There is some controversy over Jodie Foster's Golden Globes speech, through which she accepted the Cecil B. DeMille Award and made some impassioned comments about privacy. Watch the video. Respond with a blog post in which you attempt to answer questions about the rhetorical situation that Foster's speech seems to want to draw from as a springboard for ... for what? Ask:
- What do I know about Jodie Foster?
- Who was Cecil B. DeMille? What is this award intended to "mean"? (why is it given? does it have alternative "real" implications? what are they?)
- Who is Jodie Foster? Have I seen her work?
- What is her "public significance" in terms of popular media?
- In what sorts of public rhetorics is Jodie Foster invoked? (search this; don't simply rely on memory).
- What was her goal? What did she want her speech to do to/for you? What did she want you to think? to do? (or not think ... not do ... start doing, etc.)
- Was she clear? If not, why? Did it matter? How?
- Did you discern any subtextual discourses that may help us to understand her purpose(s)?
- Who was the audience? Of course, she was speaking, immediately, to the GG audience of her celebrity friends, but she was also speaking to hundreds of thousands of television and streaming web viewers, as well. How do you imagine Foster crafting this speech for *just that person(s)*?
- Was this an appropriate or effective venue for this speech? Why? Why not?
- Did you like it? Why? Why not?
video via Rolling Stone.
Off hand, I know Jodie Foster from Silence of the Lambs. But unlike other "big names" in Hollywood, I don't know much else and after listening to her Golden Globe speech upon being presented the Cecil B. DeMille award, I know that's the way she's wanted it to be her whole career. Her speech was set in what is arguably the most public venue possible yet was given to a select few, some of whom weren't even in the audience. I think she chose words specific enough to convey her exact message as eloquently as she could without spilling her guts to the nearly 17 million viewers watching. There's beauty in that type of rhetoric if you ask me. In less than 10 minutes, Jodie “came out, lectured on privacy, discussed her mom’s dementia and retired.” (Sam Leith). Leith calls this rhetorical technique occultatio, which basically means she brought the issue up and purposely danced around it in order to make an impression on her audience. She touches on the idea of privacy and the lack there of in show business and I found her closing statement the most interesting as she looks towards her next 50 years, "to be understood deeply and to not to be so very lonely, thank you all of you for the company." The juxtaposition made between feeling "so very lonely" while at the same time thanking a vague "everyone" for the company the last 38 years makes me think she enjoys the art of her craft but not the side effects of it, so to speak. If that assumption is true, I completely understand her choice in venue for this speech as well as why she was given the award; an award given to those who truly contribute to the film industry. I felt her speech to be perfectly delivered (with a few hiccups, like the Mel Gibson comment that flew over my head) and the goal of it, reached. It was genuine and tear jerking and personal in a respectable way and as a person not skilled in occultatio, I can't fathom how she prepared such a wonderful and vaguely clear acceptance speech.
ReplyDeleteAmanda Drake
Thanks, Amanda, for your thoughtful post. I am fascinated by the concept and practice of "occultatio," and your use of the term in your post is spot on. I related to it in the context of the kinds of scholarship that I do (digital films, non-traditional, experimental). I sort of assume that my audience shares a certain kind of awareness, and this enables me to "dance around it in order to make an impression" [sic]. I'm glad also to hear that you found the move effective; this bodes well for how you will repsond to my teaching :)
ReplyDeleteI had to look it up, but the Cecil B. Demille Award is given those with "outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment." Demille was an actor and a director of silent, and sound films in the earlier 1900's. It's a very iconic award.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know a ton about Jodie Foster. But, overall I liked her speech a LOT! Similar to Dr. Kyburz, I started out being a little confused on how I felt about what she was saying. I liked everything she said by the end, I just felt like it was awkardly presented (maybe even on purpose), at least in the beginning. I'm not saying this to be critical but her intro was seriously one of the most awkward I've ever seen. I found myself making this face : / But, once again, I ended up loving the speech! In fact, it gave me the chills.
I felt like her comments regarding privacy were directed more to the public lives of celebrities rather than the privacy issues outside that circle. Obviously, she has made an effort to keep her life fairly private, but I think she has reached a breaking point, although she can't seem to escape the reality of being a public celebrity.
I kind of felt like she was making light of the opportunity to live a private life. I don't think that this was a retirement speech at all. In fact, I think she was conveying the caulostrophobic perpetuity of fame. I felt like she was also demonstrating how permanent the privacy issue is, and that once your privacy is taken, it can be really difficult to salvage.
She seemed sarcastic about coming out of the closet during her speech. Of course, she really has same sex attraction, but I think she was making light of the fact that despite whether this was the moment she had set aside to come out, everyone already knew.
I found her speech very interesting.
"Normal is not something to aspire to. It is something to get away from." Jodie Foster
ReplyDeleteIt seems as though Jodie Foster has taken this quote to heart in her life and in her career. From watching her speech, I got the feeling that she is disappointed in society's conventions in general. Not only did she proudly declare her homosexuality and offer details about her "modern family" which go against societal norms, but she also spoke proudly of how she had managed to keep her life somewhat private during her career, and she made light of how reality TV and sharing every detail of one's life has become the new and accepted "normal".
To me, the bulk of her speech felt like a critique of what our culture considers to be "normal" today, and it showed her continued dedication to not only bucking the system but perhaps her dedication to trying to change people's minds about what "normal" is.
There was, however, an underlying subtext to her speech that I found really interesting in that I think it is a very "normal" if not common response to her situation. She expressed a kind of inner conflict that I believe to be common in most people which is that although we might seek to "get away" from that which is termed "normal" in order to stand out or in order to be independent, there is a loneliness that comes from achieving it and a longing to fit in again. She expressed in her speech that she wanted "to be seen, deeply understood, and to be not so very lonely." These were very poignant and heart-felt words.
In this light, perhaps her message could be read as not about trying to separate one's self from others, but about letting go of the conventions that separate us?
Dear Jodie Foster,
ReplyDeleteYou are a brave woman.
After doing some digging into the delightful character and Hollywood iconic actress, Jodie Foster, I found that what makes this Golden Globe Cecile B. Demille award recipient so unique is that her address to the millions of viewers is distractingly personal. I choose to say “distractingly” because all that Jodie Foster has strived to do, much of what she has come to signify in popular culture clashed with her speech.
It would be an understatement to say that Jodie Foster is a personal woman. Essentially, she has been coerced into keeping her live private once she began to show signs of her homosexual identity. She began to date ex-girlfriend Cydney Bernard in 1993 during a time when homosexuality among celebrities was best kept under wraps. During her speech she has her “coming-out-not” moment when she states, “I already did my coming out about 1,000 years ago back in the stone age, those very quaint days when a fragile young girl would open up to trusted friends and family and co-workers, and then gradually and proudly to everyone who knew her, to everyone she actually met.” It is little wonder why she strived so hard to keep her private life as low-key as possible during all of those years. For how would a huge Hollywood actress be received by a public in which homosexuality was, at the time, best kept in the closet?
Perhaps the nature of the Cecile B. Award she received was just that excuse she was looking for to make her long-awaited declaration. After all, the honorary award could be considered a stamp of approval for the actress for all her years of exceptional contribution to the field of movie making, no matter her personal beliefs.
Regardless, the public declaration of her sexual-orientation, her intimate declaration of love toward her ailing mother and her discussion of the nature of privacy among Hollywood icons is bested described as surprising due to her diligence in keeping her life as private as possible over all her years as an actress. Is this the beginning of an age of a new Jodie Foster? Time will only tell. Regardless, it was a woman of courage to take such a public stand as she did during that acceptance speech.
This speech by Jodie Foster is by far one of the most interesting speeches I've heard by a celebrity on any award show. There was definitely a message she wished to convey with her powerful (if not somewhat confusing) speech but she did manage to make her audience feel something, which was evidently shown based on the facial expressions of her fellow actors.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who had been working in the film industry for about 45+ years, maybe she felt compelled to express something she hadn't been able to publicly all those years ago with THIS speech. Because she was being honored, maybe she felt this was the moment to address her sexual orientation and how she felt about privacy, considering her remark on what it means to be a celebrity today as opposed to what it was like when she was just becoming famous. But I could be wrong.
I feel like actors, when they talk or give speeches, they speak in such a way that only others that work in that particular industry would understand them. But it certainly felt very real and raw, not some diplomatic response to an interview on the red carpet.
And speaking of which, Jodie Foster isn't into the glitz and glamour of the red carpet, as she quoted here, "I'm lucky that people do leave me alone. I'm not Madonna. The red carpet is work for me. I work from 9-to-5 and when I get home, I don't want to go back to work by going to an industry event. For me, putting on makeup and a fancy dress is work."
Being so focused on her work and staying grounded by trying to keep her private life out in public, Jodie Foster is remarkable by being so bold with her speech at the Golden Globes. And even though she shared her views on privacy during this speech, it's interesting to note how all this controversy sparked up the day after she delivered it. I feel like there was an irony there somehow, but after that speech, maybe Jodie Foster won't care what is said about her in the press anymore. It seemed like she said her piece and made peace with going public/having privacy.
To be completely honest, I didn't know much about Jodie Foster prior to watching her speech at the Golden Globe Awards. Initially, I thought she was the woman on "Twister", until further research revealed that was Helen Hunt. I knew she starred in Silence of the Lambs and Flight Plan although I had never seen either of those movies.
ReplyDeleteIn further research, I really started to appreciate and admire what a brilliant and successful actress she really was. Cecil B. DeMille was a film director and producer during the early days of Hollywood. I learned that the Cecil B. DeMille award for "outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment". I also found that it is usually given to stars that are much older than Jodie Foster. The last person to receive it that was younger than her was in 1967 (Charlton Heston at age 43)! I thought that was incredible.
Jodie Foster has incredible public significance not only due to her astounding success in her acting career, but she has also accomplished so much educationally and as a mother, daughter, lover, and friend. For all of these reasons, she is looked to as a role model and popular media feeds off public figures like this.
When I first heard her speech live last Sunday, I was honestly quite confused and didn't really know what to think of it at first. Watching it again in class helped develop context and direction for me to see what she really wanted us to take from her speech. Watching a third time on my own helped to solidify what I feel about it and I developed my interpretation of her intentions and meaning.
As her speech began, she went through a lot of the normal 'motions' that the award winners do during their acceptance speech. Being as charismatic and lovable as she is, it was easy to see how much she loved it and was eating it up from the audience. I believe that when she realized how easy and friendly it was, she thought that this would be perfect moment to have her official "Coming Out" moment about her homosexuality.
What happened next is what is most interesting to me. Jodie switches gears and she expresses that she wants to say something that she's never really been able to air in public. She says it's a declaration that she's a little nervous about, and rightfully so, the once confident and unshakable Jodie is now gone and she is acting and feeling very nervous. At that moment she says "I am.....Single."
I feel like that is not what she wanted to say. It seemed to me that in the very last moment, she backed away from her initial intentions and didn't say what she was going to. From that moment, she just seems off a little bit until she pulls it back together in the end. I watched that single moment over and over again, and to me it is undeniable that she quickly switched gears and didn't say what she had first intended. Looking at the words alone somewhat confirm this. Why such a long drawn-out build-up to just say that she is single?
Aside from this pivotal moment, I feel her entire goal was to express who she really was and to touch our hearts. With that, I would say she accomplished this for every one of us. Those who watched the speech can't deny those special feelings that she evoked in all of us. The moment when she spoke of her mother with dementia brought thousands to tears.
In the end, I thoroughly enjoyed this speech. For those like me, who didn't really know who she was until these moments, I have an incredible amount of newfound respect for this woman. She is incredibly strong in many ways.
I'll be honest. I like to read what everybody else says before I respond to most of my assignments. I did this again today. Looking at what others have to say assists me in shaping what it is I have to say.
ReplyDeleteI too looked up the Cecil B DeMille Award as well as Cecil B DeMille himself. I also looked at the list of receivers of the award. What I learned was that receiving the award was based on persons ability to play important and sometimes difficult roles (or create them as directors) and the influence this person had in shaping the industry as well as popular media, all on top of the lifetime achievements in the industry.
After watching this speech, I got counting how many Jodi Foster films I'd seen and realized that I have seen almost as many of hers as Cary Grant or Doris Day. I also realized why. Jodi Foster is truly dynamic actor. She has the ability to be silly and serious all at the same time as is evident in Nim's Island. This is also evident in her speech. We all saw the way she took a serious subject, her "official" coming out, and made it seem light or like it was no big deal, while also expressing that it was a big deal by moving on to the issue of privacy.
The part of her speech where she talks to those she loves the most, her boys, her ex and her beloved mother reminds me of the woman who played parts like Anna in the King and I and a serious, but lonely scientist in Contact. I wonder how much of her private life found itself on the screen. How much of who she really is went into her acting? Is that why privacy is so very important to her, so she can be herself anywhere?
I know she declared an end to one phase of her life, but I wonder if that is because she opened herself up to something new with this speech.
Like some of my classmates have expressed, I too had a very vague idea of who Jodi Foster is and what she has accomplished. Once I did some research on her I found that I was a lot more familiar with her than I originally thought. She is a somewhat iconic figure in popular media because she has been part of the business for so long. She has played some really significant and challenging roles and it makes sense more and more why she was the recipient of this award.
ReplyDeleteCecil B. DeMille was a film producer and director during the 1900s. The Cecil B DeMille Award is meant to honor those who have made "outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment". This awards celebrates those who have played significant roles and have accomplished important things in the entertainment business. Jodi Foster seemed a fit candidate for the award.
When I first saw the acceptance speech, I was really confused and really didn't understand what she was trying to say. Once I watched it a few more times, I grew to really love and appreciate it. I found what she said about privacy really interesting. I think many celebrities that are constantly in the public eye share the frustration in not having a private life. There were nods and acclamation of confirmation from her peers. What's interesting is that while she was planning on making a public statement about her sexual preference, she did not. I loved that. It plays into even more the privacy issue. She shouldn't have to make any statement one way or the other. The privacy issue is far from over, but I respect Jodi Foster more and more every time that I watch the speech.
While I feel that she was trying to make a statement to a crowd much larger that the intimate Golden Globe audience, I feel like she left more people confused at her ambiguity. I personally found it riveting and found the ambiguity refreshing and powerful.
One of the common themes I'm seeing involves the reality of our situation as consumers of popular media. What reality? I'm sensitized to our relatively passive consumption. In this case, we watched the speech, made our judgements (we're only human), and moved on. I would be willing to guess that were you not compelled to do go back to discover more about the rhetorical situation, the histories involved, and the nature of the event, you may have simply let it slide. Do you agree? If so, what to do with this knowledge? Maybe I can ask it this way: What does it take to motivate you do this kind of research? In your "real" (not school) life? I'm serious and not being accusatory. So, to model a possible answer, I'll submit that for me I am often motivated by a powerful visual -- yes, looks matter, but "looks" include rhetorical elements of the situation ... gestures, clenched teeth, etc. For me, I can't helping thinking that Foster was literally biting her tongue, at times. So although she eventually became incredibly articulate, she seemed to struggle with the moment. I found this somehow tragic.
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