her films (and tv shows) is true: she’s done nothing to merit being so damn sanctimonious about things. of course she’s right about knocked up but why … say that after you’ve cashed your check and become a “bonafide movie star”. as far as grey’s goes and last year’s incident, regardless of the writing, if she could actually ACT then that’s what would have counted. meryl streep could read the phone book and get an oscar nomination. what’s her excuse? heigl just infuriates me.

See the vitriol there? And I feel the SAME WAY. I don’t know exactly why: most likely a confluence of reading about what we have collectively taken as her ‘ungratefulness,’ her outspokenness, and her general complaining about the situation in which she’s found herself.

But this anger/annoyance bespeaks a greater sentiment and attitude towards stars, something I’ve been continually reading about in recent weeks. Part of our reason for being okay with stars and celebrities — who are paid enormous salaries, enjoy lavish lifestyles, have everything better than us — is our fundamental belief that they are there for two reasons:

1.) They have talent. And that talent merits their elevation — they are magical, beautiful, superlative. Angelina Jolie or Meryl Streep. They DESERVE our adulation.

2.) WE have chosen them. They become superstars because we, as a discerning audience, have ‘voted’ for them each time we attend a movie, watch a TV show, are interested in their lives. In this way, stars are strongly linked to feelings of democracy — we believe that those in power (and those that are elevated) are there because we, the people, have selected them to be so. They aren’t monarchy, they aren’t put in power by force — it’s US who have selected them to be our representatives. Even if they are completely and totally manufactured and put before us as the “new star” — see the Disney star factory — there’s still an illusion that they are of our choosing.

This is complicated somewhat by the rise of people like Paris Hilton (note, however, what a backlash there is against her — for her lack of talent, specifically) and reality stars. In my opinion, however, reality stars are the embodiment of the second quality: in American Idol, the country literally votes for who they want to be the newest celebrity. But a full discussion of this phenomenon merits a separate post.

For now, assume that we consider our stars as if elected officials. Now, what do we expect of an elected official?

1.) They will ‘serve’ us.

For stars, they serve us by entertaining us. When they do bad movies, or offer a bad performance, they are ‘failing’ us.

2.) They will make good on campaign promises.

A star must ‘make good’ on the promise of his/her first elevation into stardom. Katherine Heigl must “make good” on the promise of her performance in Grey’s Anatomy and Knocked Up.

3.) They will not begrudge the responsibilities of the office.

It was the star, after all, who wanted to be ‘elected’ — so he should not be angry when the paparazzi follows him, stars want autographs, or he has to work long hours. This was his idea, right?

4.) They will be grateful for our support.

For Heigl, this is key. She is ungrateful, she begrudges her work (see above), she lambasts the films/shows that made her a star (see her comments on Knocked Up and Grey’s.

5.) You must acknowledge (and play by) the rules of the game.

Politicians know they must participate in the publicity game — you spin negative things to look okay, you make sure you don’t put your foot in your mouth, you never say anything too outspoken — see the backlash against President Obama’s comment on the “stupid” decision to arrest Gates this week. You exhibit grace under pressure. You’re not too loud, too brash, too out there.

And Heigl is ALL of these things — and she has no compunction about it. Her transgression is of course embolded by the fact that she’s a woman — as one of my professors has pointed out, a woman who speaks (and especially speaks boldly) is always labelled as shrill, because women aren’t supposed to be speaking in the first place. But she’s also demonstrated a general unsavvyness, for lack of a better word, when it comes to negotiating her image, sustaining her fan base, and generally INVITING the press to take jabs at her.

Now, the feminist in me might want to look at this as a general critique on outspoken women. And Hollywood certainly has a long history of banishing those who don’t play by the rules: Heigl hails from a long line of “outspoken shrews” that include Katharine Hepburn, Jane Fonda, and Roseanne Barr. The first two bore the brunt of media criticism and fan backlash (Hepburn was “box-office poison; Fonda was the reason we “lost the war at home”) before returns in tour-de-force actings; as for Barr, well, I think we do different things (and force different fates) on women who aren’t considered ‘beautiful.’

So what does Heigl need to do? I don’t think she needs to “shut-up and sit down.” But her stardom is contingent upon a certain “contract” between fan and star — and to me, she just seems uncognizant of what is expected of her. As KW points out, this may be due to the fact that her MOTHER IS HER MANAGER. (See the example of Tom Cruise. Sigh.)

I’m not saying that women shouldn’t be able to speak their minds. Female stars speak their minds all the time — they just do so in a more calculated, less press-release-to-lambast-writers-on-my-own-show sort of way. I am saying that any star — regardless of gender — needs to be aware of the way that the game is played — especially when your words, whether in the form of an official statement or a couch-jumping tirade on Oprah — can be morphed, digitalized, and spread far into the corners of the internet. With so many opportunities for distortion — so many media outlets, so many voices that get to “speak” the star — it’s reckless, at least from a purely financial, star-maintenance point of view, to give them the opportunity to do so.