Angelina Jolie Covers Harper’s Bazaar July 2009

Hollywood goddess Angelina Jolie is the July 2009 cover girl for Harper’s Bazaar’s. Here are some snippets from the lead story “Why Women Want Angelina Jolie’s Life” via essayist Naomi Wolf:

—- Polls also show that if women — not just **** and bisexual women but straight women — had to choose a female lover, they would want to sleep with Angelina Jolie. In other words, women both identify with her and desire her.

—- Her persona hits an unprecedented level of global resonance — and makes women want to be with her and be her at the same time — because she has created a life narrative that is not just personal. Rather, it is archetypal. And the archetype is one that really, for the first time in modern culture, brings together almost every aspect of female empowerment and liberation.

—- The magic of Jolie’s self-presentation? She makes the claim, with her life and actions, that, indeed, you can get away with it. All of it. Against every Western convention, she has managed to draw together all of these kinds of female liberation and empowerment. And her gestures determinedly transgress social boundaries — boundaries of convention, race, class, and gender — giving many of us a vicarious thrill.