Guest column: Camille Paglia on the death of the Hollywood sex symbol
"Jane Fonda’s crisply efficient prostitute in 'Klute' reflected the chilly atmospherics of postwar European art films’ new sexual realism," says Paglia.
Protest about the “immoral” content of movies began even before World War One and would lead to Hollywood’s adoption in 1930 of the notorious Hays Code, which plagued progressive screenwriters and directors for decades.
, where the femme fatale is a scary-smart writer of eerie omniscience. Stone's Catherine Tramell, first seen communing with crashing waves far below her stone patio, unmans a team of police inquisitors by merely uncrossing her legs.
Third, the female sex symbol, descended from mother goddesses like Venus and Isis, once implicitly represented the life force, nature itself. Because of overpopulation as well as career demands, today's values have shifted. Marriage and pregnancy are often delayed or avoided by ambitious middle-class working women. Furthermore, the body is becoming mechanized, wed to technology. From cosmetic plastic surgery to fertility treatments, science rather than mother nature is in charge.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Hollywood deaths that are still shrouded in mysteryThe most mysterious deaths in Hollywood history have left pop culture fans captivated for decades as many remain unsolved to this day
Read more »
The ICA Miami, *W* and *Surface* Hold Celebratory Basel DinnerTake an inside look at W and SurfaceMag's celebratory Art Basel dinner where guests were sipping on ChateauDesclans Rose Rock Angel and WhisperingAngel. Ad
Read more »
The Dior Men Miami After-Party Went Out With a Bang (And Not Just Because of the Fireworks)Last night guests pulled up to a Miami neighborhood that felt more Bushwick than beach.
Read more »
Special Report: Powder Keg - FDA bowed to industry for decades as alarms were sounded over talcAt an invitation-only gathering late last year, U.S. regulators and their guests...
Read more »
Ulla Johnson Threw a Candlelit, Floral-Filled Dinner Party at Bergdorf GoodmanA look inside Ulla Johnson's candlelit, floral-filled dinner party hosted inside the designer's boutique in Bergdorf Goodman’s Fifth Avenue flagship.
Read more »
'How to Train Your Dragon' Filmmaker Dean DeBlois on His Favorite Scene and 'Fox and the Hound' Influences“It’s nice but it’s a little strange.” Dean DeBlois, the filmmaker behind the HowToTrainYourDragon trilogy, finds it odd to be back in the awards conversation after bidding adieu to his creations early in the year
Read more »