Thursday, December 06, 2007
A Textual Analysis of Entertainment Weekly's "50 Smartest People in Hollywood"
You have to love Entertainment Weekly. Every so often they'll publish these random lists of entertainment figures they suddenly claim are "it" or "cool" or some other completely subjective thing that essentially just means anyone they happen to have an interview in the can for at that moment. Now they've gone ahead and turned their annual "power list" into a similar exercise in arbitrariness, declaring that power is about being smart now. Sure, that's why Stephen Hawking rules with an iron fist from his fortress of gold. Anyway, a few entries in particular deserve some attention:
#1, Judd Apatow. Right. Making moderately successful sex comedies is definitely the way to rule the world. Just don't let Osama find out.
#5, Will Smith. Doesn't the fact that the interview mentions Bad Boys II pretty much cancel out the inclusion on this list?
#11, Brian Grazer. I have no idea if this guy's smart or powerful or whatever; I just want to make fun of his hair.
#24, Emmanuel Lubezki. I'm sorry, no one with that name can possibly be smart. Not when changing your name just involves a little bit of paperwork.
#33, Angelina Jolie. Apparently buying a bunch of children gets a person on the short list. So where's Michael Jackson?
#50, Ben Affleck. Come on, now this is just too easy.
Seriously, do you ever feel like every magazine is secretly trying to become Us Weekly now? My life hasn't been the same since The Economist added that style section.
You have to love Entertainment Weekly. Every so often they'll publish these random lists of entertainment figures they suddenly claim are "it" or "cool" or some other completely subjective thing that essentially just means anyone they happen to have an interview in the can for at that moment. Now they've gone ahead and turned their annual "power list" into a similar exercise in arbitrariness, declaring that power is about being smart now. Sure, that's why Stephen Hawking rules with an iron fist from his fortress of gold. Anyway, a few entries in particular deserve some attention:
#1, Judd Apatow. Right. Making moderately successful sex comedies is definitely the way to rule the world. Just don't let Osama find out.
#5, Will Smith. Doesn't the fact that the interview mentions Bad Boys II pretty much cancel out the inclusion on this list?
#11, Brian Grazer. I have no idea if this guy's smart or powerful or whatever; I just want to make fun of his hair.
#24, Emmanuel Lubezki. I'm sorry, no one with that name can possibly be smart. Not when changing your name just involves a little bit of paperwork.
#33, Angelina Jolie. Apparently buying a bunch of children gets a person on the short list. So where's Michael Jackson?
#50, Ben Affleck. Come on, now this is just too easy.
Seriously, do you ever feel like every magazine is secretly trying to become Us Weekly now? My life hasn't been the same since The Economist added that style section.
