VLVL2 (2): Film as Metaphor -- Made-for-TV Movie Theory

[gumbo at fuse.net]

The Pia and Clara namedrop is a complex little joke. It tracks the objectification of women across sixty years of film history, and the irony of one Svengali-managed actress being played by another, and the process of authenticity giving way to an ineptly drawn replica. 
 
It also seems to relate to the novel's concern with how media and particularly film influence individual and group behavior. Not long after she watches the film, Prairie is observed fretting about her body image in a conversation with Zoyd.
 
I'd be interested in hearing more about the negative response to Pynchon's pop culture references when the book was published. I think they're hilarious.
 
D.C.
 

> 
> From: Toby G Levy <tobylevy at juno.com>
> Date: 2003/07/28 Mon PM 04:26:52 EDT
> To: pynchon-l at waste.org
> Subject: Re: VLVL2 (2): Film as Metaphor -- Made-for-TV Movie Theory
> 
> Here's the All-Movie-Guide bios on Clara Bow and Pia Zadora
> 
> "Famous as the "It" girl of the Roaring 20s; Clara Bow was the flapper to
> end all flappers. The daughter of a Coney Island waiter, she spent her
> youth in poverty. At 16 she won a movie magazine beauty contest; part of
> the prize was a trip to visit the New York studios and a bit part in a
> silent, soon leading to other roles mostly in low-budget films. Under
> contract to producer B.P. Schulberg, she went with Schulberg from New
> York to Hollywood's Paramount, where the studio's publicity machine
> helped mold her into a star, particularly after Mantrap (1926), her
> first smash hit. Soon she became a symbol of the emancipated woman
> during the flapper age: vibrant, liberated, energetic. Her bobbed hair,
> bow lips, and sparkling eyes came to represent the era, and her bangled,
> beaded "look" soon became imitated by women throughout America. After
> appearing in the film It (1927) she became known as the "It" girl, a
> woman with "something extra" which set her apart from the common herd.
> While living the life of the Roaring 20s, however, she became the victim
> of numerous scandals and quickly fell from grace with the public (which
> in a 1928 poll had named her America's favorite actress). With the
> advent of sound, her career ground to a halt. In 1931 she eloped with
> cowboy star Rex Bell, who eventually became lieutenant governor of
> Nevada. Bow retired from the screen in 1933."
> 
> "Actress/singer Pia Zadora (born Pia Schipani) launched her sporadic film
> career at age nine in Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964). She made
> her adult debut playing a young woman who gets into an affair with the
> man she believes to be her biological father in Butterfly (1981)."
> 
> Clara Bow and Pia Zadora were both relentless self-promoters.  The
> difference was that Clara Bow fouhgt and scratched her way to the top,
> using the Hollywood star-making machinery as best she could.  Pia Zadora
> married a millionaire and bought her movie roles.  Her films were
> universally despised by critics and fans alike.
> 
> Toby
> 
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