Martha Stewart's incarceration: examining media, business, and feminist perspectives

Martha Stewart

Different perspectives on Martha Stewart's incarceration

The tabloid perspective

This type of perspective glories in Martha's fall from grace, not for ideological reasons, but simply to sell newspapers. As a celebrity, Martha is 'big news,' hence the gleeful speculation about how much weight she has gained during the trial, or how much her clothes and handbags cost. There were also accusations after she was sent to prison that she skirted the rules of Alderson -- horrors of horror, taking too many condiments from the cafeteria, as well as the gleeful surprise that she even lost the Christmas decorating contest at the prison ("Martha Stewart Made Most of Prison Stay," 2005, Fox Business News).

The business/investing perspective

This perspective examines what Martha Stewart's incarceration may do to falling Kmart stock prices, and also to the stock price of her company (Toobin 2003:1). As a convicted felon Stewart can no longer sit at the helm of her eponymous, publicly traded company, even though she founded the company (Anderson 2003). Also, there is the issue in general as to the difficulty of an individual 'being' the image of an entire media conglomerate -- even if her main 'crime' is simply being unpopular with certain people.

The 'Martha Loyalist' perspective

This perspective is advocated by fans of Stewart, who see her as unjustly accused, and are sympathetic to her cause, and logged on frequently to her Internet blog that she updated during the trial and from prison.

The 'I don't care' perspective

These people are not Martha defenders, but like Martha's sheets and recipes. They feel that these products will still be just as good as they were before Stewart was incarcerated, and they will be equally as good after her release.

Summary

Martha Stewart is a great brand and a great American success story. The American media loves a fall from grace, particularly the fall of a perfectionist, as Stewart herself as noted, in a reflective moment (Toobin 2003:1). However, there are many successful second acts in American life. Yes, the immediate effect upon company morale and stock prices may be negative. But the real charges facing Stewart are so negligible and so technical that even ordinary, non-Stewart loyalists see a vindictive spirit in the hearts of the prosecutors. Stewart's exemplary behavior during her unjust incarceration, and her advocacy for the rights of her fellow prisoners, in terms of improving their conditions, speak well of her character. Her stay in prison may only help her image.

People who disliked Martha before and wanted to dislike her are unlikely to change their opinions, but Martha loyalists will only appreciate what this struggle shows about her depth of character and her humanity, as she cheerfully rakes leaves in the prison yard, and tries to make the best of vending machine cuisine. Her struggles humanize her, and the one real criticism of her that always 'stuck' was that Martha did not seem 'human' enough.