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2.
Jolie's open bisexuality contrasts sharply with the absence of openly
bisexual actresses or characters on television and in the movies.
Jolie's
frank, matter-of-fact acknowledgment of her own bisexuality (she
was in a relationship with model and Foxfire co-star Jenny
Shimizu
in 1996, before her marriage to Thornton) and bisexuality in general
belies the secrecy and denial with which bisexuality is normally
treated by the media and in entertainment. When told that many of
Jane magazine's female readers had nominated her as "The
Female Actor Who Makes Your Knees Weak," Jolie responded, "They're
right to think that about me, because I'm the person most likely
to sleep with my female fans. I genuinely love other women. And
I think they know that."
Curve
Magazine's Entertainment Editor mentioned
that in an interview with Jolie a few years ago, the actress "kept
saying things like how she was in love with Jenny Shimizu and how
her marriage might not work out."
The
fact that Jolie actually played a lesbian in Gia makes
it that much easier to blur her onscreen and off-screen personas,
especially in conjunction with her public comments in support of
lesbianism and bisexuality, such as this comment about Lara Croft
(her character in Tomb Raider) in a June 2001 interview
with the German magazine Amica:
"I
could really imagine Lara not having a lot of time for men. Can
you imagine that, Lara Croft as a lesbian? That would be a shock
for the boys playing with their joysticks in their bedrooms around
the world. At the end of the day I really like women. I'd love
it if the girls in the cinema watching Lara Croft find me just
as hot as their boyfriends do."
In
a world with so few bisexual celebrities actually willing to come
out and almost no bisexual film or television characters, Jolie's
willingness to embrace bisexuality on and off-screen has made her
the de facto poster girl for bisexual women.
Women
who primarily identify themselves as heterosexual in everyday life
despite finding the occasional woman attractive are drawn to Jolie
precisely because of her unwillingness to hide her attraction to
women. "Honestly, I like everything," Jolie said
in the 2000 Elle interview. "Boyish girls, girlish
boys, the heavy and the skinny. Which is a problem when I’m
walking down the street."
This
kind of outspoken honesty is highly seductive in a culture that
generally encourages women to keep these kinds of feelings under
wraps.
Jolie's
openness on this topic is further amplified by
the fact that there is a general absence of bisexual characters
in film and television. Although the number of lesbian
characters in mainstream movies and television has increased, bisexual
women are still largely left out of the mix or made out to be murderess
villains, as in Diabolique, Basic Instinct, or
Poison Ivy.
The
few mainstream films that have featured bisexual women, such
as Chasing Amy or Kissing
Jessica Stein have refused to name it as bisexuality, instead
portraying the women as trying to choose between being straight
or lesbian. As if there was no other alternative.
Even
films written and directed by lesbians are not much better, for
they rarely include bisexual characters.
In
Jolie, bisexual women suddenly see themselves reflected in a positive
way, and the mix of relief, admiration, and desire creates a powerful
response. It's easier to identify with someone like Angelina Jolie
than someone like Sharon Stone's character in Basic Instinct,
so in the absence of positive bisexual film and television characters,
Jolie has in effect become a "character," and even a litmus
test of sorts: hosting
a benefit in February 2002, newly out lesbian Rosie O'Donnell jokes,
"They're saying I'm not gay enough. They say I lied because
I said I love Tom Cruise. I do love Tom Cruise. What do I have to
do, have sex with Angelina Jolie on TV?"
Pop
star Christina Aguilera suggested in a March, 2003 interview that
Britney Spears should consider dating Angelina Jolie because "I
think Angelina Jolie would be worth it, she is really beautiful.
She's tough, yet sexy at the same time, which not a lot of people
can do.
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