Marilyn Monroe was in a 1953 movie called Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and apparently the media, still run predominately by men, remains a boys club and they prefer blondes--young, white ones. Princess Diana has, if not purely because of Elton John's re-wording of "Candle in the Wind", been compared to Monroe. Both died young and both were involved in ill-fated romances. Unlike Monroe, Princess Diana had no particular talent except she married well. Diana hadn't done well academically. She was a part-time teacher's aide when she met and married Prince Charles. Her talent was she dressed well and looked good before the cameras.
There are other royals in other countries to which the American press gives little coverage. We know little about Princess Elisabeth of Belgium who will inherit the throne due to a 1991 act that changed succession from the eldest son to the eldest child. Her father is Prince Philippe who married Princess Mathilde in 1999. His father is Albert II. We know even less about the Sheikha Sabika bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa who is the first wife of Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and the mother of the crown prince His Royal Highness Sheikh Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa. And what about the king of the Zulu nation, Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu, who has six wives and 27 children? His last wife, whom he married when she was 17 in 2004, never makes the cover of any American magazine.
Why does media focus so much on the British family and particularly, Princess Diana, even after her death a decade ago? Even though America is demographically 74.7 percent white, that includes people of European ancestry as well as those of West Asian (such as Iranian), Arab Americans, Central Asians and Latinos. Only 1.8 percent are members of the Anglican church. Of the 88.3 percent that are Christian, the majority 25.9 percent, are Catholic. To put this in perspective, 1.4 percent of Americans are Jewish. To put the coverage on the British simply down to American heritage doesn't really hold, particularly since the coverage of Diana is, even now, a bit overboard.
Princess Diana was recently compared to Paris Hilton. As Tina Brown, former editor for Vogue and The New Yorker, tells it, she's often asked on her book tour for The Diana Chronicles if Paris Hilton is the Princess Diana of today. Brown reminds us of Princess Diana's high heel humanitarian work, which is, Brown forgets, quite different than the kind of work Mother Teresa did. Holding a hand of a sick person for a photo shoot is quite different than working in poverty. Brown reminds us that "In her entire 16 years as Princess of Wales she was never once caught looking anything but her absolute best. "
Article comments
1 - Paotie
Great article.
Don't forget that today, the press is more interested in bottom-line sales, and not true journalism. It's the press that makes news today, and not vice versa in which newsful events take place and journalists report on it.
Your article made me laugh out loud about Prissy Diana being compared to some sort of humanitarian, while she spent lots of time toting her kids around the world in luxury and pretending to be some sort of crusader. She, as you said, simply married well.
Interesting piece - I'd always had my suspicious about Prissy Di, but now you've solidified it. Thanks for a great piece of writing.
2 - Heloise
Yup, digg this article. What you cite has gotten worse. After Nicole Smith, how could you not mention her?, I wrote a piece asking if it was safe to go back to watching TV. That was over-the-top in typical white male blonde bashing or should I say white woman pushing?
This WILL actually get worse because it is based on a word you did not use: glamour. The blonde is considered glamourous. The fair-skinned of any racial or ethnic group is considered, well fair. Therefore more beautiful, and more VALUABLE.
It is the bottom line of value as described by its glamour rating. Blondes are rated highly, therefore get higher ratings than other mortals. Marilyn, went from blonde to platinum blonde to increase her ratings. And guess what? It worked.
We will just have to move on, as a society, to truth.
Heloise
3 - Purple Tigress
Do you mean Anna Nicole Smith?
4 - Heloise
Yeah, shows how much I think of her. But that ain't her real name anyway. What was it? thanks
Heloise
5 - Temple Stark
Just curious when was the last time you wrote at equal length about any of these black and/ or men missing or dead or murdered?
If you haven't your accusation is much too narrow.
Also, cute title but "gentlemen of the press" has nothing to do with the fact of who is actually "reporting" on these items. It's both sexes.
>>We remember Jessica Lynch, but not Native American Lori Piestewa (father is Hopi and mother of Mexican ancestry according to Wikipedia) or African American Shoshanna Johnson.
As a matter of fact and obvious public record inside and outside "the media" we remember Jessica Lynch more - but you exaggerate on how much we forget about the other two - because it was the American military who chose to make up a grandiose story about Ms. Lynch, and therefore her name was out there for a much longer period of time.
Clearly I can say and agree that coverage of Paris Hilton is way out of proportion to her social worth. It's more than a shame, however. The magazines don't buy their own product.
It's "your" (not you) own problem if "you" pay attention to Paris Hilton than algebra or "your" own creativity. Maybe it's the least creative who have no other outlets who must focus on this while the generally creative have "better things to do." But that's a tangent.
In your piece you mix two clearly distinct aspects of society, which does it a disservice. You talk about white celebrities and non-white victims. These two worlds rarely converge. Generally this article does a decent job of separating the two - except for your overall "thesis" where all your examples are then mushed back together to say "Gentleman, of the press, prefer blondes."
Your piece generalizes far too much to be much use to anyone; it is also not original in the slightest. Not that a question can only be asked once, but at this stage something new should be be brought to the public square.
For example, the questions I mentioned above of who buys this stuff and why are never explored. It's clear there are "best selling issues" not because they were exceptionally created product, but because they were bought.
-- It is also never explored why some of these women, blonde or just famous - are as well known in these other countries.
-- Why do so many black comedians write a lot of jokes about preferring white women? I don't care if they do, but it's also not color-blind. It's also not media.
-- It's also not explored why more and more of these - to use your premise - white women celebrities are being treated as the ridiculous spoiled pariahs they are and yet somehow that's considered a media "preference" to be envied?
I'm not subscribing to any of the premises behind the questions myself, I'm just requesting actual useful questions when this tired trope is aired.
Part of the answer, of course, to everything is that America has Hollywood and it has excess almost everywhere - and that very much includes the extraneous excess of information, to which this article contributes.
6 - Purple Tigress
Anna Nicole Smith was born Vickie Lynn Marshall. Like Princess Diana, she did marry well, however, she married a man quite a bit older than her.
I think once one adds pornography (as opposed to Paris Hilton's private amateur videos), plastic surgery, gold-digging, affairs and fights over paternity as well as drugs, the argument is diluted because of too many wild tangents.
Other Playboy playmates that attained similar cult followings would include Bettie Page who is decidedly not blonde.
7 - Purple Tigress
The last time I wrote a full length piece about a non-white, non-blonde person would be last month. His name was David Henry Hwang. I did a feature interview.
Quite frankly, I was looking at American media and I cannot judge, as I do not read or see Japanese daily to measure how much press coverage Paris Hilton received versus Bi/Rain (a Korean singer/dancer who recently canceled his performance in Los Angeles.
I would then conjecture that you as well as I cannot measure the depth of coverage in African countries of Paris Hilton versus other black celebrities and if we are talking about black/African (as perceived by Americans) Americans as opposed to those who have some connection with a particular country (such as Kobe Bryant who was raised in Italy or Tony Parker who played in France).
Further, I would ask how you quantify that black comedians comment more on white, blonde women and if one can measure if that is not dependent upon what is topical.
I did not state that white women were treated as ridiculous, spoiled pariahs. That was not the case with Jessica Lynch. Nor with Princess Diana. That is your own mistaken interpretation of my article.
In my article, I talk about white celebrities and non-white celebrities. In this case, royalty.
I also talk about white celebrities of circumstance (disappearance) and non-white celebrities of circumstance. Even Baby Jessica became a celebrity. You fail to see that there are different types of celebrity and they do often appear on the same news programs in different segments as well as the print media.
At this point, we do not know if the two students who disappeared are victims. We only know that both attended the same college, disappeared at about the same age and only one became a celebrity of circumstance.
8 - Temple Stark
The premise I was referring to was "white women celebrities," though I do understand the confusion as I added the extra description of my own view on many of these celebrities getting attention these days after writing the first part.
You bit on the gristle but not the meat of my comments. Your prerogative, but your response was not strong, except in avoidance. I understand it's just a comment on a blog. You have done quite a bit of conjecture in your piece so to say you cannot conjecture further makes very little sense.
I also should have left in the phrase where I said my observation about black comedians was just that, observation in person and on TV. I don't hold that as a given. It is the same type of observation that informs and infuses your piece. It is the comedians - and others - talking and not through any filter but self-censorship.
- Temple
9 - jimmycracker
this may be so, i.e. that the media focuses more on a missing white female than a similar minority, but the sword cuts both ways..... white on minority crimes are catapulted to the front pages of the msm rags.. while minority on white crime is suspiciously absent. hmmmmmmm, i wonder why.... google knoxville crimes... there is a hate crime that recently went under exposed.. but both victims were whites. doesn't fit the media's agenda i guess.
10 - Heather Ames
An interesting angle, but ouch on Princess Diana. No, she did not "just hold hands for a photo shoot." She held children with AIDS when people would not even stay in the same room with them. She publicized the carnage done by land mines left behind after war. She endured her husband's long-standing affair with the woman he should have married in the first place, but didn't because Camilla wasn't a virgin, and the heir to the British throne had to marry one. Diana gave him 2 heirs to the throne while Camilla married well and continued her affair with Charles. Her biggest fault? She loved the man, and was too young and naive to understand what she was getting into until it was too late.
Comparing her with shallow, ridiculous Paris Hilton is probably the biggest insult to her memory that anyone has dreamed up yet.
11 - Purple Tigress
If you looked, I generally do not write about missing people at all. David Henry Hwang had been missing in action on the stage for a long time.
You do not quantify you comment on black comedians in any way. I ask about methodology. You give none.
If you have ventured to read the articles I hyperlinked, you'll see that the case about the students measured the inches in specific newspapers and how widespread the news was.
In my article, I asked just by simple name recognition.
Your premise that people who have name recognition are not celebrities is narrower than mine. As I indicated, people can become celebrities by circumstance such as Baby Jessica did.
You asked how these two worlds converge. Princess Diana met Mother Teresa. She was buried with the rosary given to her by Mother Teresa which is specifically why I made mention of Mother Teresa.
Further, the worlds converge because we hear about them in the same news outlets, ABC, CBS, NBC, LA Times, etc. I answered that. I do not feel it is necessary for Paris Hilton to meet a former missing person for their worlds to converge. If you do that is your privilege, but meeting a missing person means that person isn't missing any more. Otherwise, I believe some actors get involved in the searches such as Winona Ryder in the case of Polly Klaas.
"Why do so many black comedians write a lot of jokes about preferring white women? I don't care if they do, but it's also not color-blind. It's also not media."
You also avoid specificity by not naming the comedians you reference or the programs. Thus no one can contest your data because you are unnecessarily vague. In the research of popular culture that would not be considered good methodology. You have no proof of this and therefore there is nothing to answer. There is only vague content.
As for Lynch, just because the military chooses to make it a story, doesn't mean the media has to report it. The military did not choose to make the abuses in military prisons a story and yet the media reported it (e.g. The New Yorker and 60 Minutes broke the story on Abu Ghraib).
Why don't you, Temple, stop being lazy and do your own homework and come up with specific names and hyperlinks? Otherwise, you're just mindlessly asking questions as if you expect other people to do your research.
As someone who is polylingual and has lived in foreign countries, I cannot claim as you seem to wish me to that the penetration of these issues is deep in other countries. You seem to think otherwise.
"It is also never explored why some of these women, blonde or just famous - are as well known in these other countries."
I dealt with this issue and doubt you even know who Bi is which suggests laziness on your part and thus your failure to get my point. In Japan, Bi is famous. He is a foreigner. He is a talented foreigner. I cannot measure the inches or TV/radio time his news got versus Princess Diana, etc. I do not have the time, but you are welcome to try and get back to me for further discussion with references. I named a specific person compared to your nameless black comedians which, considering the nature of the article, seems even a greater vice.
Please provide your information.
"It's also not explored why more and more of these - to use your premise - white women celebrities are being treated as the ridiculous spoiled pariahs they are and yet somehow that's considered a media "preference" to be envied?"
It was indeed sloppy to suggest that my premise was the white women celebrities were being treated as ridiculous, spoiled pariahs they are when that was not my thesis. I did not and the people I quoted did not say it was something "to be envied."
For these reasons, I suggest you re-read what I actually have written and think before you write.
There was no meat in your comment. There is only an empty plate with the suggestion of a meal to be served sometime in the distant future.
12 - Purple Tigress
According to Answers.com
Princess Diana was the patron of 44 charities and made 180 visits per annum. That's very different than devoting oneself to actually working with the charities and knowing what is going on with them.
Further, it is a very sad statement on our society that the photo of one pretty celebrity could make a difference that science and available info could not. Moreover, we can't really quantify her effect.
Princess Diana did not have many choices as far as careers. She married a rich man and knew what her role was. The royals are well documented in England. It's their country.
Both Charles and Diana committed adultery. One does not forgive the other or two wrongs do not make a right.
She did not seem capable of forming stable relationships with trustworthy men afterward.
Unlike the young man, cousin to African royalty, who died in Iraq fighting for his adopted country, she gets air time, newspaper inches after her death which could have been prevented if she had worn a seatbelt.
Whose memory has been slighted?
13 - bliffle
I think you're taking this too seriously.
14 - Sean Paul Mahoney
It's an interesting article, Tigress and well written.
Monroe and HIlton are in two different leagues if you ask me. In Marilyn's day, you couldn't just slap a picture of your junk up on the internet and become a star. Sure, Marilyn posed nude but in order to become a legend she invented a persona that fascinated the world. And Paris? Not so much.
Paris has purchased in stardom and became famous for just being famous.From the sex tape and the bar brawls to the jail time and the horrible album, Paris seems to have staged her entire life. She knows what will make headlines and plays the game.
But the bigger picture here, in my opinion, is not a blonde one. It's a sexist one. What happened to Monroe, Diana, and stars of today like Lindsey and even Paris is text-book. We don't like women to be too successful or too popular so the minute they flub up we beat them like a pinata. Just ask Katie Couric, Oprah, Madonna, and Hilary Clinton. Even beloved stars of yesteryear like Bette Davis and Katherine Hepburn were ocassionally shunned when they got too big for their britches.
15 - Temple Stark
The basic thing I don't hear throughout the piece and the few following comments is anyone taking responsibility for themselves and what they watch and read.
That is the biggest point being overlooked. I mentioned it above and it is the meat. The last two paragraphs of your comment #11 are mere posturing, which is out and out lame.
"The media," yada yada. They're the evil incarnant, and without it the world would be a much better place. People are only interested in good, holy fare that'll better their understanding of the world.
Would it be nice if the balance was away from celebrity gossip and the blondes? Yes. But you can't blame the media without examining its consumers and the human nature you allude to with this statement on society: Further, it is a very sad statement on our society that the photo of one pretty celebrity could make a difference that science and available info could not.. Your "blondes" are merely a subset of many more hours of coverage and newspaper inches.
What I tried to say, heck what i did say in my very first comment was that you made some good points. I didn't say I disagreed with everything. But it wasn't enough and was in fact as you recklessly call me - lazy, though I didn't use that word.
Ask better questions.
I was responding to an article with a comment, a passing comment which when I came to this site I didn't know I would be making.
I agree I could do a whole lot more research to make my points stronger, however I kept the overwhelmingly bulk of my comment to observation of your article and questions that it should have asked. Those points, the main ones, the meat, don't require research.
My methodology on what black comedians I watch certainly is an example of such. Funnily enough I don't log percentages of jokes while I'm watching them.
I didn't say all black comedians joke about needing / wanting white women. I said that they regularly do so, that it exists. If you're going to deny that, go right ahead. Comicview is my most regular viewing of a wide variety of black comedians.
That I did not research a comment does not at all negate the idea that you were the one who wrote an honest-to-goodness article that was supposed to have reasearch beyond well-trod ground.
Sean Paul: We don't like women to be too successful or too popular so the minute they flub up we beat them like a pinata.
Do you personally know anyone who thinks like this? I don't. Men (or women) who truly hate women aren't the mass of consumers for celebrity news. Lindsay Lohan, for example, wasn't "beat" by media and the public until she was seen flashing crotch, doing coke and getting drunk on a nightly basis. Those are three things which deserve derision.
Getting drunk on a semi-nightly basis is just fine however :-) /jk
16 - Purple Tigress
My methodology on what black comedians I watch certainly is an example of such. Funnily enough I don't log percentages of jokes while I'm watching them.
I didn't say all black comedians joke about needing / wanting white women. I said that they regularly do so, that it exists. If you're going to deny that, go right ahead. Comicview is my most regular viewing of a wide variety of black comedians.
So again, you don't name the comedians. The proper methodology would be to either comment on the program and audience and to log references and/or minutes. That would be what a researcher would do.
Questions that would then be asked:
1. Does this particular comedian change material based on the audience?
2. What is the racial make up of the audience?
3. What where the references to? Were they related to recent news events and would the percentage of mention change if there was more neutral news events or something related to a black celebrity such as Wesley Snipes or Bill Cosby?
4. Does this hold true for this comedian on other shows or does this hold true on other shows.
One article I quote mentions column inches and distribution of the article. So there is nothing really funny about your not logging in the info, but rather sloppy.
People who research popular culture do do this and perhaps if you did some research you might find something to back your claims as I did.
There is nothing to comment on because you give people nebulous info so that no one can really disprove your assertions.
You dismiss things as posturing rather than responding.
All of this is truly lacking in meat. Not even a garnish. OK, you mentioned one TV program. There's an aroma of a meal.
If it were merely sexist then why did the media only look at Jessica Lynch or Natalee Holloway?
When a royal of Africa dies for the US, why doesn't our media focus on him? If you looked at the citation, you'll see it was from BBC, International edition.
17 - EL
In Amercia, it is ridicious! It should not just be Black and White anymore!
I am tired of the media, our society talking about Black and White. True, majority of the Black man prey on White woman regardless in addition to other lighter skin races such as Hispanics, Indian-Ameican, Asian, etc. Let's not forget these group have similar interest in the main stream as the Black.
America has to turn is focus outside this top and focus or inclusive of all immigrants or ethnic groups. Asian and Hispanic Americans are rising. We got to talk about Asian, Hispanic Americans interracial to White in this country.
Tired of the old subject, tired of the Africa symptrom on this country. Pacific century is rising and let's put Dr. Rice and Powell out of job.
We need to put more Asian, Hispanics, American Indians to the media and subject matter.