David Shawís ìGee Whiz!î Moment Of The Week
LA Times media critic David Shaw discovers that the personals are considered an acceptable way for single people who arenít drooling psychiatric wards to meet one another. Maybe Shawís just too old and stuffy to know that just about every single-and-looking person on the planet has, for several years, been hurling personals ads into print and onto the ënet with reckless abandon. Naturally, in all-too-typical LA Times fashion, he had to wait for The New York Times to stamp personals ads ìcool," in ìOnline Dating Sheds Its Stigma as Losers.com.î
Go to it, David!
To explore this shocking development, Shaw turns to the obvious choice: ìthe pages of the alumni magazine published by the countryís most prestigious institution of learning, Harvard University.î On page 97, he discovers a personals ad for a woman who dares to compare herself to ìSela Ward with a touch of Kate Jackson and a dash of Jaclyn Smith.î Yes, Virginia -- Harvard meets episodic television. Oh, horrors! In those 14 TV star-studded words, plus ìmore than a dozen other ads that also invoked Hollywood names as the ultimate enticement,î Shaw reads, writ large, the decline of western civilization. Oh, please.
David, darling...(may I call you "darling," or will such condescending familiarity lead you to yet another upsetting revelation -- that we are no longer living in Victorian England?) Never mind. Letís stick to this weekís biology lesson: Men -- even those who attended ìthe countryís most prestigious institution of learningî -- have an overriding preference for beautiful women. Hollywood women tend to be especially beautiful. Because they are famous, their faces are known to a wide variety of people -- unlike the beautiful girl who works in the coffee bar down the road. Thus, it makes perfect sense for a woman to compare herself to a famous beautiful woman or beautiful women -- assuming sheís trying to inspire a man to go out with her, not give her an English literature exam.
No, looks arenít everything. But with men, theyíre primary. ìShouldî this be different? Perhaps. But it isnít. And thatís why you donít hear a lot of men standing around at parties whispering to each other, ìGet a load of the personality on that chick!î or, to phrase it a little more ìcontinentaleî for David Shawís benefit: ìI say, old chap, that damsel over yonder has a marvelous set of...lobes, donít you think?
Contrary to David Shawís ìooh, cootiesî approach to pop culture, being educated and intelligent doesnít mean you need to put up a wall between yourself and ìlow culture.î My media critic friend Cathy Seipp is living, breathing, syndicated column-writing proof of that. Perhaps because she isnít exactly insecure or concerned with what anybody thinks of her, she can enjoy pop culture (in addition to loftier fare) then turn it into something new -- a comment on itself, the way we live, and/or issues in society. This makes Cathy fun -- and fun to read -- unless, of course, your self-image depends on advertising your aggressive avoidance of any printed works that arenít heavily footnoted and written in Middle English.