We are disgusted by media standards of female beauty too, Kate. Via Neil McIntyre @ Flickr.
Kate Winslet makes the Harpies proud. In addition to being a fantastic actress, with two new Golden Globes and an Oscar nomination under her belt, she seems like an all-around kick-ass woman.
Winslet has a history of standing up for women who do not conform to the model archetype so pervasive in our media. She made a much-publicized complaint when British GQ digitally altered her already gorgeous figure for their February cover in 2003. Far from heavy, Winslet was once considered full-figured in Hollywood. “I do not look like that…And, more importantly, I don’t desire to look like that,” the actress said. She refused a body double for her nude scenes in her recent movie The Reader, insisting that she is not ashamed of her “mummy tummy” or sagging breasts.
In a recent interview with the UK’s Guardian, Winslet says she read Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique to prepare for her role as a 1950s housewife in the film Revolutionary Road. Asked whether she, herself, is a feminist, Winslet responded, “I think I probably am. I mean, not in a bra-burning way. But I think I am a feminist, yeah.”
Bra-burning feminists may be a myth, but we still love Winslet for daring to publicly utter the f-word in a positive context. And for being a delightful, down-to-earth person.
Also, when she got married to Jim Threapleton, the wedding lunch was bangers & mash, which is kind of the British equivalent of Mac’n'Cheese. Good lass.
I’ve worried about her lately. (Which sounds odd, like I have all kinds of time to consider Kate Winslet personally, but you know what I mean.) She seems to be shrinking, and it makes me wonder why. Is she, in fact, caving to some of that Hollywood pressure that she avoided for so long? Is it for a role? Is it just for her, because that’s what she’d wants to look like now? Am I just imagining things?
@KittyConner.. She looks highly fit to me too, but hey maybe it was just an awards-season “I’m going to look slammin’ and you will eat it UP, people” thing. I definitely see her as the do what I wanna type, so I doubt it’s the Hollywood pressure and more just an internal thing. She’s Kate Winslet. I’ll allow it.
It’s the elephant in the room, isn’t it KittyConner?
I love her no matter what, but Kate has lost a lot of weight since her Titanic days. And while she’s kick-ass in many ways, I’m sure even she is not immune to Hollywood pressure.
@SarahMC: Well, there’s Hollywood pressure and there’s simply wanting to get work. I think she’s doing her best – with the GQ Photoshopping debacle, and various statements – to do battle with the prevailing beauty standards, but she knows she ultimately has to compromise her beliefs (she has said nothing about the obviously Photoshopped Vanity Fair spread, I noticed) to get on. But, you know, who doesn’t?