Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Brangelina: just another Average Joe couple

The whole media-invented triangle of Brad-Jen-Angelina has been going on for 5 years now. Hard to believe it’s 5 years later and we’re still getting tabloid stories of how Jen is lonely and Angelina and Jen fighting, etc. Now there are swirling rumors that Brad and Angelina are breaking up because they haven’t appeared together at recent awards shows and are not scheduled to appear at the Oscars this year.

We really don’t know these people from a hole in the wall. All we know is what we are told by entertainment media, who will tell us anything as long as we keep reading/watching. Let’s liken this situation down to an Average Joe level.

Guy leaves his wife for another woman. This happens so often in real life that it has almost become the norm. Most people would expect the parties to have moved on by now. Why can magazines still be sold that purport “fights” between these two women? Why does anyone care? There have been plenty of instances of this situation in Hollywood before, but none have kept hanging on this long. How many years will it take before we stop reading these stories? I guess it doesn’t help that, according to the media, Jen hasn’t really had a new marriage-worthy relationship since Brad left. I can’t help but wonder, if Brad and Angelina do break up, and after the inevitable “Brad goes running back to Jen” stories, if we’ll finally be treated to not having to read about the faux triangle anymore.

[Sidebar: Or, another thought: is one of the three parties so desperate for media attention that they feed little tidbits to the magazines to keep them printing stories? My money’s on Jen, but that’s probably because I don’t care for her public image anyway. I think she’s a run of the mill actress who isn’t as gorgeous as I keep being told she is.]

As far as this supposed breakup goes, I’m confused on why not making appearances together constitutes a breakup. They are possibly the biggest celebrity couple going right now. They can never escape the camera, but don’t you think they’d like to sometimes? Do we think Angelina likes taking hours to get ready for an awards show over & over again? If she’s like any other typical American, she likes some time lounging in sweatpants and t-shirts (she just can’t do that in public as that would be image-ruining). According to the media, this is a couple who do a lot for various charitable causes. Angelina for the UN, Brad for New Orleans, etc. They have a charitable foundation. They have stated they would not marry until gay marriage was legal. If they have these strong actions and beliefs, wouldn’t it make sense that they think award shows are fluff and meaningless? I doubt their hearts are breaking that they can’t appear. Stars appear at these shows because they need to promote themselves. I can’t think of two people who need promotion less than they do. Neither have a movie out right now that is in dire need of promotion, and I don’t think Brad’s in the running for any nominations, despite the moderate success of Inglorious Basterds.

All this being said, there can only be so many rumors before we find out it's actually true. Given her previous comments about never wanting to be "the other woman" after what her parents went through, I'm surprised it lasted this long.

Addendum: in the same vein, E! discusses this in Conspiracy Corner.

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