ENG 304 Flash Prose 2

Emily Kelly ENG 304 Flash Prose 2 2/16/2015

This past December I found myself flipping through television channels out of sheer boredom when I came across a great way to waste time. Barbara Walter’s Top Ten Most

Fascinating People of the Year, also known in 2014 as Barbara Walter’s Attempt to Stay

Relevant, looked more promising than the other viewing options that night. According to the TV guide, the special would feature an extensive interview with Taylor Swift about feminism. Great!

I thought to myself. Not only were they using the f -word on a major network they were also going to have a whole conversation about it, for me this was a definite watch.

Since the special went countdown style and Ms. Swift was the second most interesting person, I sat through the other interviews good and bad waiting for the one I actually wanted to see. I noticed that the special featured several women, all of whom had worked hard to make names for themselves in difficult industries. It seemed like Ms. Walters was using her 2014 special to highlight this idea, particularly since Taylor Swift was the most advertised guest of the night. When the Swift interview finally came on it was nice, but not as vibrant as I was expecting it to be. The conversation about feminism I had been expecting didn’t happen which bummed me out, but I figured I would stick around to see who Walters had chosen to be the most fascinating person of the year. Emily Kelly ENG 304 Flash Prose 2 2/16/2015

Even Walter’s couldn’t resist showing her viewers Taylor Swift’s dating reel. Despite the singer telling Walters she’s happily single. As soon as Walter’s reveled her number one person I threw my hands up in exasperation, not because of who she had chosen, but her reason for doing so. Barbara Walters had chosen Amal

Alamuddin Clooney as the most fascinating person of 2014 because of her recent marriage to the actor George Clooney. Alamuddin Clooney is a highly regarded human rights lawyer; a fact that

Walters mentioned in passing while showing viewers various clips of her wedding to Clooney, and while she might not have been the most fascinating person of the year the work she has done is definitely noteworthy. How Barbra Walters presented Amal Clooney to her viewers though said nothing about Alamuddin Clooney’s work as a human rights lawyer, nothing about what she has accomplished outside of marriage, ultimately Walters said nothing about Amal at all. The nearly five minute piece on the most fascinating person of the year was actually about Amal

Clooney’s husband, because to Walters what makes Amal Clooney fascinating is her ability to snag Hollywood’s eligible bachelor. So much for my feminist network tv special. Emily Kelly ENG 304 Flash Prose 2 2/16/2015

Of course this isn’t the first (and unfortunately not the last) time a powerful woman has been reduced to a wife or girlfriend of a male celebrity by the media. Another semi-recent incident like the 2014 special occurred after the death of L’Wren Scott. Scott committed suicide last

March; it was a tragic event for everyone who loved and admired the famous fashion designer and former model. Usually when a well respect/well known person passes away their work is highlighted, their value noted, their various obituaries feature notes about their talent and style.

Usually the media takes time to remind the public of what the person accomplished in this life.

For Scott though the media took a different route. For Scott the media asked its public to remember Scott as the girlfriend to Rolling Stones front man Mick Jagger.

TMZ announced the death of Scott with the headline “Mick Jagger’s Girlfriend Hangs Herself”.

News articles, websites, blog posts, all the major media outlets chose headliners like “Mick

Jagger’s Girlfriend Commits Suicide” to announce Scott’s tragic death. Just like Amal Clooney,

L’Wren Scott’s accomplishments took a backseat so the media could talk about her partner. Emily Kelly ENG 304 Flash Prose 2 2/16/2015

What’s particularly upsetting about this in Scott’s case is that she specifically said in multiple interviews she did not want to be “remembered as somebody’s girlfriend”. Because L’Wren

Scott wasn’t just somebody’s girlfriend. Just like Amal Clooney isn’t just somebody’s wife. Just like Taylor Swift isn’t just her dating history. Just like Barbra Walter’s isn’t just her four marriages.

Allison P. Davis states in her article “L’Wren Scott Was remembered as a Girlfriend”: “A famous woman died yesterday. A woman who made her own contributions to the world and the people in her life. As news surrounding her death continues to break — how Mick Jagger is reacting, what may or may not have contributed to her decision — the entirety of her personhood is what we should remember first and foremost.” Why was it so difficult for the media to do what Davis encouraged? Why did they choose the title “girlfriend” over “fashion designer”? If

George Clooney died tomorrow would the papers have headlines like “Husband of Well Known

Human Rights Lawyer Dead!”? To me the answers to these questions are clear and they all involve how society often looks through women, over women, overlooks women to see if there is a man behind them. Hmm, isn’t that fascinating?

Emily Kelly ENG 304 Flash Prose 2 2/16/2015

Works Cited

Davis, Allison P. “L’Wren Scott was Remembered as a Girlfriend.” NYMag.com. 18, March

2014. Web. 11, Feb. 2015.

Durando, Jessica. “Amal Clooney named most fascinating person of 2014.” USAToday.com. 15,

Dec. 2014. Web. 11, Feb. 2015.

Yahr, Emily. “Amal Clooney is the most fascinating person of 2014 because of who she married,

says Barbara Walters.” The Washington Post. 14, Dec. 2014. Web. 13, Feb. 2015.