{"id":6841,"date":"2017-03-07T00:27:44","date_gmt":"2017-03-07T08:27:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/?p=6841"},"modified":"2017-03-07T11:49:06","modified_gmt":"2017-03-07T19:49:06","slug":"feud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/2017\/03\/feud\/","title":{"rendered":"A Feud of Biblical Proportions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Feud\"<\/a><\/p>\n

So far, Ryan Murphy\u2019s Feud<\/em>, featuring Jessica Lange <\/a>as Joan Crawford and Susan Sarandon<\/a> as Bette Davis, has delivered an entertaining take on one of the great rivalries in Hollywood history. One character in the show calls it a \u201cfeud of biblical proportions.\u201d Which biblical feud she\u2019s talking about I\u2019m not sure. Cain and Abel comes to mind. Or perhaps the one between Elijah and the Prophets of Baal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Murphy has to walk a fine line here. He has to deliver the goods on these two battleaxes chopping each other apart. (\u201cBox office poison! Box office poison!\u201d) But he has to make them sympathetic, too. And perhaps get at some of the reasons behind the feud. After all, as Joan\u2019s latest beau, Peter, points out in the first episode, the two probably have more in common than anyone else in the world, so why do they hate each other so much?<\/p>\n

Clues come during Joan\u2019s initial meeting with infamous gossip vulture Hedda Hopper (Judy Davis<\/a>) as she tries to get Joan to give an honest take on Marilyn Monroe. There can only be one \u201cit girl\u201d in Hollywood\u2014only one goddess on the pedestal at a time. Joan replies that maybe it\u2019s up to the women to try to chip away at the pedestal. But Hopper isn\u2019t having it. She wants Joan to tear down Marilyn, and eventually she gets what she wants, with Crawford delivering one of her diatribes against the \u201csloppy young stars\u201d<\/a> who don\u2019t know what glamor is really all about.<\/p>\n

Feud<\/em> tells the story about the making of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?<\/a> <\/em>the camp\/horror classic in which Davis and Crawford play two washed-up Hollywood old maids, living a reclusive and mutually-tormenting life. Not winning any new roles, and desperate for cash, Crawford very smartly sees the potboiler novel by Henry Ferrell as the perfect vehicle for a comeback. She pitches it to a B-movie, never-quite-made-the-big-leagues director, Robert Aldrich (Alfred Molina<\/a>), who has become absolutely radioactive after his \u201cBiblical\u201d flop, Sodom and Gomorrah<\/em> (1962<\/a>). Both Crawford and Aldrich realize immediately that the only actress for the part of Baby Jane is Bette Davis, and thus begins a profitable but agonizing partnership.<\/p>\n

Jessica Lange does excellent work as Crawford, showing the vulnerability behind the permanent mask of glamor, never moreso than when she lets drop the Texas twang behind her MGM rounded vowels. Lange plays Joan as an ambitious perfectionist, but a character with a deep maw of need to be loved and respected. She\u2019s identifiable as an artist and a human being, as opposed to the Kabuki performance given by Faye Dunnaway in Mommie Dearest<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Susan Sarandon is currently on my prayer list (read: shit list) for her behavior during the election<\/a>. But she does a reasonable impression of Davis. She has her fierce, eye-popping expressions and the impudent tossing of her hair. Davis was seemingly more in control of her need to be loved, and possessed superior and recognized acting talent (she was nominated for 11 Oscars and won 2). She addresses Joan by her given name, \u201cLucille.\u201d A little flat as Davis herself, Sarandon really comes into her own when she dons the pancake makeup and flea-bitten wig to play Baby Jane.<\/p>\n

The rest of the cast seems to be camping it up\u2014and having more fun\u2014than Lange and Sarandon. Judy Davis is a hoot as Hedda Hopper. Kathy Bates<\/a> and Catherine Zeta-Jones<\/a> do convincing impersonations of Joan Blondell<\/a> and Olivia de Havilland<\/a>, respectively. And Stanley Tucci<\/a> chews the most scenery as a hideously misogynistic Jack Warner, pulling out the \u201cc-word\u201d before either of the women have a chance.<\/p>\n

So far the show seems to be taking Crawford\u2019s side, showing how difficult it was for her to construct her glamor day in and day out. As suggested in an issue of Screen Stories<\/a> <\/em>magazine in 1963, she saw glamor as her duty, and indeed her burden.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was given star billing years ago I knew that the reason fans paid to see me was because I was supposed to be something different, something special; I represented glamor and make-believe and escape to them, just as a movie star should. \u2026 I was determined that these fans\u2026would never see me in any way but as a glamorous creature. I\u2019d never let myself be seen in public unless I looked the way they imagined me.\u201d<\/p>\n

She goes on to denounce young actresses that go around in slacks: \u201cI think slacks are fine around the house or for hiking. But there\u2019s no glamor to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure Crawford\u2019s constructed feminine glamor has much use in the modern world, and it may ultimately be what held her and all the other women in Hollywood back. But I feel sorry for her that her life\u2019s work came to nothing. What would she make of today\u2019s \u201cstars\u201d who have no talent, no glamor at all\u2013who are merely famous for being famous?<\/p>\n

\"Eve<\/a>
Eve Arnold\u2019s famous picture of Joan Crawford undergoing \u201cconstruction.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So far, Ryan Murphy\u2019s Feud, featuring Jessica Lange as Joan Crawford and Susan Sarandon as Bette Davis, has delivered an entertaining take on one of the great rivalries in Hollywood history. One character in the show calls it a \u201cfeud of biblical proportions.\u201d Which biblical feud she\u2019s talking about I\u2019m not sure. Cain and Abel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1530,"featured_media":6842,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film","category-television"],"yoast_head":"\nA Feud of Biblical Proportions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"So far, Ryan Murphy's Feud, featuring Jessica Lange as Joan Crawford and Susan Sarandon as Bette Davis, has delivered an entertaining take on one of the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/2017\/03\/feud\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Feud of Biblical Proportions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"So far, Ryan Murphy's Feud, featuring Jessica Lange as Joan Crawford and Susan Sarandon as Bette Davis, has delivered an entertaining take on one of the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/2017\/03\/feud\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pop Theology\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-03-07T08:27:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-03-07T19:49:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/357\/2017\/03\/Feud.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"634\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"423\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Richard Lindsay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Richard Lindsay\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/2017\/03\/feud\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/2017\/03\/feud\/\",\"name\":\"A Feud of Biblical Proportions\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-03-07T08:27:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-03-07T19:49:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/#\/schema\/person\/8d6273da47a63fbdec4df61ffe9774cf\"},\"description\":\"So far, Ryan Murphy's Feud, featuring Jessica Lange as Joan Crawford and Susan Sarandon as Bette Davis, has delivered an entertaining take on one of the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/2017\/03\/feud\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/2017\/03\/feud\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/2017\/03\/feud\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Feud of Biblical Proportions\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/\",\"name\":\"Pop Theology\",\"description\":\"Where religion meets pop culture.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/#\/schema\/person\/8d6273da47a63fbdec4df61ffe9774cf\",\"name\":\"Richard Lindsay\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fc0371a95c813efb7ad6269d8360ebd1?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fc0371a95c813efb7ad6269d8360ebd1?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Richard Lindsay\"},\"description\":\"Richard Lindsay holds a PhD in art and religion from Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA. 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