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02/21/2008: "Last Desperate Act?"
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Fame is a funny thing. Some folks are comfortable with it, while others struggle to deal with the pressure. Many people find fame without trying, and still others go to great lengths to try and find it.
Lindsey Lohan would have to fall into that last category. Known more for her partying and social life than for any artistic achievement, she's forever trying to get us to take her seriously - usually without success. You can see just how little success she's had by reading her record in the Internet Movie Database. Most successful actresses have a few pictures, usually from their publicist, and a long list of screen credits. Lohan, on the other hand, only has a handful of screen credits, but over 400 pictures - most submitted by paparazzi and gossip fans. Clearly, her priorities are out of whack if she intends to have a serious career as anything other than a party girl.
I mention all this because LL is in the news again this week for something she did off screen. As the story goes, Bert Stern, the photographer who shot Marilyn Monroe just weeks before her death in 1962, wanted to recreate the session using a current starlet. Naturally, he picked Lohan. Heck, whenever you think of Monroe, you don't think of some young blonde thing like Scarlett Johansen - you think of a freckled redhead like Lindsey, right? Anyway, a few weeks ago, Stern flew out to LA and shot Lohan recreating the famous semi-nude shoot for New York Magazine. They published the whole thing in the latest issue - including the shot with her rack hanging out.
Now, there's no question that the shoot is serving LL's purpose by bringing on publicity - hell, I wouldn't be writing about her otherwise - but does it bring respect? Sure, it shows that she's brave and bold enough to show herself topless, but what the heck - half the men in Hollywood have seen her titties, and anyone who's visited a gossip blog has seen the rest. So I can't really see how this is really going to advance her career. All we've really learned is that, contrary to rumor, they're real - fakes don't sag that bad.
A bigger worry is how she reacts when it doesn't result in new opportunities for her (I'm not counting the offers to pole dance). She may not be as fragile as Britney Spears, but she's already been in and out of rehab a couple of times - not unlike Monroe herself. And we all know where she ended up ...
Maybe it's just me, but should we really expect more from someone whose first credited role was as "Trick-or-Treater Dressed as Garbage" on the Letterman show?
