There are a couple reasons for this. First of all, I generally like her movies to begin with. I don’t care if the Tomb Raider films are based on a video game and have unrealistic plotlines, they’re fun and Lara Croft is a strong female character who is smart, athletic, and doesn’t get suckered in by attractive yet dubious dudes. I mean, she resists Gerard Butler in the second one. Impressive.
But I also appreciate the way Angelina uses her fame to raise awareness of global poverty and the plight of refugees. She puts her money where her mouth is and genuinely cares about the causes she champions, unlike many celebrities who pay lip service to causes and pose with sick kids as a way to garner positive publicity. When I revealed that I go to Jolie’s movies because of her humanitarian efforts, another member of the class said, “that’s funny, some people might say they won’t go because she’s openly living with a guy she’s not married to.”
The reason I support Jolie and boycott Cruise is not their personal lives, but how they use their celebrity and wealth. When I spend money on a movie, some of it goes to their paycheck. Tom Cruise will use his money to support the Church of Scientology. Angelina Jolie will use her money to fund education programs for girls in Pakistan or for victims of landmines in Cambodia. (Though it is interesting to point out that Jolie and Pitt are now planning to get married at the behest of their children, which is a high profile example of the desire of children to grow up in a household stabilized by marital commitment, as well as an example of parents listening to their children and taking their thoughts and well being into consideration.)
Jolie is now in the news for revealing that she underwent a double mastectomy as a preventative measure against breast cancer because she is genetically predisposed to the disease with an 87% chance of getting it. Many people are calling her decision to undergo the procedure and her decision to go public with it brave. It will, many people think, bring greater awareness to the issue, etc. I would say that Angelina was brave long before this latest chapter in her life, because despite being raised in the Hollywood bubble, she was never sucked in. She was always herself, talking about taking mortician classes and collecting knives and wearing a vial of her husband’s blood, which I honestly didn’t think was as freaky as people made it out to be. It’s not much different from the Victorian trend of wearing a lock of someone’s hair in a locket. None of those things made her crazy or scary. She was just young. I once made a pair of earrings out of incisors I had extracted when I was being fitted for braces. It doesn’t mean I’m crazy or morbid. I was just a creative kid. I’ve evolved since then, as most people do.
Indeed, Angelina also evolved from those days into the humanitarian she is now. Some people still make catty judgments about her based on her past or because they feel sorry for that actress who is best known for a hairstyle. My dad likes to dis Jolie (mostly to annoy me) by saying she looks anorexic and has lamprey lips. But Jolie isn’t beautiful because of her figure. She’s beautiful because she went from the periods of ill-advised behavior that accompany growing up in Hollywood to being a smart, grounded champion of human rights. People are free to disagree with me. You watch whatever you want. But I’m Team Jolie.