Alice Oscura, Featured Writer
Iconic American beauty and the face of the 80s are just two of the phrases that were used to describe model-turned-actress Brooke Shields. In a two-part documentary that premiered on Hulu on April 3rd, the actress candidly reveals some startling secrets about her personal life and career. Director Lana Wilson (Miss Americana) re-purposes the title of Shields’ first movie Pretty Baby which was released in 1978. The title here is meant to represent the ambiguity of Brooke’s personal life and the disassociation from her body which she learned to do from a very young age. She explained how she didn’t like to look in the mirror and preferred to focus on aspects of her life that she could control that didn’t involve her beauty. Supported by interviews with friends, family, authors, and experts in the field of analysing celebrity culture as well as film footage, home movies, and photographs, it is clear to see that a young Brooke would become physically uncomfortable during interviews whenever her beauty was made the subject of discussion.
Shields’ mother, Teri Shields, had extremely high aspirations for her. In interviews, Teri explained that she knew that her daughter had what it took to become a star and that she was the prettiest baby that she had ever seen. At face value, it comes across simply as a mother doting on her child. If one took the time to analyse, one would be able to come up with at least two other mothers that had giant aspirations and did everything possible to push their daughters into the limelight, making them the sole breadwinner of their families. Judy Garland and Natalie Wood are classic examples of this, and both ended up meeting very tragic endings. However, there’s something about Brooke Shields that made her tougher and fight for her survival in an industry and era dominated by powerful men who chose to satisfy their voyeuristic fantasies.
There’s a fine line between what can be deemed as artistic expression and just plain old sexual exploitation of a minor. The culture that developed in the mid-sixties and seventies after what is recognised as the “second wave” of the women’s liberation movement became something far more sinister and dangerous for young girls in the modeling and acting industry.
Shields’ career path began at the tender age of 11-months old when she was first photographed by a well-known photographer named Francesco Scavullo for an Ivory Soap advertisement. As time passed and Brooke got a bit older, Teri’s alcoholism would worsen and may have contributed directly or indirectly to what can only be seen as poor judgment when it came to managing her daughter’s career.
At 11-years old Brooke was cast to star in the provocative American historical drama Pretty Baby which was released in 1978. The film was directed by French-born director and screenwriter Louis Malle and was written by Polly Platt. It was based on the true story of a young girl who was forced into prostitution by her mother while living in the red-light district in New Orleans set in the early 1900s. While the film performed well, it has come under scrutiny and heavy criticism from those who view the film as being sexually exploitative of the young actress. Among some of the controversial issues discussed would include Brooke being photographed nude at nine years old by a New York City photographer named Gary Gross for a Playboy Press publication. It is a decision that would later haunt the actress in a legal suit filed against Gross when she became 17-years old for invasion of privacy which she ultimately lost.
Shields also explained how The Blue Lagoon (1980) director Randal Kleiser said that Brooke’s sexual awakening in the film was all real and he wanted to begin promoting it as a reality show. The actress was only 14-years old when filming began in Fiji’s Turtle Island. She also mentioned that Kleiser kept pushing Shields’ and her co-star Christopher Atkins who was 18 at the time to try to have a real-life romance. The film is a coming-of-age story that follows two cousins who became stranded on the island as children. However, as they grew older and hit puberty, they began to fall in love with each other. Their story begins to get complicated as they have no adult guidance.
Another controversial topic was the racy, questionable ad campaigns for Calvin Klein Jeans. Sales for the jeans were boosted by 300 percent after Brooke became his model. In an archival interview, Klein said that he was always willing to take risks when it came to advertising and wasn’t afraid of using the shock factor to boost sales. It became very clear that a young, naive Brooke thought of it as just doing a job. In the background, however, she did begin to question whether or not it would come back around to haunt her eventually. As some things always do, she soon managed to capture the unwanted attention of the crazies which is why she eventually had to hire a personal bodyguard.
The actress admitted to becoming confused when it came to her own sexual experiences later on in life due to her talent for disassociation. Many have discussed the fact that the actress may have been exposed too much too soon. This brings up a very important point for our modern-day society. Exposure to certain social media content should indeed be controlled and monitored for minors. Premature sexual exposure can mess with the psyche of an individual and can sometimes cause them to misinterpret certain situations. Teri Shields disturbingly related to an interviewer on a talk show that she viewed her daughter as a work of art and that everyone should admire Brooke as such. Huh? That was very disturbing to see and even more disturbing was the brief flash of alarm that was visible on young Brooke’s face at that moment upon hearing her mother’s words.
When Shields’ finally had her first child, she struggled for a while afterward until she received the diagnosis of post-postpartum depression. She would soon become an advocate for mothers who suffer from this very real medical condition. Shields even ended up defending her cause to actor Tom Cruise who didn’t do his research before forming his nonsensical opinion on national television.
The documentary opens up some provoking thoughts about the modeling and film industry. The fact that maybe there’s not enough being done to protect minors from being exploited by adults should include protection from their parents if need be. My mother always told me growing up that your reputation as a young woman is one of the most important things that you need to protect. Minors should be able to trust the adults that they depend on to protect and guide them. There’s no way that it can be acceptable to have a minor dress up and pose sensually without it being provocative to an older, twisted demographic. The audience will genuinely feel sympathy towards the actress and admire her strength in successfully surviving in an industry that has the reputation of devouring the weak and spitting them back out in the world without a leg to stand on.
Score: 6.5 out of 10
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Dark Alice has an old soul and a curious mind. I believe that anyone can be a hero and that the good guys should always win! I dislike cruelty to animals and think that they have far superior qualities to humans. My motto is there is no future without the past. I also have a weird penchant for Paranormal TV shows even though the slightest sound makes me jump. I enjoy writing reviews and throwing in fun facts to pique the readers’ curiosity. My ultimate goal in life would be to become a published writer one day. Read More