14 DAY TRIAL // She has been labeled anything and everything from home-wrecker to undying symbol of female power, but Angelina Jolie and her life have probably never been so thoroughly put under the microscope as they are in the latest issue of Harper’s Bazaar magazine. Feminist writer and political consultant Naomi Wolf tries to explain in her Harper’s Bazaar piece “The Power of Angelina (Why Women Want and Want to Be Angelina Jolie)” what sums up the persona of the Hollywood actress, and what could possibly attract so much media attention onto her.
Whatever Angelina Jolie does or says is bound to make headlines, that much we already know. However, we might not always know why this comes to happen, and this is where Wolf comes in the picture to shed some light. According to the writer, the star has managed to do the impossible: blend all extremes and contradictions in one stunning package that goes beyond all boundaries imposed by man to become a genuine live icon. This is Angelina Jolie and this is why the public is constantly fascinated with her – and will most certainly be so for the rest of her life, and then some.
Angelina Jolie can be both angel and demon, Wolf says, and, what’s more important, she’s allowed to show both these sides of her personality. “The magic of Jolie’s self-presentation? She makes the claim, with her life and actions, that, indeed, you can get away with it. All of it. Against every Western convention, she has managed to draw together all of these kinds of female liberation and empowerment. And her gestures determinedly transgress social boundaries – boundaries of convention, race, class, and gender – giving many of us a vicarious thrill. When the megascandal took place – Jolie’s alleged seduction of a married man, Brad Pitt, on the set of ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith’ – it could have been the end of Jolie as a role model. But she managed the almost unheard-of task of turning the home-wrecker label into a wholesome, family-friendly triumph.” the feminist writes.
The star is also independent, up to the point of being able to rise as a family role model without the need of a father figure – that is before Pitt came in the picture. Not only is Angelina independent, but she also comes across as being able to do anything a man does and even better, Wolf believes, with proof for that being the emancipating act of learning how to fly a plane. She can – and does – stand in a league of her own: self-sufficient, all-powerful and, above all, perfect.
“So she becomes what psychoanalysts call an ‘ego ideal’ for women – a kind of dream figure that allows women to access, through fantasies of their own, possibilities for their own heightened empowerment and liberation. […] Jolie’s image is not just a mirror of one woman but also a looking glass for female fantasy life writ large.” Wolf concludes by saying. For the entire essay on how Angelina Jolie came to represent female empowerment, please see here.