Normally I wouldn’t be interested in reading a New Yorker article about Martha Stewart, but when I saw it was written by Joan Didion, I immediately became interested. I thought that Didion would write some unique and thoughtful takedown of Stewart. That was lazy thinking. Yes, she gives us something novel, something important to chew on, but it is never dismissive.
The enormity of Stewart’s empire is well described. Didion understands that it is not just about “elevating the role of homemaker” as Stewart likes to say. Didion does what she usually does as she explains Stewart in the annals of American capitalism.
The other female phenomenon that came to mind, of course, is Oprah. I don’t think she inspires as much parody or criticism, but maybe it’s out there and I don’t keep tabs. Or, maybe I've even avoided it because I like Oprah more than Martha.
I hope I don’t find out that these two capitalists are sheltering their money, paying off politicians or sending rockets into space. If that happens, I’ll wait for Joan Didion to explain.
Very interesting, thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI would expect that prominent, powerful, and wealthy women would be subject to the same flaws as men in a similar circumstance. Hope I am wrong.
ReplyDeleteI always felt that Martha Stewart was truly wronged by prosecutors for doing what Wall Street tycoons routinely do on a vastly larger and more lucrative scale than did she. On top of that, one of the biggest things she tried earnestly to talk about once she was released was the horrible violence she witnessed daily as a prisoner. She spoke of hearing a young man in an adjacent cell block being raped nightly in his cell and screaming for help, and always being ignored by guards, who comfortably colluded with prison gangs. She had a whole lot to tell of about the sadism and depravity of those who run our prison system, but of course, the press ignored her, because this is a verboten topic in mainstream media.
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