Lilian Gish, Broken Blossoms, 1919, a genuine Hollywood star.
Americans admire excellence and authenticity.
The rise of the Hollywood movie star was built on powerful performances that projected the idea of authentic emotions. Film audiences experienced a magical connection–often, deeply intimate–with scores of charismatic actors.
Lillian Gish’s heartbreaking performance as the abused daughter in Broken Blossoms (1919) cemented the image of a sensitive and vulnerable child/woman. It did not matter that Gish was, in fact, rigid and hard-headed. The huge shadows on the silver screen settled the matter in the public’s mind.
Garbo’s close-ups–she was gawky in long shot and her best director, Clarence Brown, kept her in tight shots a majority of the time–convey a world of passion and emotional depth. In truth, Garbo was a shallow narcissistic who loved herself above all others.
Carson’s Couch
Johnny Carson, the slayer of stars.
Hollywood star artifice was forever shattered by the birth of television. Specifically, Johnny Carson’s late night show. The star system, already threatened by the decline of the studios, was dealt a death blow by Carson’s couch. Stars submitted to unscripted interviews in order to promote their latest film. But absent studio minders, captured in unflattering TV lights and unequal to Carson’s rapid fire wit, most stars shriveled, frequently revealing breathlessly dim personalities. And as the evening wore on and the fidgety actor moved down the couch to make room for the newer guest, the pale star was reduced to the role of disposable prop.
Genuine Hollywood stars were dead and celebrity–a culture of sordid notoriety–moved in to fill the vacuum.
Tiger in Your Tank
Tiger Woods, a case study in authentic artifice.
Tiger Woods was an old fashioned star for a brief and shining moment. The greatest golfer ever, he was young, handsome, modest and best of all to a generous American public, black. Sorta.
Married with children, he was Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart and Sidney Poitier all rolled into one.
But now that carefully constructed public persona has been shattered by an emerging scandal and Tiger Woods verges on becoming nothing less than grist for smutty jokes.
Tiger Woods ads and endorsements are rapidly being pulled and we can expect a further erosion in his corporate support.
To an adoring public, Tiger’s authenticity has been revealed as smooth artifice.
Excellence is not enough.
Obama, Sorta
So it is with President Barack Obama.
He was perceived as a prime example of American excellence. Handsome, bright, an accomplished politician and yes, black. Sorta.
America voted for an image.
There was no record of genuine accomplishments. We were gravely informed that being a community organizer–code for socialist agitator–was superb preparation to be POTUS.
And Obama’s dismal one-hundred and fifty days in the Senate consisted of a record number of “Present” votes.
The only thing we knew for sure–aside from the inconvenient fact that he was most comfortable in the company of rabid Jew/America hater Jeremiah Wright–about candidate Obama was that he spoke well when using a teleprompter, looked good in a suit and his unflappable manner suggested a man who was serious and capable.
In a very short time, Obama has been unmasked as a fraud and blunderer who regularly delivers preposterous and self-contradictory gems such as:
“We have to spend our way to prosperity.”
Nothing less than a radical call for endless deficits and the advent of an American nanny state.
In foreign policy, Obama has so devalued America’s exceptional role in the world that our allies are deeply shaken, and our enemies emboldened.
Recently, an ambassador from Kuwait quietly slipped into Iran for the very first time.
Terrified of Iran, Kuwait realizes that it can no longer count on America to project its power, thus she is preparing the ground to gain entry into Iran’s brutal orbit. We can expect a Soviet-style Finlandization of Kuwait in very short order.
Kuwait, along with the entire Arab Muslim world, understands that Obama is an amateur, genuinely weak.
Yup, Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin, an authentic American star.
Which brings us to Sarah Palin.
The liberal media claim that she is a joke, that she doesn’t matter. She has been pornified and attacked in a manner that is unique in modern American politics.
In response to the Palin phenomenon, liberals have enthusiastically embraced Lenin’s ruthless advice: “We are not interested in debating our political opponents, we only want to crush them.”
It’s not hard to comprehend this level of vitriol.
Much to their dismay, liberals understand that the American people are responding to an authentic person. A voice and image that resonates with deeply felt American values.
Palin touches the historic American core in a way that elitists like Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer and their ilk cannot begin to comprehend much less project.
When Obama appears on our TV screens in yet another baffling and tedious speech/lecture/kvetch we sigh, exhausted, because the Obama artifice is, by now, so naked, we marvel that his handlers don’t realize that Obama has become a poison pill for Obamism–a political and social philosophy that is, at best, at odds with classical American Judeo Christain values.
But when Sarah Palin simply Tweets–her death panel Tweet is now historic–people pay attention, people react, ordinary people take to the streets.
Authenticity has become such a rare commodity in the public sphere that when it appears, the very landscape shifts under our heels.
Copyright Robert J. Avrech
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