{"id":12403,"date":"2015-06-23T17:27:56","date_gmt":"2015-06-23T17:27:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/kateoplis-amy-winehouse-kurt-cobain-and-the\/"},"modified":"2018-12-05T17:22:18","modified_gmt":"2018-12-06T00:22:18","slug":"kateoplis-amy-winehouse-kurt-cobain-and-the","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/kateoplis-amy-winehouse-kurt-cobain-and-the\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-12403 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/kateoplis-amy-winehouse-kurt-cobain-and-the\/attachment\/12404\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" src=\"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-content\/uploads\/tumblr_nqektdyhC11qzprlbo1_640-100x100.png\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/kateoplis.tumblr.com\/post\/122256196139\/amy-winehouse-kurt-cobain-and-the-gendering-of\" class=\"tumblr_blog\">kateoplis<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h2><a href=\"http:\/\/pitchfork.com\/thepitch\/808-amy-winehouse-kurt-cobain-and-the-gendering-of-martyrdom\/\">Amy Winehouse, Kurt Cobain, and the Gendering of Martyrdom<\/a><br \/><\/h2>\n<p><b>\u201cIn the same season we\u2019ve been presented with two different<br \/>\ncomprehensive documentaries of two of our most iconic and tragic,<br \/>\ngone-too-soon figures in recent decades. Brett Morgan\u2019s Montage of Heck<br \/>\ndepicts the slow unraveling of Kurt Cobain in the preamble to his<br \/>\nsuicide, Asif Kapadia\u2019s Amy depicts a corollary narrative about Amy<br \/>\nWinehouse\u2019s life, and in the process sheds light on <i>how unequal the<br \/>\ntreatment of male and female artists truly is, even in death.<\/i><\/b>\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the course of Amy, a newscaster reports on<br \/>\nWinehouse\u2019s infamous meltdown in Serbia by commenting that \u201cshe had the<br \/>\nchance to make a big comeback and she totally BLEW it!\u201d while laughing<br \/>\nthrough a segment that dovetails with George Lopez announcing that<br \/>\nWinehouse had won a Grammy by saying, \u201csomeone call and wake her up at 6<br \/>\n PM and let her know\u201d before calling her \u201ca drunk\u201d with a derisive<br \/>\nscoff. A slurry of ugly tabloid images fly across the screen and we see<br \/>\npaparazzi preying upon her existential nadir\u2013 meanwhile, Montage of<br \/>\nHeck posits a cache of neat magazine covers that offer obsequious,<br \/>\nreverential coverage of a man whose drug addiction was portrayed as<br \/>\nincidental to his supreme talent. Even though both deaths were motivated<br \/>\n by depression underscored by narcotics and celebrity, Montage depicts a<br \/>\n context in which the public was willing Cobain to succeed, whereas<br \/>\nWinehouse, when confronted with similar drug-addled obstacles, was met<br \/>\nwith ridicule and slander. If Amy proves anything about the life and<br \/>\ntimes of Winehouse, it\u2019s that newscasters, tabloids, and even respected<br \/>\nmedia outlets reported on her shortcomings with enough thinly-veiled<br \/>\naggression to weaken what little resolve the drugs hadn\u2019t already<br \/>\nsapped. Cobain\u2019s struggle with drugs, meanwhile, was all but an open<br \/>\nsecret while he was alive, whispered about or written around in order to<br \/>\n maintain good graces and access to the superstar and his band.<\/p>\n<p>The unequal treatment here is not new.\u201c<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe pattern is always the same: one Billie Holiday <a href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2Flearning%2Fgeneral%2Fonthisday%2Fbday%2F0407.html&amp;sa=D&amp;sntz=1&amp;usg=AFQjCNEhdbkgkDWEyhIghejPeN3veaHgCA\">obituary<\/a> dedicated an entire column to discussing her 1947 arrest and narcotics conviction; years later a Keith Moon obituary <a href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ftheguardian%2F2010%2Fsep%2F08%2Farchive-keith-moon-found-dead&amp;sa=D&amp;sntz=1&amp;usg=AFQjCNHitcxC5-x5zqHP-mIvWHRp-jEejg\">mentioned<\/a><br \/>\n only that \u201chis death comes at a time when he seemed to have recovered<br \/>\nfrom the excesses of earlier years\u201d, without so much as mentioning that<br \/>\nthose \u201cexcesses\u201d included a well-documented struggle with alcoholism and<br \/>\n the 32 clomethiazole pills that ultimately killed him. Whitney Houston,<br \/>\n like Amy Winehouse, was depicted as a<a href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fabcnews.go.com%2F2020%2Fvideo%2Fwhitney-houston-bad-worse-15741580&amp;sa=D&amp;sntz=1&amp;usg=AFQjCNHpv1vg9shFgsdR__jrKUcCR36FNg\"> substance-addled mess<\/a><br \/>\n in the run up to her overdose death, much unlike the courtesy that was<br \/>\nlavished unto Michael Jackson, whose latter-day prescription drug habit<br \/>\nwas neatly and often dismissively attributed to the rueful loneliness of<br \/>\n fame, <a href=\"http:\/\/losangeles.cbslocal.com\/2013\/08\/27\/expert-jackson-suffered-from-severe-addiction-to-prescription-drugs\/\">if it was even reported at all<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Even when public meltdowns or existential tumult doesn\u2019t result in<br \/>\ndeath, the media\u2019s depiction of female artists still tends toward<br \/>\ncollusion. When Lauryn Hill took a sabbatical from music because she<br \/>\nobjected to the way the industry commodified her lifestyle\u2013 a choice<br \/>\nthat dovetailed with a concurrent broadcast of religious faith\u2013 she was<br \/>\n <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vh1.com\/music\/tuner\/2013-05-10\/25-musicians-who-went-crazy\/\">depicted as a crazy person<\/a>.<br \/>\n When Nas, Mase, Yasiin Bey and even to a lesser extent, Kendrick Lamar<br \/>\nall did the same, they were heralded as noble, bravely pius. The<br \/>\nreportage was damaging and unequal: when Hill left the country it was <a href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fhiphopwired.com%2F2010%2F06%2F29%2Flauryn-hill-speaks-on-musical-hiatus%2F&amp;sa=D&amp;sntz=1&amp;usg=AFQjCNFDET_5X-w03L0Mfgj_Caa-x51HoQ\">portrayed as exile<\/a>; when Mos Def <a href=\"http:\/\/www.okayplayer.com\/news\/yasiin-bey-mos-def-interview-video.html\">left the country<\/a> it was to become <a href=\"http:\/\/genius.com\/360841\">Black Dante<\/a>. \u2026<\/p>\n<p><b>\u201c[T]here is a schism and a definite, unfair gender binary that favors<br \/>\ntroubled men over troubled women\u2013and their right to be troubled. Men<br \/>\nwho grapple with issues that coincide with art and fame are canonized in<br \/>\n death; women who do the same are made lesser, somehow, by their own<br \/>\nunequivocal loss.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s very likely that the unfair portrayal of women stems from a puritanical notion of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Flifeandstyle%2Fthe-womens-blog-with-jane-martinson%2F2013%2Fmay%2F24%2Fwomen-art-great-artists-men&amp;sa=D&amp;sntz=1&amp;usg=AFQjCNHZ-S_4IWO15z3PNJzWTosCYL6sXg\">\u201cwoman as artist\u201d<\/a>\u2013<br \/>\n this often unarticulated pedagogical idea that women, by their very<br \/>\nbaby-making capacity, are somehow never able to\u2013and shouldn\u2019t\u2013 immerse<br \/>\n themselves as fully into art as men, because the question of gender<br \/>\ngets in the way. Women are forever seen as outsiders, interlopers, their<br \/>\n genius owed to the nearest male manager (The Runaways),<br \/>\nproducer-svengali (Ke$ha), famous boyfriend (Joni Mitchell) or husband<br \/>\n(Alice Coltrane). This incredibly subtle \u201cothering\u201d of women, coupled<br \/>\nwith a culture-wide superficiality that places the onus of physical<br \/>\nbeauty more squarely on female celebrities than on men, sets female<br \/>\nartists up for spectacle\u2013 the pernicious underbelly of gossip.<\/p>\n<p>A<br \/>\n friend of mine once told me about an art historian who lamented that<br \/>\nfact that Yoko Ono would never be as widely-respected as several<br \/>\ncontemporary male artists because she was a mother.<b> \u201cWomen who live<br \/>\nart\u2013 who put their art first, above their families\u2013 are seen as<br \/>\nselfish, neglectful parents\u2026Men who do<br \/>\nthe same are regarded as geniuses consumed by their work.\u201d\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>kateoplis: Amy Winehouse, Kurt Cobain, and the Gendering of Martyrdom \u201cIn the same season we\u2019ve been presented with two different comprehensive documentaries of two of our most iconic and tragic, gone-too-soon figures in recent decades. Brett Morgan\u2019s Montage of Heck depicts the slow unraveling of Kurt Cobain in the preamble to his suicide, Asif Kapadia\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","hentry","category-words","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6PWot-3e3","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12403"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12405,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12403\/revisions\/12405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}