Once at the pinnacle of popularity and power, some goddesses of
entertainment
have fallen from grace - and taken the public's respect with them
By ANNE NEVILLE
5/16/2004
Is it duskon the Day of the Diva?
Whitney Houston checks into rehab for addiction treatment, then checks out
five
days later, telling a friend "the walls were closing in" on her.
Diana Ross wasn't in jail long enough for the walls to close in on her,
but the
fact that she was locked up at all (for DUI) had the lady singing the
blues.
And let's not even talk about Martha.
The public misery and misfortune of stars with outsized egos and attitudes
to
match has led to a crisis in the world of divadom.
The word "diva," from the Latin feminine for "divine," was originally
narrowly
defined as a female opera star, usually a soprano. Think Maria Callas or
Jessye
Norman.
But sometime in the past decade, the word gained more general usage, and a
slight tinge of ugliness: Yesterday's prima donna became today's diva - a
demanding, larger-than-life iconic woman in the entertainment business.
Martha Stewart pushed the frippery aside and emerged as a domestic diva,
whose
familiarity with antique linens, hens and garden tools stood in sharp
contrast
to the pampered urban diva who would never do anything as annoying as
work.
Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie amused America as the big-city do-nothing
diva
dolls who had never set foot in a Wal-Mart, much less seen a cow provide
the
milk that frothed their lattes.
And, in a final evolution, groups of normal women of every age and from
every
walk of life used books and groups to claim the fun and flamboyant side of
divadom for themselves.
If divas could be considered to be on something as crass as a bandwagon,
everyone, it seemed, was eager to hop on.
Fascinating and compelling
This summer, Christopher Laferl, an associate professor at the University
of
Vienna, will teach the course, "Issues in German Thought: Divas, Cultures
and
Theories of Stardom" at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
In his course description, Laferl clarifies the link between talent and
tantrums. "A singer or an actress who is well-behaved, on stage or in
"real'
life, cannot attain the status of a diva: a performer whose art has to be
fascinating or even divine and whose life must be equally compelling. The
life
of the diva itself becomes a form of art."
Laferl's list of divas includes Judy Garland, Carmen Miranda, Marlene
Dietrich
and Edith Piaf, and "their followers in the early 21st century" including
Madonna and Jennifer Lopez.
Jennifer Lopez? With her short marriages and her skimpy costumes, she
seems to
elude the "well-behaved" kiss of diva death. And there was that nightclub
shooting a few years ago to add to her bad-girl allure.
But a diva? A successor to Callas, whose passions and pastimes were epic?
Has overuse tarnished the once-divine name of the diva?
That Birkin handbag
Elayne Rapping, professor of American Studies at the University at
Buffalo,
says the word "diva" is commonly applied to many "big, powerful, strong
women."
Rapping, the author of "Media-tions: Forays into the Culture and Gender
Wars,"
and "The Culture of Recovery," says many modern pop-culture divas don't
fill
that bill, no matter how much they indulge thir ids.
"Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, and I would include Janet Jackson, they're
not
really big powerful women, they're just celebrities, and of course
everyone is
looking to bring down someone famous.
"What is a more interesting phenomenon is the reaction to people like
Martha
Stewart and Leona Helmsley, people who have real power."
About Martha Stewart, Rapping says, "When you think of the number of
people who
are committing crimes that are much, much worse than anything she did who
have
not gotten nearly the amount of attention that she got, it's obvious that
it
was because she was a woman. Everybody was not only following her trial,
but we
knew what she wore every day."
In fact, Stewart's decision to carry a rare and staggeringly expensive
Hermes
Birkin handbag to court on the first day of her trial was reported
nationally
and was later discussed in the jury room, one juror said.
Columnist Barbara Cloud of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote, "Not since
Imelda
Marcos and her shoes have we zeroed in so obsessively on a woman's
accessories
and her appetite for self-indulgence."
Diva alert: Imelda Marcos! All those shoes! All those brassieres! All that
power!
Mean women
Power is a double-edged sword that women must wield with care.
Ben Kuhns, a Buffalo decorator and florist, points out that Donald Trump
doesn't waste time with niceties. "Nobody calls Donald Trump a diva;
people
call him an arrogant businessman, and yet he's hailed as a genius, and
it's OK
for him to be pompous or arrogant and rude."
Rapping agrees. "Male bosses or supervisors will just tell a secretary,
"do
this' or "do that,' while we women will tend to say, "If you have time,
please,
thank you,' and talk much more like we're asking for a favor, because we
don't
expect to be waited on."
So a woman who makes short, succinct requests without a sprinkle of the
sugar
of politeness "goes against the grain of the male sensibility, and I think
that's why Martha Stewart was disliked so much," says Rapping.
"Leona Helmsley was called the Queen of Mean, and Martha Stewart was also
called mean, and they quoted phone calls in which she barked at people,"
says
Rapping. "If a man did that, nobody would even remember it.
"Clearly Martha Stewart and Leona Helmsley were not the meanest people in
the
world! There are a lot of mean people in this world!"
Peter Murphy, chairman of the English and philosophy departments at Murray
State University and author of "Studs, Tools and the Family Jewels:
Metaphors
Men Live By," wonders why Martha Stewart was targeted. "If there is a male
backlash against Martha Stewart, why is it, given that what Martha Stewart
represents is supposedly the male fantasy of what we want women to be?
Maybe
the backlash is that Martha Stewart isn't sexy enough," he says. "She's
not
ugly, she's not homely, but she's not selling it."
She is selling other things, though, Murphy says. "What Martha Stewart and
Whitney Houston and Diana Ross share is that the product they create is
popular
culture - whether it's music or the centerpiece for your dining room table
for
Thanksgiving."
In the entertainment world, the word "diva" has become shorthand for
anyone
with a smidgen of talent and a surplus of attitude. The 2004 edition of
VH-1's
"Divas" show featured Debbie Harry, Ashanti, who backed away from the
troublesome title by telling reporters, "I'm the same old girl from high
school," and Jessica Simpson.
Jessica Simpson? Kuhns begs to differ.
Today's "divas" include performers "who just get limoed around, and they
sing
and they lip-sync. Jessica Simpson didn't even know what tuna was!"
But here's a bright spot: Another of the 2004 VH-1 divas was Cyndi Lauper,
whose cute, approachable, madcap "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" persona
reflects
the kind of diva many ordinary women wish to emulate.
Everyday divas
You would think that as creator/writer of the show, "Diva by Diva: A
Celebration of Women," which has featured onstage appearances by more than
125
women in the 41/2 years of its run, Mary Kate O'Connell would know a
little bit
about the clashing demands of outsized egos.
You'd be wrong.
The grace and generosity of the constantly changing cast make every
performance
"a joyful journey," says O'Connell.
"As a little girl I loved the word diva," says O'Connell. "It had a power
to it
that I didn't even know, and then you realize it is used to define
somebody who
is very difficult to get along with, very demanding, very myopic in their
scope. I say to my divas, "We are not the "I want only blue jellybeans in
the
dressing room" divas.' We are people who care about their families, about
their
communities, and have their priorities in order."
Maureen O'Crean, one of the authors of "I Am Diva: Every Woman's Guide to
Outrageous Living," says firmly, "I think the celebrities have had their
day of
the diva and the nasty diva. But everyday divas - it's our turn!"
O'Crean nurtured her budding divahood during the three years she lived in
South
Buffalo in the early 1980s, when her husband was employed at a local bank.
Today, she lives in California and operates an online community at
www.distinctivelydiva.com.
She's also redefining the term "diva" to accentuate the positive.
"A diva is a woman who puts herself first," she says. "Women in general
have
always come last. They take care of their families first, and when you
don't
take care of yourself first, you can burn out."
The diva lifestyle that O'Crean advocates is far from chaise longues and
bon-bons, although such luxuries, in moderation, can provide an emotional
lift.
In "I am Diva," the authors encourage women to exercise, eat well and love
themselves.
Inspired by the book, Geri Salitsky of Lewiston leads a group of about 40
women
called Vivacious Divas, which meets in Hamilton, Ont., once a month.
She says the group shares fun projects that "really bring out the playful
side
that people sometimes forget because they get so busy with their
families."
That "playful side" can include the shocking pink feather boas that
O'Crean
sends out to women who join her online community, or the quintessential
kitschy
diva accessory - the tiara.
Once a diva has ascended too far into the haughty heavens, only human
foibles
will redeem her in the eyes of the public, says Murphy. Noting that the
backlash over Stewart's expensive handbag was far greater than the
criticism of
Ross for driving after drinking, Murphy says, "That could be for the
obvious
reason: If people haven't gotten behind the wheel and driven drunk
themselves,
they know somebody who has. Those are human frailties that we can
forgive."
Not so with flaunting one's wealth before a jury, apparently.
In the final analysis, being a diva is more than attitude - it's really
about
power, real or perceived. Society excuses excesses among the talented, but
only
to a point. A woman who is too powerful and indulges her desires too
openly
risks a backlash.
At the end of every performance of "Diva by Diva," O'Connell says to the
audience, "Thank you for coming; now go out and use your diva power for
good."
Durable and dumped Divas
Still on top
Oprah
Celine
Cher
Aretha
Queen Latifah
Overstayed their welcome
Anna Nicole Smith
Pamela Anderson
Madonna
Richard Simmons
Britney Spears
Mariah Carey
Courtney Love
Liza Minnelli
Janet Jackson
Timeless appeal
Marilyn Monroe
Barbra Streisand
Judy Garland
Maria Callas
Sophia Loren
Tina Turner
Elizabeth Taylor
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