Quote:
Originally Posted by phetaroi
As I have watched the mini-series, that's been my impression, which seems to be what people have written elsewhere, as well.
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Yes--
If you remember one of the earlier episodes where Joan was explaining how she was sexually abused when a young girl by her step-father---Joan was kind and considered that man a benefactor basically--didn't see herself as abused at all and David, without really saying much--let the audience watching know that she was appalled and--for a moment--felt so sorry for Crawford...and yet, when Crawford persisted in defending the man and trying to rationalize the abuse, Davis was like "why waste my sympathy on you, Joan--when you are so narcissistic you can't admit you were abused"...
I thought that was perhaps why Crawford was so intent on always being on her dignity--why it was so important to maintain her reputation and the appearance of success and be taken seriously by those in power--
Trying to avoid being a victim---
Which didn't really work when all was said and done...
She used her body whenever she thought it would do her the most good---
To my mind--there was something so clinical about Joan offering herself to Adrich to did all he could to avoid that and then turn around and actually have an intimate moment with Davis because it was an emotional reaction---not calculated...
That difference is really what the two women are about---
Davis was more emotional, more in tune with the interior life of her characters, more vulnerable because of that in her portrayals and she seems much more vulnerable in her relationships with her daughters and others--like her agent...
Joan was more clinical--sometimes pragmatic as when she read all those books looking for a property to produce herself or when she corralled Hopper to help her bolster her reputation and steal the Oscars...
But could be self-destructive emotion as well--as when she split from her doctor/husband
consider how both women reacted to finding out how their agents were treating them once the film was over and the rumor was it would flop...
Betty's agent sent the junior member of the staff out to see her --in the waiting room of the office--
Betty saw the ploy as the rejection it was but reacted with some humor in the exhange, still fired them (if I remember correctly) and put her famous ad in Variety looking for work==
supposedly in a moment of acid humor...
Joan met her team of agents in their spashy office--dressed to the nines--and took immediate umbrage they had not found her better offers and fired them on the spot...nothing humorous about her reaction...
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