"For heaven’s sake don’t let them tame you into an uninteresting woman."
November 15, 2013 5:42 PM   Subscribe

 
Hover your mouse over this picture in the article.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 6:08 PM on November 15, 2013 [2 favorites]


Hover them all. There are quite a few good ones.
posted by benito.strauss at 6:30 PM on November 15, 2013 [1 favorite]


Fuck it, that lost painting with a valentinto wraith is going into SONETHNG I write.
posted by The Whelk at 6:46 PM on November 15, 2013 [1 favorite]


Aghhh when is Petersen's book coming out.
posted by griphus at 6:57 PM on November 15, 2013


I'm guessing that the Surrealists, with their infatuation with film and their polemical dedication to "l'amour fou" must have been mad for some of these.

Film shows its age more than most art forms, however. Pola Negri's acting has not aged as gracefully as the literature, paintings, and music from that era.
posted by kozad at 8:50 PM on November 15, 2013


Oh! Armpit hair! Now there's something you rarely see on a celebrity these days.
posted by DarlingBri at 12:00 AM on November 16, 2013 [2 favorites]


...armpit hair! Right, it's gratifying to reflect that being utterly sleek and ultra thin was not always considered desirable. And to imagine it might be so again, I shouldn't wonder.
posted by Anitanola at 1:31 AM on November 16, 2013 [1 favorite]


Hover your mouse over this picture in the article.

EEK!!

I must go lay down now. That is all.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 2:41 AM on November 16, 2013


This is a very well-formed post - thanks especially for the links to Pola Negri's films. I had heard her name before but knew nothing of her life story, so this was a treat!

I'm also very pleased to see that there will be a book version of Scandals of Classic Hollywood next year.
posted by daisyk at 4:45 AM on November 16, 2013 [1 favorite]


If you read German, there's a novel about her life by Daniela Dröscher called Pola.
posted by muckster at 4:50 AM on November 16, 2013 [1 favorite]


Anitanola: ...armpit hair! Right, it's gratifying to reflect that being utterly sleek and ultra thin was not always considered desirable. And to imagine it might be so again, I shouldn't wonder.

Ads of the 1920s were very consistent about themes of "don't be skinny", "buy our product to add weight", "guys like gals with curves, so eat up!"

Reverse fat-shaming: skinny-shaming.

Of course, they aren't proposing obese women were beautiful; it's clear from the ads and celeb photos that being obese was undesirable, too: Fatty Arbuckle, Stan Laurel, etc.

So, I'm not sure the age was necessarily better in its messages to women. Just different.
posted by IAmBroom at 8:23 PM on November 16, 2013


Ads of the 1920s were very consistent about themes of "don't be skinny", "buy our product to add weight", "guys like gals with curves, so eat up!"
...which is interesting, since mild androgyny and athleticism were also celebrated.
posted by pxe2000 at 5:08 AM on November 17, 2013


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