Monday, March 3, 2008

Gimmicks Gimmicks Everywhere


Has the World gone gimmick crazy? Why is that I can't go anywhere with out hearing that Diablo Cody was a stripper. There is just so much wrong here. First of all she made money and gained notoriety for documenting her stripping adventures. Let us remember that many journalists also go under conver to do things and write about them. In fact, having experiences is what gives writers things to write about. Everyone keeps talking about how unbelievable her story is. What is unbelievable about it? That a woman from outside the "Hollywood" community can win an Academy Award? Cody (whose real name is Brook Busey) grew up in Illinois, she attended a Catholic school, and then went on to the University of Iowa where she earned a degree in media studies. Is this the unbelievable part? She began writing. It turned out she was good at it. Then she went on to win an Academy Award. Is it unbelievable that she can be such a good writer? because libraries and bookstores are all filled with things written by "good" writers. There are people out there who have a natural aptitude for writing....how is that unbelievable? It is Amazing that Juno was her first screenplay. It is amazing that her first screen play was so successful. But her success has to do with her talent not her back story. To say that her story is unbelievable is to disregaurd her talent and treat her as a novelty....an anomaly. Anyone who has ever taken an interest in reading, especially memoir, can see that the writers they are reading make up a strange cast of characters with all sorts of interesting back stories. Even "common" people with "everday" jobs have interesting back stories. Show me a person who doesn't have an interesting back story and all bet that there is a writer out there who can make it appear interesting.


Anyway, Congrates to Brook/Diablo for all her success and for making Minneapolis look like it breeds so many awesome people. Everyone loves a good rags to riches/ cinderalla story but I think that it's important to remember that in most situations success comes with a grip of talent and a shit load of hard work. I wish that the media would stop emphasising that she is a stripper....it takes away from how truly amazing her success is.

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