Pamela Anderson, one woman brand, reads Unmarketable by WIMN blogger Anne Elizabeth Moore
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Posted by Jennifer L Pozner April 14th, 2008 |
I live for moments of ironic incongruity, so you can imagine how amused I was when, earlier today, various celebrity gossip sites posted the following pictures of Pamela Anderson — one-woman brand-maker for Playboy, Stuff, GQ, Baywatch, V.I.P. and numerous other my-boobs-move-media devices — reading Unmarketable: Brandalism, Copyfighting, Mocketing and the Erosion of Integrity, by the brilliant and wry WIMN’s Voices blogger Anne Elizabeth Moore:
On principle, I’m not going to link back to the various celeb-trashing, whore-joke-trading sites where these pictures first appeared. But the trashy, “Why’s she reading when she should be applying medicated ointment?” tone of most of the comments accompanying these pictures on those sites points to that volatile mix of lust and hostility our culture reserves for the women we prop up as sex symbols. Even when Pam Anderson, whose career has traded on the “ditzy blond” stereotype, decides to do something worthwhile with her time — say, for example, digging into an intellectually rigorous exploration of the commercial infiltration and co-optation of marketing into nearly every aspect of independent culture, as Unmarketable offers — entertainment writers and blog readers still relate to her as if she should never try to be anything more than a staple for low-brow punchlines peddled by Comedy Central boys. Let Pammy read and lay off the slut jokes, why don’tcha?
Yet I admit that the cognitive dissonance of this little pop cultural moment doesn’t escape me. I mean, it’s not like the former Baywatch babe is actually the bubblehead she pretends to be — she’s quite active in animal rights causes, for one — so her book list pick isn’t really all that out of the ordinary. But, be honest: wouldn’t this picture have made more intuitive sense if we were to swap out Unmarketable with, say, the latest copy of US Weekly , Lucky or some other who’s-screwing-who-who’s-buying-what rag?
April 14th, 2008 13:24
Aaaah, Pamela Anderson reading my book about corporate creep and the resultant loss of integrity in a bikini is about the strangest thing I have ever seen.
When I got my jaw off the floor, I may have a more reasoned and intelligent response. But I can’t guarantee it.
April 14th, 2008 16:02
Thank you for the most humane and decent response to the photos of Pamela Anderson reading a book. The frat boy comments left on other sites made my stomach turn.
Nicely done!
April 15th, 2008 14:00
Ah, my fellow feminists, dare not to judge the book simply by the cover. If I correctly recall, Ms. Anderson was - unironically - an early and regular contributor to Bust Magazine.
So maybe it’s possible that like Dolly Parton, there is more to this bombshell than meets the eye.
I’m just sayin’….
April 15th, 2008 14:15
Carla, I mostly agree with you — that’s why I wrote that despite the incongruity, it’s obnoxious for entertainment writers and blog readers to dismiss her as stupid and use it as an excuse for further slut jokes.
Yet there’s nothing antifeminist about pointing out the obvious, which is that this is a star who has built her career on self-onjectification and the (probably untrue) idea that she doesn’t have more than a few brain cells to rub together. I’m glad to imagine that she’s more than she seems. If that’s the case, though, wouldn’t it be nice if she’d cultivate an image that was more in keeping with the notion that attractive women can be smart and competent, rather than this airhead thing she’s gotten rich off of?
April 15th, 2008 14:54
I’m not really all that familiar with her body (haha) of work, to be honest, but didn’t she have some television show where she was a detective? Surely she couldn’t have been that stupid to fight crime. Unless she needed a guy to come to her aid and solve it for her - which is possible.
Pamela Anderson has never seemed especially stupid to me and at least seems in charge of her own career - whatever that may be.
I just question our habit of automatically veering into looks-ism where beauty - even beauty that is obviously padded and panders to the lowest common denominator - equals stupidity.
Do I wish she chose a different way to portray herself? Absolutely. But I actually think it’s COOL that she’s reading Anne’s book. And maybe paints Pamela in a different - maybe more intellectual - light.
And I hope it helps Anne sell more books!!
Thanks for making me think today.
Carla
April 15th, 2008 15:17
Hi Carla,
Oh, yeah - it’s definitely GREAT, cool, all of that, that she’s reading Anne’s book. I hope I got that across in the post. And I hope Anne rakes in the “I’ll read anything a famous person reads” book buyers.
When you talk about the automatic veering toward “looks-ism” and the equation of beauty=stupidity, you’re hitting on what I detest about so much of the portrayals of women in the pop cultural spotlight. But, are you saying I’m veering toward that notion, or agreeing with me that the notion exists in the culture, and there’s a problem with that assumption?
As for Pam’s career, she’s marketed herself as the ditzy sexbomb, that’s just part of the record. The show you’re thinking of, V.I.P., was high camp — featured Pam as a cute ditzy woman who accidentally saved a celebrity and people think that she’s some sort of private eye or bodyguard, so she ends up having her own protection business in which she foils crime despite a total lack of skill, looking cute, bubbly and bumbling all the while. I didn’t see much of the show so I can’t tell you if it was the kind of campy that reinforces the thing it’s poking fun at or if it was the type of campy that made fun of her tabloid image in order to make it clear that she’s more than that…
Glad to make you think. Thanks for joining in the conversation.
April 15th, 2008 15:42
Right on point #2 - that we culturally should not assume someone is dumb because they “look” dumb.
One of my biggest pet peeves are those teen hollywood movies where a nerdy girl takes off her glasses and puts on a slutty outfit and is transformed into a popular hot cheerleader - simply cuz she lost her ability to read.
Now I am really glad I’ve never seen V.I.P. and perhaps I have this totally wrong but I have always thought of Pam as one of the few who can and does subvert the system - although in probably too subtle a way for the American culture.
But talk about branding - Pamela Anderson is practically a human logo!!
I do hope Anne’s book raises a few unsuspecting Pam fan’s IQs.
This was fun.
Carla
April 15th, 2008 16:51
I’m going to go out on a limb here and posit myself as an expert on the points of contact between bikinis, anti-corporate literature, Pamela Anderson, and myself—believe me, though, I’m more than willing to be challenged over this self-proclaimed position of privilege—but until such time as I am toppled, I’ll state this: Jenn’s done a (possibly unnecessarily) fair job of representing Pamela Anderson here as someone deserving, of nothing else, to be LEFT ALONE TO READ HER BOOK. (Which, OK, I wrote.*)
I won’t go into (often disgusting) details, but I will list some of the headlines of some of the competing stories that feature these same pictures:
Buns
Pamela Anderson Reads (6 variations)
Pamela Anderson Tans Her Tush (2 variations)
Pammi Looks Just Crack-ing
See Shocking Pamela Anderson Photos!
And then my three favorites:
Pamela Lee Anderson and the Best Poolside Reading Ever (thanks Christine!)
Pam Anderson Ready to Smash the Marketplace ( ha ha!)
Pamela Anderson—Scarred for Life by Leeches
Without pointing you to it, I’ll add that one of the more frustrating items simply starts with the phrase, “You can’t read,” before launching into a well-known epithet usually reserved for female canines.
Point is: she’s hot, and she’s reading, and this alone is a cause to attack her? Even verbally? From the relative safety of the Internet? There’s a lot more to be said about this than “Scarred for Life by Leeches” and such stories really get across, and so far Jenn’s been one of the few to point that out. And I really have read the stories.
Unfortunately, like it or not, “Buns” is the level of journalism we’re stuck with, Carla. You know it as well as I do, I bet. And while I secretly hope this is all a brilliant effing plot on Pamela Anderson’s part to use her bizarre and strangely acquired powers for good and not evil—a cause I’ve proclaimed elsewhere will win her the prestige of having my new health insurance policy named after her, if, you know, we’re lucky—I wouldn’t be the marketing critic I am if I didn’t also wanna wait for the evidence.
Which, because Pamela is clearly busy accruing important knowledge right now, I will gladly accept in the form of a short email or phone call. Pamela! You know how to contact me!
*This, by the way, is still funny.
April 16th, 2008 05:36
[…] Pamela Anderson, one woman brand, reads Unmarketable by Anne Elizabeth Moore I’m so into the cognitive dissonance of these images. But, you know, I’m not surprised. I may be one of the few people that actually read Pam’s ghostwritten “novel” cover-to-cover, and she isn’t as stupid as we all think. (tags: liter8) […]
April 16th, 2008 10:23
Am I a bad person if I think the teaser headline: “See Shocking Photos of Pamela Anderson” is hilarious?
And yeah - “Buns” as journalism is, of course, driven by dollars and panders to the lowest common denominator. But I am an unabashed optimist and rather than try to fight the Goliath in the room I LOVE the subtle mainstream subversion that these pics represent.
I ran a picture one time of Kid Rock reading a copy of ROCKRGRL - IN BED no less. I took that shot and was dying for someone to ask who took it - sadly, nobody ever did. But I sure did enjoy the shock value.
April 16th, 2008 11:54
Carla, we are agreed:that headline is by far one of the most hilarious.
April 16th, 2008 12:16
Oh, interestingly: The Punk Planeteers, of course, have started thinking about this as an art project, an incident worthy of detournement.
But one poster, long-standing self-publisher R. John Xerxes, asks:
“How would you subvert this image to change its political meaning or better yet infuse it with a more radical political meaning that confronts the absurdity of the original?
Put a copy of a fashion mag into her hands?”
Or, as Rob Walker told me, this is a fine example of life imitating Photoshop.
April 16th, 2008 15:50
[…] Let others give advice or offer critical analysis. We tracked down the book’s author, Anne Elizabeth Moore, who these days can be found in the the busy halls of the Anti-Advertising Agency, among other places, for a response: Of all of the images I never ever thought I would come across in my life, Pamela Anderson reading my little treatise on the rampant corporatization of culture and dwindling of democracy in a bikini is, well, the entirety of the list. Seriously. W. T. F., IMHO. […]
April 16th, 2008 18:47
For a moment, I seriously thought the comment above mine was from Pamela Anderson rather than a link. I am obviously not getting enough sleep!!
Must take a cue and find a nice chaise lounge chair somewhere and pick up a copy of AEM’s book! I’m inspired!
April 17th, 2008 09:34
This is quite honestly one of the strangest things I have ever seen. It’s not the fact that OMG She can read. It’s that Anne’s book is relatively obscure, which means Pamela Anderson would have to have sought it out. That takes a little more effort than finding a copy of The Kite Runner or Eat, Pray, Love. Wow.
I hope this helps AEM sell a whole buncha books. You should try to get Pammers to give you a quote for your next book!
April 18th, 2008 00:29
There is also the probability that a friend/acquaintance of hers may have recommended the book to her. There are many “connected” souls out in La-la-land that shun the “mainstream culture” whenever possible, particularly those who make a living in it from 6am to 5pm and later daily.
Personally, I shun much celebrity gossip. But these pics actually tell me that there is some level of hopefulness in these United States.
April 22nd, 2008 19:38
[…] I occasionally grow tired of theorizing about corporate culture and cataloguing its public if hilarious malfeasances committed in the name of publicity—I mean,who reads that stuff?—and so, on Thursday, April 17, I started a new project with the Anti-Advertising Agency’s Steve Lambert called the Anti-Advertising Agency Foundation For Freedom. It’s a not-for-profit charitable arm of the organization, designed to oust advertising, marketing, and PR creatives from their careers. By offering them cash, a big party, and a giant, novelty check. […]
June 5th, 2008 08:22
[…] Anne Elizabeth Moore, independent journalist, artist and activist, former editor of Punk Planet magazine, author of UnMarketable: Brandalism, Copyfighting, Mocketing and the Erosion of Integrity, and WIMN’s Voices Blogger […]
December 1st, 2008 11:37
[…] As long-time readers of this blog will remember from numerous posts here, WIMN’s Voices blogger Anne Elizabeth Moore’s book Unmarketable: Brandalism, Copyfighting, Mocketing, and the Erosion of Integrity offers one of the most important discussions you can find — anywhere — about the dangerous effects of commercialism over contemporary media, culture and life. […]