Slate declared yesterday “The Worst Day Yet” in terms of the clusterfuck of anti-immigrant and anti-environment sludge that has been issuing from the very tiny pen of former reality TV personality and current holder of executive office Donald J. Trump. Speaking of little men, it’s Oscars season!
And in Hollywood, the show must go on. Thus, Vanity Fair‘s annual ogle-fest of big-screen beauty, The Hollywood Issue. In their intro text to the pretty pictures of purdy ladies, VF struggled admirably to make it all connect to the fact that our country is being flushed down a giant metaphorical toilet of evil as we speak.
Movies, with their cultural ESP, sensed the disturbance in the Force in 2016. The films represented by the superlative actresses in this year’s Hollywood Portfolio offer intimate studies of resilience, pluck, faded glory, and the everyday heroics of forging ahead against backward pressure. Even the seemingly happy-go-lucky dancing-romancing La La Land, which tucked away seven Golden Globes, has melancholy weighing in the background. Movies have always thrived on adversity (the Depression, Vietnam, Watergate), and there’ll be no shortage of that on tap in the fight ahead. So: Heroines, assemble!
Well, what can we say? The actresses all look lovely on the cover and like the Oscars, it’s a more diverse group than years past, thank heavens — although such tableaux could always stand for improvement in that arena. I have to say a personal highlight is the juicy and very pregnant Natalie Portman whose baby bump kind of steals the spotlight, as Kerry Washington’s did a few years back during awards season.
So ogle away, readers, but remember to call your Senators when you’re done and tell them to vote no on the horrorshow Trump nominee of the moment.