Julie & Julia
January 24, 2010
My wife got the movie Julie and Julia as a Christmas present from her friend and we finally sat down together and watched it. The movie was entertaining, had some funny parts and Meryl Streep did an amazing job as Julia Child.
After the movie I did some research on Julie Powell and the Julie/Julia Project. I read some of her blog and found a Newsweek article about her and some of the negative feelings so many people have about her now. I was shocked to see how many people strongly dislike this woman even though they have never met her.
Based on what I found about her, I am sure the Julie Powell character played by Amy Adams was cleaned up and made more likable than the Julie Powell in real life but the level of scorn displayed by so many people who left comments about her was sad. Many of them said she was the perfect example of the sense of entitlement people have and the get rich quick mentality of so many Americans. They attacked her for being a bad cook and ripped into her for being a terrible writer.
I don’t know Julie Powell, before today I have never read anything by her. I only know her story from the movie and what little I did read after watching it. She may be a terrible person, who knows. She may not be. I doubt anyone leaving comments about her one way or another has ever met her. However, what these articles and comments do reveal is the propensity for people to attack those who become successful.
Julie Powell was a normal person just like 99% of us living in America. She was struggling with day to day life and wanted to do something different. She decided to start a blog to narrate her journey through Julia Child’s cookbook as she cooked every recipe in one year. She didn’t know that anyone would read it. She had no idea it would turn into a movie and lead to her future career as an author. She must have been a good enough writer though to attract readers who followed her journey through the cookbook. She must have been a good enough writer to land a movie deal for her story.
One person who left a comment on the Newsweek story nailed it in my opinion.
I detect a whole lot of jealous bloggers out there. Get over it, folks, and be happy for her success. I saw the film last night. Just beautiful.
We love to attack those who make it, especially when we perceive in our own mind that they don’t deserve it. Julie Powell’s success has no impact on my life nor does it have any impact on the lives of most people. It does not make my life any worse that she made money doing what she did and it doesn’t make any one’s life better to attack her success. In fact, those who hate Julie Powell and attack her likely make their own life worse by getting emotionally tied to a person they do not even know.
The Internet is a great tool but it has connected a world of strangers together in a way that makes us think we personally know others that we have never met. It gives us the very sense of entitlement she was accused of having to attack strangers we have never met because we feel they have wronged us or gained some advantage over us. “Authors” attack bloggers because they aren’t real writers. “Singers” attack contestants on American Idol because they aren’t real musicians. “Regular” people attack bloggers and American Idol contestants who become successful because, well, they are envious that a normal everyday person made it big when they didn’t. The success of others does not have any relevance on our lives unless we allow ourselves to become bitter and envious towards their success.
I say good for Julie Powell. She set out to do something and became successful at it. What she does with her life, her marriage, her success is up to her. It sounds like she has made some bad decisions and for that, I hope she can turn them around for the better. Apart from that, her success affects my life in one simple way. She wrote a story that was turned into a movie. I watched that movie and for 1-2 hours I was entertained.
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