Role models, good and bad

BG, thanks for leaving a comment. You're right, Danica's little show is cute.

Hello, Matt. Yes, Jolie did look passable in the first Tomb Raider movie, certainly better than she looks now in Wanted. But it still wasn't what you'd expect from an action star, and what bugged me even more is, she complained later and refused to repeat the effort for the second movie.

Amanda may have a point. I suspect the pressure to be thin in Hollywood isn't explicit so much as it is an ingrained cultural thing. But it should be challenged nonetheless.

Thanks for leaving a comment and bringing Amanda to our attention. I wish her the best of luck!

Rob

Skye, yes, I do have a few references I can give you. I'll quote the relevant parts and then follow with the reference link(s):


Hollywood beauty Angelina Jolie has made a mouthwatering promise to male fans of her character Lara Croft - in the next Tomb Raider film she will be much sexier. Jolie, who is currently divorcing second husband Billy Bob Thornton, has changed the way she prepared for reprising the role of the intrepid archeologist in The Cradle Of Life - and the results have been pleasing on the eye. She says, "I think we see more sides to her. This feels more like a real film than the last one - it's a little less silly and Lara's more of a woman. The funny thing is, I realized I was almost doing too much training the last time. And I was on too many protein powder things - it made me curvier. This time I just ate normal food and lots of it: stuff like beans and eggs on toast. Then I trained as much as possible. This time Lara's leaner and stronger [sic], sexier and sharper."
http://www.bollywoodsargam.com/hollywood_news.php?newsstory=751230843-2689729-0-latest-Tomb_Raider_2_Lara_Gets_Sexier_Hollywood_news.html
http://www.ez-entertainment.net/prod/tombraider2.htm

What was it about her body that you wanted to change?

"I wanted her to be closer to my body. I wanted her to be a real woman--and that's something that I thought was sexier - that she (Lara) would be less of a video vixen--still Croft but a little more lady and a little more athletic [sic]. It was close to the game in the first one but I just think she's sexier when she's closer to a real woman. She's still curvy--but she's sexier to me now. She's proportioned as far as I'm concerned."
http://www.hollywood.com/feature/QA_Angelina_Jolie_Talks_Tomb_Raider_2/1723166

Angelina Diets For Tomb Raider 2 - July 11th 2003
Angelina Jolie owes her sexy new look in the Tomb Raider sequel to "real foods" and breakfast fry-ups. The curvy actress wasn"t too thrilled about the prospect of having to diet and get back in shape to play action heroine Lara Croft again, but she found another way to shed the pounds without giving up her favourite treats. She explains, "Last time, we did a bunch of the diets - protein bars, powders, and things like that - and that made me curvier. This time, I just ate normally. "We had eggs and bacon in the morning. Real food, I"ve found, is actually better for dieting."
http://www.insomniacmania.com/fullrelated.php?id=128


Now, from what I can tell, when Jolie talks about being "curvier" she's actually talking about being more muscular, which to her mind makes a woman less a woman, I guess. The real emphasis seems to have been on looking "sexy" (the way Jolie defines it, that is) for the second movie. And I cannot imagine why she thought she needed to be *leaner*:
http://www.mania.com/content_pics/14221_large.jpg
http://l.yimg.com/img.movies.yahoo.com/ymv/us/img/hv/photo/movie_pix/paramount_pictures/lara_croft_tomb_raider__the_cradle_of_life/angelina_jolie/lara26.jpg

This of course isn't everything that I remember seeing around the time the movie came out (it's been a while), but I hope it helps.

Thanks for the comment, Skye. It's great to have you visiting here!

Rob

Skye, you're welcome. Fascinating it is, and, best-case scenario, it betrays some muddled thinking; e.g., somehow less training, less protein makes one *stronger*. But then, perhaps this all goes back to what Matt was saying earlier (re: his interview with Amanda Carrier) about the Hollywood mindset.