Paltrow and US Magazine

Paltrow and the Public Eye: As Portrayed by Us Magazine One public figure who has prominently been focused on with more fervor of recent times has been Gwyneth Paltrow. This is in part because she is a beautiful celebrity and famous actress, and also in part because of a rumor that recently went around that Vanity Fair was planning a "take down" article on her. One online magazine which appears to feature her very heavily and on a regular basis is U.S. Magazine.

This magazine will publish something about Ms. Paltrow every few days and appears to play both sides of the coin when it comes to how they portray her. When the magazine wants to portray her favorably, they do so. When they want to portray her unfavorably, they do so as well. They're extremely mercurial when it comes to how she is presented to the rest of the world.

Essentially, their portrayal of her changes with the tides and in many respects is a reflection of the fickleness of the entertainment industry as a whole. Thus, this very fickle portrayal of Gwyneth Paltrow ensures that the American public is never quite sold on her; it creates a situation where Ms. Paltrow never quite wins over anyone for a long period of time.

At the same time, because opinion of her is always changing, it does keep her in a situation where people are constantly talking about her -- a fact which contributes to her relevancy. One attribute which is consistently linked to Ms. Paltrow is the fact that she's a well-connected celebrity who has lots of famous friends.

For instance, Us Magazine recently ran a story where they described how famous rocker Gwen Stefani had a baby shower for her third child, and how Gwyneth Paltrow was one of the celebrity guests who was invited to the show and who attended (Webber, Feb 2014). Paltrow was one of the first persons mentioned among a range of famous guests, such as Jessica Alba and Nicole Ritchie.

This gives the clear impression that Paltrow is one of the "cool kids" in Hollywood, and isn't merely an attendee to red carpet events, but is someone who is considered accepted by her peers. The impression that Paltrow is popular among Hollywood's elite members is furthered even more by a story that ran earlier this month: that story described how Paltrow posted a moving tribute to her costar on Instagram. The photo was from the time when Paltrow and Hoffman were both cast on the film The Talented Mr.

Ripley and the caption stated: "Ischia 1998, post dinner, post shooting. Philip was a true genius. #philipseymourhoffman" (Eggenberger, 2014). Such an article only furthers the idea of Paltrow as one of the popular actors in Hollywood; after all, she was friends with one of the biggest artistic geniuses the industry had ever known. Days later, another article surfaced with a picture of Gwyneth Paltrow with her arm around Reese Witherspoon at The Great American Songbook event. This article was another piece of press which confirmed her popularity.

The two Oscar winners were both wearing black: the article portrayed Paltrow as not only attending a chic event for the most relevant people in the entertainment industry, but also as being friends (and dressing similarly to) another hot commodity in the world of film and television.

However, just as this magazine will portray Miss Paltrow as a desirable and popular actress in the high stakes world of film and television, the magazine will also be quick to portray her as a bit of a laughing-stock within this very same world.

For example, when George Clooney and Julia Roberts were interviewed by Vanity Fair, the magazine print the following: "Let's hope Gwyneth Paltrow has a sense of humor about herself! In a new behind-the-scenes video from Vanity Fair's Hollywood Issue cover shoot with photographer Annie Leibovitz, Paltrow's pal George Clooney joked that she'd given him a script for the interview. Asked how it felt to be included on the prestigious annual cover, the Gravity star replied, 'It's very exciting.

I think it's going to be fun.' Then, with a totally straight face, he added, 'That's what Gwyneth Paltrow told me to say'"(Takeda, 2014). Takeda continues to describe how Julia Roberts, sitting right next to Clooney, gasped at his joke and then let out an enormous laugh (Takeda, 2014). This rendition of facts makes it seem as if Julia Roberts and George Clooney are laughing at Gwyneth Paltrow's expense.

They're making it very clearly seem as though Paltrow is an over-dramatic and controlling person; and they obviously don't seem to care about Paltrow's concerns with the Vanity Fair controversy. Clooney is referring to the fact that when the Vanity Fair controversy got started, Paltrow allegedly contacted all of her famous friends (presumably Clooney as well) and told them not to talk to the magazine and discouraged them from ever doing business with the magazine as well.

Since this story is relatively common knowledge, for Us Magazine to publish this remark of Clooney's about Paltrow generally portrays her in a negative light. Even when the infamous Vanity Fair article is mentioned, the notion of the overall love-hate fest with Gwyneth Paltrow is also mentioned. Us magazine quotes the periodical: "It was just what had been assigned -- a reasoned, reported essay on the hate/love-fest that encircles Gwyneth Paltrow.

I thought it perfectly explained the whole phenomenon,' praises Carter of Grigoriadis' take on the much-loved, much-hated star" (Ravitz 2014). What's revelatory about this excerpt, is that Us Magazine gleefully allows the fact that Paltrow is both loved and hated to be mentioned twice. This is no accident, of course. It goes along with the overall tendency of the magazine to portray Paltrow as someone for whom.