I first heard whispers of the news as I was opening a new Word document before my 11:35 AM class in Burnside. Feeling skeptical and very convinced that the weekly rags had once again managed to put a tawdry split rumor on their cover, I immediately opened up E News on my phone for confirmation. This time, it was real: the so-called golden couple of Hollywood was divorcing. Within hours, the entirety of E News’ website was covered in “the latest details.” However, almost instantaneously, I felt badly.
There are a variety of reasons why the Brangelina split upsets me. The first (and probably most trivial) reason is because celebrity gossip is my thing. Being a celebrity gossip enthusiast since I was a kid, the gravity of such an event is not lost on me in the slightest — it’s the holy grail of news stories for tabloids and entertainment news channels. The coverage I proceeded to see on E News confirmed this initial gut feeling. The only story that could have been a bigger deal than this was probably the ending of Brad Pitt’s previous marriage to Jennifer Aniston, which inevitably led to this.
The second reason why the split tugs at my heartstrings is because it does further the notion that, as the Internet likes to say, “Love is dead.” I’ve personally never been thrilled with Brangelina’s love story — an on-set extramarital affair turned relationship IRL. I’ve never liked the fact that one marriage had to end so suddenly for another one to happen. However, I always did admire their cohesiveness as a family. The news coverage makes it seem like parenting has played a big role in the decision to divorce. It’s upsetting to think about how this divorce will affect this family, especially the kids, who are still very young. It’s also upsetting to see what appeared to be a very solid, caring couple end their union after being together so long. Relationships this long are rare, both in the celebrity world and in society at large, likely due to how we approach relationships today (with the rising popularity of dating apps like Tinder, and the culture of hooking up dominating over long-standing traditions of dating).
The ultimate reason why the split is bothering me is because of how “the Internet” has chosen to react to it. Much of the chatter on Twitter that Buzzfeed has picked up today involved various memes of Pitt’s ex-wife Jennifer Aniston cheering at the news of the split, and smiling as if to say “I told you so.” Now, I’ll admit that I take some pleasure in the “I told you so” narrative that is being approached: when her marriage to Pitt dissolved, I was much younger, but I remember feeling awful for her. We’ve all had moments where a friend or partner has done something to hurt us deeply, and one day, karma comes around and gives them a reason why they should have never messed with us in the first place. However, there’s a point where the Jennifer Aniston memes went too far, and that’s when they pit her back into a battle-over-Brad, only this time, as the winner who finally got her revenge. Making the matter worse, the New York Post decided that their way of addressing the divorce was by plastering an image of Aniston snickering on its Wednesday, September 21st cover:
This is just outrageous. I think there is a fine line between acknowledging an act of karma and painting Aniston, who isn’t implicated in the divorce in any way other than media musings, as a woman laughing at someone else’s misfortune. It’s unnerving that she had to be brought into what is actually a sad occasion — a fracture that likely has many hurtful implications on a young family — in such a petty way. Moreover, it bothers me that no one seems to understand just how painful this divorce has and could be for all the parties involved amidst their humorous meme-and-GIF posting.
At the end of the day, the Brangelina split has reminded me to stand back and evaluate the news that is being delivered to me. It’s a much deeper life lesson than I ever expected to learn from the world of celeb news, but it is so important, especially as I start to look towards advancing a career in communications and media production. I think we are all guilty of glossing over the news of celebrities’ splits or personal life events because we are so distant from them, and they play no active role in our lives. This is a fair justification. However, because they’re so distant from us, there’s no way we can fully know what is going on. Therefore, what I do recommend is to realize that they’re real people implicated by real events that are just as likely to happen to us: knowing that, it’s okay, and even respectable, to feel for them. The very same social media platforms that these people are trolled through also contain quote pages that remind us to “be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about.” Let’s work on respecting the real, potentially heartbreaking realities of those around us before we go post more cheap, anti-feminist memes on our social media accounts.
Sources and Image Credits Obtained From:
http://www.eonline.com/news/796643/was-the-new-york-post-s-jennifer-aniston-cover-funny-or-too-far
http://www.eonline.com/news/796193/angelina-jolie-files-for-divorce-from-brad-pitt
https://www.buzzfeed.com/michelleregna/rip-brangelina?utm_term=.fnB4VLplk#.rjMnAY2BV