- Well, it took a long time in coming, but it finally
happened, and it happened at the Oscars last night.
No, I'm not referring to Peter Jackson's spectacular sweep of the Academy
Awards for Lord of the Rings. Although perhaps one small parallel can be
drawn between the brilliant director and the phenomenon in question: Both
have copious amounts of flesh.
It would seem that the anorexic beauty icon of Hollywood is finally being
put to rest. For a long time, it has been crumbling under the weight of
an increasingly hefty Western culture; sagging under justifiable complaints
from feminists, and losing favor with a younger generation that never cut
its teeth on Hugh Hefner's airbrushed images. Breasts of silicone have
gradually fallen in favor, especially when combined with protruding ribs.
Most recently, critics and audiences alike have begun to take a positive
fascination in glamorous actresses who put on pounds for movie roles, like
Charlize Theron and Renee Zellweger. The latter, in particular, has enjoyed
a strong fan following among red-blooded American men--especially during
her cinematic weight fluctuations.
Being a fan of medieval fantasy, I tuned in the Oscars with considerable
interest to see how Tolkien would fare. Then I noticed something very strange:
The actresses and singers I saw were built an awful lot like real women.
This was totally unexpected.
And suddenly there Renee was again, glowing up on stage, accepting her
richly deserved Oscar for Cold Mountain, and charming everyone with her
exuberant, overflowing femininity. She had squeezed her soft, curvaceous
flesh neatly into a lovely off-the-shoulder white gown, and she held the
men in the audience spellbound. The camera panned the room, and there,
among the hundreds of breathless, staring men, was Sean Connery ogling
her. And he smiled at her, with that unmistakable twinkle that we've seen
in his eye since Dr. No. And then I knew it was over.
Thin was no longer "in" in Hollywood. The anorexic standard of
female beauty that reigned over our culture for fifty years appeared to
have finally been broken.
The rest of the show confirmed this, as a long march of "A" list
Hollywood women--some new to American audiences and some very familiar--shimmied
out in pastel dresses and beaded gowns showing more feminine bulges than
we've seen since the heyday of Marilyn Monroe. Charlize Theron seemed to
have retained a few of her 'Monster' pounds. Liv Tyler was marvelously
healthy-looking. Marcia Gay Harden was stunningly voluptuous. Jamie Lee
Curtis bounced out, exuding jiggly Rubenesque charm. Every actress looked
rounded and curvaceous. Oprah Winfrey looked--well, like everybody else
for once. Even Julia Roberts looked a bit puffed-up---and she has long
seemed to possess some sort of genetic mutation precluding puffiness.
Only Nicole Kidman seemed to have stubbornly held onto her skinny figure
and bony shoulders. Every other woman in Hollywood seemed to be expanding.
There were real, healthy women everywhere, and there was apparently an
acceptance of their fleshy reality.
This is not to say that 'Fat is In, in La-La land'. It doesn't mean that
Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers are now in grave danger of sliding into
financial oblivion. Nor does it mean that high fashion runways will start
displaying women with normal bodies again, instead of ambulatory celery
stalks. But the beauty paradigm that has apparently just shifted is that
womanly figures are back. And this time, it's not just some woman's magazine
headline, stuffed between articles on varicose veins and cucumber slices
for eyelids. It's a real phenomenon. It was there in great abundance at
the Oscar ceremonies. Soft bosoms replaced silicone; feminine arms and
shoulders replaced toothpicks attached to bulging clavicles. Round, rosy
faces replaced hollow cheekbones and haunted eyes. Broad hips were back.
Now we can't guess what all this new flesh will generate in the way of
cultural ripples. It may only generate another ridiculous diet backlash.
But speaking purely as an American male...let me say this: Most men are
tired of looking at women who resemble an overcooked Buffalo Wing. Most
men would be very happy to see a cultural return to the voluptuous shapes
of natural womanhood. Of feminine curves that move--as Jack Lemmon remarked,
in Some Like It Hot--"like jello on springs."
To that cheering prospect, I say: "Welcome back, Marilyn."
****
--Paul Delacroix is a free-lance writer and artist living in Texas.
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