Friday, August 11, 2006

Analysis of the Joe Francis mystique

Over at Bitch Ph.D., a commenter alerted us to LA Times reporter Claire Hoffman's remarkable profile of "Girls Gone Wild" honcho Joe Francis. He's truly repellent, possibly sociopathic, and definitely making a fortune off sexism and porn.

I wasn't quite sure how to write about the many issues raised by the article, by the "Girls Gone Wild" phenomenon, by the success of a creep like Joe Francis. Fortunately, ding found a couple approaches, here and (with a tie-in to military crimes) here. And, following ding's links, there's also Pandagon and Feministe for more on the topic.

8 comments:

Mignon said...

I read the whole article, appalled that it wasn't fiction. That a date rape and assault (if not more) took place in one normal evening. I think the writer deserves a medal and case of hand sanitizer for that story.

You know, it's not like we couldn't guess there was some kind of immature sleaze-bag behind the GGW crap. It's just scary how branded, i.e. mainstream, it's all become. Hopefully, if some of the legal troubles will catch up to him, because it sounds like without Joe Francis, GGW is pretty much nothing.

Mona Buonanotte said...

He better not get within 50 miles of my daughter, or so help me, I'll go all Rambo on his ass....

Itchy said...

I read this article earlier in the week and I was appalled by it. Appalled at how familiar his behavior was to me. And the behavior of the crowd that stood around not doing anything... Way too familiar.

Orange said...

I'm sorry to hear that, Itchy. Sounds like maybe you've been in some tough situations.

T.A.N. said...

hi beautiful. long time. gettin' to go old school this weekend ...


I missed thei nitial hubbub, but I'll probably try and chime in on this. Frankly, I liked the Schramm take on it, criticizing the journalistic integrity/aspect of the piece.

The personal story makes it more dramatic, but I could have gone for more exploration of the cultural mechanisms that allow Joe to be a success. Because his success is the biggest reason this is a story, not that he's a rapist, or sexual predator, or sociopath.

It's not to say it's not a well done story. And important. But her story would be better served in an actual lawsuit or indictment. perhaps allowing more showing ourselves in the mirror, and how we enable Joe, in the actual reporting.

Orange said...

TAN, by "ourselves" and "we," do you mean men? And hapless fame-craving young women? Because I don't think I'm one of Joe Francis's enablers. I'd like to know who the hell is making him so rich, though.

T.A.N. said...

Yeah, I mean all of us. We all feed the machine somehow someway, no?

Orange said...

All right, from now on, when a GGW commercial comes on the TV, I'll make my husband change the channel. But wait, we're not a Nielsen household, so would the channel running the ads even know?