Randomramblings

Gee I don't know. In the majority of cultures women are told what to do, and it all plays out just wonderful when a man is capable and competent, so a woman gleefully follows him. And who would deny Brad Pitt his capabilities?

As for the two celebrities acting capabilities: I am still waiting for a decent movie starring Angelina Jolie, however I was smitten by Brad in: Se7en, Fight Club and Legends of the Fall. In addition I would like to see Seven Years in Tibet; is it any good? I like mountains.

I blame them for not standing up for themselves, for abandoning freedom of choice just to please men.

But how do you know that they abandoned their freedom of choice? Perhaps they exercised their freedom of choice. Perhaps they chose to act the way you see them act. Surely (if I may use a favourite phrase of a large group of people whom I truly love to hate, namely the defenders of ‘freedom’ of ‘choice’ in matters of economy) nobody held a gun to their heads, requiring them to get pregnant with Pitt?

Freedom of choice is a slippery concept. Perhaps that's one of the reasons why I'm not very fond of it myself.

Let's talk about me. Because this is my blog and my opinion.

bo - it's not about the man being (in)capable and (in)competent, it's just that I've always believed one knows what is best for himself/herself. Even though people don't always act in the way, which would be best for them, they usually know, what they should do. It's being "in your shoes" that matters most. Noone can decide for me as well as I can myself (even if I wanted them to) because I've lived "with myself" for the longest time, I know myself and what I want to do in my life. And, frankly, I need no men telling me what to do with myself. I'm not a radical feminist, because (in my opinion) that just doesn't work. I am, however, a firm believer in making choices for yourself, even if they're wrong. Sometimes a discussion about someone making a certain choice is in order, but this never means I try to persuade people to change their mind. I try to present the evidence of the contrary, but that's all. (Incidentally: I don't believe women should do as men say, I don't believe women should follow in the man's footsteps and admire him from afar. We're equally capable of going our own way, making our own decisions and surpassing men in everything, except perhaps for sumo fighting. You'll be very hard put to convince me otherwise.) :)

I wouldn't deny Pitt his acting abilities, (though he is not my favourite) but as for the rest (of decisions) Angelina is old and responsible enough to be able to make them and carry them out herself. (Seven Years In Tibet is wonderful, thought I'd give credit for that to Annaud and the writers before Pitt.)

ill-advised - as much as I hate to admit it, you're right. No guns were used in the process. It just amazes me that Ange who's always been this liberal thinking girl, so independent, is now just like any other woman in H-wood. It seems that women cannot be single there, but she was and she didn't seem like she needed a man to feel secure and be confident about herself. It doesn't surprize me that she's now living with someone (even if that someone is Pitt); what does, however, is the rushing into this pregnancy when she already has two small children. I detest and hate Holywood parents because with some VERY rare exceptions they just don't seem to be able to raise "normal" children or enable their children to grow up to become responsible, thoughtful and considerate human beings.

Anyway, perhaps I was wrong about Ange. All the confidence and self-esteem aside, she's gone through 2 marriages at the age of 30 already, so maybe she only looks like she doesn't need a man by her side.

I won't comment on your comment, after all I don't know the real arguments here. But I can observe for example that it's hard to have kids these days and it's hard also to be without them. I don't have any. What I will do now, I will try to watch Seven Years in Tibet somewhere, then, some years latter, I hope to have some children on my own.

I was thinking about Legends of the Fall and I agree with what you said on the other film, Tibet, that the charm of the movie lies strongly in the Montana scenery and James Horner's score, and not so much in Pitt himself. But he does fit, that Pitt, particularly well in that movie, won't you agree, with that uncompromising will mixed irresistible gentleness of his. They say all men are a bit homosexual, ha.

And well, perhaps this is not SO off the line: we, men, are so extremely unfortunate that it's almost unbearable, for we can't have children on our own, so what we do instead? I will tell you what we do, you can look at pollen grains in water under the microscope and you will observe the same kind of phenomena, - we do Brownian motion, unfocused, never satisfied. Ok, we can study, read books, hike the mountains, make peace, war and love, but that's not it! Oh that makes me angry. Women, on the other hand, know their means of fulfilling: giving births, the more the better. It's a fact. Angelina Jolie is a smart woman, although really not that good of an actress (hey, that goes along with your dialogue in the post, - while Brad knows how to act he has no difficulties persuading Angelina into anything he want), who want to be fulfilled. I say good for her. It's a womanly thing, it's what makes you heavenly. I would expect everybody to feel just great about it. So I beg your pardon, but it's not nice to bend anthropological facts, will you think about that?

And please don't kill me. :)

Kill you?

No, I'm above such nonsense as revenge.

I'm not claiming Jenifer was the only right woman for Brad. They were rocky for months, so it was bound to happen with or without Angelina.

I was trying to say that I feel they're rushing (as is the Hwood habit) and it doesn't usually produce good results. Or happy children. I think even if Ange and Brad do marry they're not bound to last long. Not till death do us part.