Poor Jennifer Aniston? Her Movies at the Box Office, perhaps, but otherwise, not even Barely.

Jennifer Aniston's new movie turned out to be nothing new. Well, we knew that already— older, single woman, no man, baby issues... But despite her requests for privacy, the movies she chooses continue to parallel her so-called real life. In title anyway: 'Rumor Has It', 'The Break-Up', 'He's Just Not That Into You', 'Friends with Money'.. But seriously, after this weekend, it's official. The Switch wasn't able to change Aniston's infamy for box office flops. The movie opened this weekend to a dim $8.4 million, not to say the media isn't ablaze about it. She still holds the limelight.

The headlines range from..

..pity?..
'Jennifer Aniston's box office blues‎' - CNN

..to defeatist..
'Jennifer Aniston: Where should she go from here?' - Entertainment Weekly

..to hopeful..
Jennifer Aniston To Prowl Into Courteney Cox's 'Cougar Town' - MTV

..to sensational..
'Jennifer Aniston's Publicity Tour Spurs Controversy' - The Celebrity Cafe

..to.. who cares about the movie? what about her love life [or lack thereof]??..
'Jennifer Aniston & John Mayer: Back On or Just Friends?!' - E! Online


And that's the thing. While critics are quick to predict the demise of America's [most talked about] Girl-Next-Door as a shoddy movie star, are they perhaps forgetting she...

• still made Forbes' Top 10 Actresses For The Buck less than a year ago, bombs and all, with an average ROI of $26 for every $1 she was paid?
• still ranks high on Forbes' Celebrity 100 —'a measure of power based on money and fame'— her current ranking as of this summer at #26?
• still has a handful [make that handfulS] of films in production, in development, and probably continuing to be offered?
  
• And even if she isn't acting on the big screen, she still has her production company; advertising campaigns, notably with SmartWater; friends on the little screen offering her parts; now, a new fragrance; covers, interviews, and appearances [because people will pay to see her, even if not at the theater]? By goodness, if Lindsay Lohan can make money, so can Jen!
• And even if she didn't have all that going for her, she could still do nothing and still make a higher annual salary than most of us via syndication of Friends. Heck, with her asset$, she doesn't even need income at all.

So, should the woman who once donned the most sought-after 'do be worried? Plain and simply, no. Money aside, she still serves a purpose, for men and women alike, as someone to..

• Idolize and fantasize about: once her hair, now her svelte 40+yo body.
• Live vicariously through: as a princess when she married the sexiest man alive.
• Sympathize for: when that fairytale tragically ended.
• Pity: when [and continuously still, since] she lost her man to the woman with even more exalted assets than hair—a juicy pucker— and enthusiasm to rear a sizeable brood.
• Empathize with: as she has yet to find another prince charming, is still single and babyless, yet independent and successful.

Let's face it. America still loves her. As this headline tries to proclaim: 'Most American Women Agree with Jennifer Aniston: 83% Surveyed Support a Single Woman Using IVF to Conceive a Child'.

It's the job of sensational media to stir things up and what better way than to beat down others? They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but perhaps criticism is too.


And until she picks a decent non-rom-com to do, we'll just have to be sufficiently sated with her Picture Perfect, offscreen character.


Happy Healthy Juicy Jen Aniston, despite her Derailed love life, is still a Good Girl, Friend, and tied-up Rock Star!

The ART of Today's Evolving Families

What does Proposition 8 and Jen Aniston's new flick have in common [other than the fact that the former will be ineffective and the latter will be released both by the end of this week]?

Parenthood.

It used to be that assisted reproductive technology [ART], as it is so fancily called, was used by 'traditional', married [opposite-sex] couples experiencing problems with conceiving, including fertility medication and in vitro fertilization. Today, well, we no longer live in a traditional world. As romantic relationships change in our society, so does the meaning of family.

A notorious example is divorce.

Remember when divorce was uncommon? It actually wasn't so long, ago. Rates soared in the early 60s, turning what was [and still is] believed by some to be the most 'ideal' parenting situation— one with a mom & dad — into single-parent, missing-parent and step-parent households. Today, it is estimated that about 50% of marriages end in divorce.


Legalization of same-sex marriage and partial effects of women’s lib are two additional, emerging examples that are changing relationships in our society today.

As same-sex marriages begin to integrate into our society as a norm, it’s likely more families are going to arise out of them.


As for women’s lib, namely in the arena of career, the issue used to be figuring out how a working mom can juggle both work and family life. But now, as time progresses and women become even more focused and successful in their careers, the issue is not just how to deal with both lives but how to attain them. That is, some women may be so focused on career that they forget about or don’t invest enough of their energies into relationships, while others may put forth the effort but without any luck of finding ‘the one’. Whatever the case, these women are single, with clocks ticking, and with enough of a nest egg to support nesting an egg of their own.


In both these cases, if adoption is not the method of choice, ART is. And like divorce, these non-traditional families don’t come without complication or at least issues of their own. In divorce, issues include custody, visitation rights, and child support. In these new familial shifts, issues extend even further into legality, such as whose name goes on birth certificates [carrier, donor, partner..?], to possibly morality and ethics, such as addressing whether using anonymous sperm strips away children’s ‘inherent right’[?] of knowing where/who they [totally] come from.

For a more extensive discussion and an interesting article: Read this.

[Gamete] donation is a current hot & heated topic of the moment, as it is brought into the limelight along with Aniston's new flick, The Switch, her public comments about it, and the use of ART.

Along her press junket, Aniston has been [controversially, or juicily] quoted as saying..

'Women are realising it more and more knowing that they don't have to settle with a man just to have that child.. Times have changed and that is also what is amazing is that we do have so many options these days, as opposed to our parents' days when you can't have children because you have waited too long..

'The point of the movie is what is it that defines family? It isn't necessarily the traditional mother, father, two children and a dog named Spot. Love is love and family is what is around you and who is in your immediate sphere. That is what I love about this movie. It is saying it is not the traditional sort of stereotype of what we have been taught as a society of what family is.'

Not one to shy away from controversy, Bill O'Reilly responded:

'She's throwing a message out to 12-year-olds and 13-year-olds that hey, you don't need a guy, you don't need a dad.. That's destructive to our society.. [and] diminishing the role of the dad.. Dads bring a psychology to children that is, in this society, I believe, under-emphasized. I think men get hosed all day long in the parental arena.'

Feeding the feud, Aniston responded:

'And, of course, many women dream of finding Prince Charming (with fatherly instincts), but for those who've not yet found their Bill O'Reilly, I'm just glad science has provided a few other options.'

While it might be the end of the discussion for these two [for now], it’s just the beginning for the rest of us.

To conclude, some food for thought: Considering divorce situations aren't deemed the most ‘optimal’, is that then to say even heterosexual couples shouldn't have children because of the such high risk of potential unideal circumstances [a dissolution of the mom and dad duo]?

And for dessert, some la la’s..




Happy Healthy Juicy Families without borders but Full of Love!