Thursday, November 12, 2009

"The Self-Manufacture of Megan Fox"

photo by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh MatadinThe New York Times has posted a long and interesting article on Megan Fox from interviews with the actress from just after Jennifer's Body failed at the box office, during the week the was prepping for her SNL appearance with a follow-up a month later. The article gets into her attempt to have a provocative (both verbally and physically) public persona while maintaining a private life. She tried to model her after Angelina Jolie (see tats, lip injections, and statements for proof) but the result has been a career that remains on unsteady ground despite the success of Transformers. The article can be found here and worth the read.

I actually like her Megan Fox (and not just for her looks) but then I have a fondness for direct bluntness which is rare nowadays (and often vilified). However, Hollywood stardom is grounded on how the public perceives and wants you. There are many possibilities from the slutty, dumb, sexy and more but the one that has consistently proven to be the most successful is the girl next door (see Nicole Kidman, Sandra Bullock, Julia Roberts, etc). They come across as the perfect girlfriend for the guys and the BFF for the girls. Instead, Fox has essentially become every guys' dream one night stand (looked back with pride but never brought home to meet mom) and someone women would want to hang with for some fun but not want to be friends with. Basically, Fox needs to seem more like a friend rather than a f$#@-friend.

Her best teachers are not just Jolie, but Tom Hanks, Will Smith, Reese Witherspoon, even Shia LaBeouf and really all the members of the $20 million per film club. Notice that the only time we hear about them is when they have their next project or charity to sell. Then they come across as a great person ("like me"), almost a good friend until the pitch is done and then exit the stage until next time. It works for them, there is no reason it can't work for Megan Fox. Just getting written about isn't sufficient (see Lindsay Lohan for that), it’s the quality that matters. She has plenty of time to repair her image thanks to Transformers 3, but she only has this last chance to decide exactly what she wants her public persona to be. She can continue on the Jolie track but that one is clearly not working.

10 comments:

  1. After reading that article, and I do mean READING, I've come to the same conclusion that she is still trying to find her own path. She knows how to play the Hollywood game, but she does it out of necessity. I don't think we'll ever see the real her, we only see "snippets" of her taken out of context from the news and from public events. So while we can play peanut gallery with snide insults or horny remarks about her hotness, we're really just commenting on an artificial persona, which quite honestly makes us all look like fools. I would admit that the joke is on us and we'd all be better off by lowering our expectations on who we define as role models.

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  2. I still say she's; as hot as Antarctica, looks as good as a warthog and is as subtle as a brick.

    Considering her latest film flopped (which is an understatement), I think people are getting wise.

    RE: LionBoogy - There are hundreds of better role models than her.

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  3. See, but that's my point.

    What is our expectation of a good role model?

    I don't think she wants to be a good role model. And I find that incredibly attractive. But that's just me.

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  4. i'd tap that ass, but i wouldn't bring her home to mom. she doesn't qualify as "pretty", but definitely "fuckable". congrats, megan, if that was the image you were going for, it's mission accomplished.

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  5. Megan Fox= Greatest practical joke in the history of Hollywood.

    She has no talent, shes a sexist, and has a bitchy personality. The only thing she has going for her is her body, and when she gets old, then she will have NOTHING. "Jeniffer's Body" already showed us that people are sick of her, and "Jonah Hex" is gonna ruin her "career".

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  6. It's fun watching her lips bulge and contract throughout T2. Fat lips in close-ups, standard in action. WTF. What's wrong with natural body parts?

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  7. Yeah, well, it's like what Wheelie said about her in RotF.
    However, I still like the current Transformers-Version, done by Bay, and with Shia, we got quite a good Star rising with this Franchise.
    Also, I realy like, how they're advancing the CGI, adding more Transformer-Characters.
    Damn, I really enjoyed some of the scenes in the beginning of the Movie, espesially the Cut-in-half-scene(Sideswipe:"Damn I'm good!").

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  8. I don't care if she is smart or charming. I really don't care about the off-screen personalities of any of the actors or actresses that star in the films I watch. The fact that she she isn't Natalie Portman or Angelina Jolie shouldn't even be newsworthy. As long as she looks hot running from Decepticons in tight jeans and a belly shirt/tank top I don't care what the crew thinks of her.

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  9. Yeah I like her lips too. Overall the performance of her is awesome. What a sexy look she in T2 and T1 both.
    And Sam too.
    Best of luck to you.
    bye
    Dog Life Jackets

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  10. I actually like the woman - too many steroe-types around these days. She's interesting.

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