And the "Oscar Curse" strikes again: Sandra Bullock has decided to divorce her husband Jesse James after it was revealed in March that he slept with lots, and lots of other women besides the actress. I want us all to think about the main woman involved in this scandal, a one Ms. Michelle McGee. The woman has arm sleeves of ink and even has the word "Sinners" tattooed on her forehead to reflect the way we're all sinful (don't ask me how I know this....I just do). Of course I shouldn't rag on her too hard. I mean while she did let someone take a piping hot needle with ink to the front of her head, she did have the decency to keep her bangs over the tat...you know, to be modest. Gotta give her credit for that. Anyhow, when comparing women like McGee and the James' other ladyfriends (especially that fox of an ex-wife) with a woman like Sandra Bullock, the star of "Ms. Congeniality" and "The Marriage Proposal," I feel like I'm watching an episode of Sesame Street where they play that game "Which one of these things is not like the others?" James seems to like himself some *cough cough* adult film star-looking ladies. I don't begrudge him that. To each his own...beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that mess. But for the love of the Creator, why did he and Sandra Bullock ever get married in the first place?
There've been a bunch of sham marriages that we've watched crumble in the public eye. None of them seems quite as preposterous as this coupling, though, because the two don't seem compatible in anyway. She's been the average the American sweetheart type woman who isn't exactly sexayyy but who has the allure of being a mediocre talent, packaged to perfection. Let's put it this way: if you saw Sandra Bullock on the street without make-up and if she never became famous with the help of amazing PR people, no one would give a second glance at the woman as she walked down the street. Nothing wrong with that. I'm just saying that you'd be hard pressed to find any black female of equivalent attractiveness and talent in the spotlight the way she is and she definitely wouldn't be romanticized as a Hollywood darling. But that is a separate topic for a different blog post :) If we look at Jesse James, we get a totally different type of person. The man looks like he was birthed on the backseat of a Harley and his tattoos and bandana imply that he was raised in the backwoods of Alabama. Again, nothing wrong with that. It's just that he's definitely not the kind of man you wanna run into late at night after he's had a few beers. He also looks like a straight up hooligan in some recent photos from US Weekly as he poses like a Nazi, giving Hitler the ever important shout out. He's a real catch. Totally dreamy.
Now I have no particular affections for either of these two people and I really don't care for hearing about their problems. The one thing that DOES interest me, though, is that Bullock is now part of the supposed "Oscar Curse" where women who win the Best Actress award subsequently lose their significant others. Let's review, shall we? Helen Hunt and Hank Azaria's relationship crumbled after her win in 1998, Gwenyth Paltrow and Ben Affleck broke up a few months after her award in 1999, Julia Roberts and Benjamin Bratt's relationship fell apart after she won in 2001, Halle Berry lost Eric Benet to his sex addiction in 2002 (what a shame), Hilary Swank broke up with husband Chad Lowe in 2005, Reese Witherspoon split with Ryan Phillippe in 2006, and Kate Winslet filed for divorce from Sam Mendes after her win in 2009, etc. Regardless of whether these relationships fell apart in the weeks after the award ceremony or in the years following, it's interesting to entertain the idea of a "Curse." I like to think of it more as a question of power dynamics. Does a woman become less attractive once she enjoy great recognition for her work? Is having a partner's whose professional achievements grows with each new day inherently overwhelming to some men? Or do women who receive these sort of accolades disparage men who cannot do the same? Can't people be successful without the destruction of their personal lives? Really, what's up with that?
