WE LOST THE INTERVIEW

tutijaques0
4 days ago
4 min read

How Sydney Sweeney reduced decades of media journalism to “I did a jean ad”

By: Francesca Jaques

In a time where I didn’t think things could get more boring, humanity has completely renounced its right to a personality. Giving credit to cancel-culture panic and PR sterilization, we’ve slowly traded conversation for cheap social climbing.

Celebrity interviews have always been controversial. Since their invention, there’s been something vaguely apocalyptic about turning on the TV at lunch and watching Ellen applaud Taylor Swift for making her tenth million dollars. However, that disconnect is exactly what feeds billions of viewers. There is a strange honesty in being so viscerally dramatic, so rich, so out of touch, or even a little horrible.

During a press tour for Now You See Me, young entertainment reporter Romina Puga interviewed Jesse Eisenberg, where he mocked her for having questions written on her hand and hinted at how sloppy her preparation was. In some sick way, it was electric. The way he actually cared enough to spar.

Barbara Walters’ iconic “You don’t sing, you don’t dance, you don’t act… you don't have any…talent!” at the 2011 Kardashians was one of the last great moments of journalistic audacity—an interviewer actually interrogating why someone was famous, and a reminder of what we’re missing now.

Source: inkl

Now the interviewer has a brand to protect, forcing them to be always likeable, friendly, and agreeable. Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast continuously shocks me because half the interview dialogue seems to be filled with mindless terms of agreement, such as “No, totally” or “I’m obsessed,” instead of questions that will give the people the answers they really want.

In one such interview, pop star Chappell Roan said that she shouldn’t be looked up to for political advice and that she’s “just a pop star.” It was the kind of moment that could have led somewhere honest, as her music & press appearances often contradict that claim. A dozen openings were right there for Cooper, yet she blindly agreed and continued the interview while avoiding any controversial topics.

Source: Gizmodo

GQ’s Katherine Stoeffel landed an interview with Sydney Sweeney just months after her tone-deaf American Eagle ad, where she spent the entire time talking about her “blue jeans,” presenting her blonde hair and blue eyes as inherited gifts that shaped who she is. Then the punchline flashed: Sydney Sweeney has great jeans. When a white, blonde, blue-eyed woman romanticizes her own genetics as special or superior, it stops being a denim pun and starts sounding like white supremacy.

This was also the year her family’s photos leaked, revealing what looked unmistakably like a MAGA-themed gathering, based on the sheer amount of merchandise in the frame. A few media cycles later, she was photographed making out with Scooter Braun, a widely despised and career-vaporizing investor, all while rumors circulated about her broken engagement and alleged cheating.

Stoeffel could have chosen from a wide range of topics, given Sweeney’s controversial media presence in the last year, and ultimately went the political route. Here is why that choice did not deliver.

Katherine: “It does not look like a very political career, but you have become very swept up in politics.”

Okay — alluding to the MAGA party headlines. A gesture toward something real. A little spark. But a gesture isn’t enough in a five-figure Chateau Marmont interview. A gesture wastes my time and gives Sydney a chance to gracefully sidestep, which she immediately does. Let’s try again.

Katherine: “We're sort of talking around this American Eagle ad right now. And maybe we should just talk about it. So, were you surprised by the reaction?”

Beautiful. Chills. This is the moment. Great job, Katherine, for shedding direct light on an ongoing controversy.

Source: American Eagle

Sydney: “I did a jean ad.”

Okay, Katherine — this is it. We all know what she’s doing. You loaded the gun. All you have to do is fire it.

Katherine: “Jeans are uncontroversial. Jeans are awesome.”

What. The. Fuck.

I’m genuinely appalled by the sudden collapse in confidence. Katherine, you had her. You had the opening every journalist dreams about. That is, until you handed her the easiest way out I’ve ever seen. What was finally an opportunity to apply pressure for answers to the internet’s burning questions became another mediocre, and frankly forgettable, celebrity media promo.

And this is where the celebrity interview dies. The second the interview gets close to anything interesting, everyone panics and pivots to the safety of appeasement. Everyone is so worried about being liked — the interviewer, the interviewee, the publication — that the conversation collapses into politeness. Nothing is risked, so nothing is learned. We end up with a profile that dances around controversy instead of engaging with it, and a format that confuses access for insight.

The interviewer shouldn’t be the shiny influencer with brand deals riding on their likability. The interviewer should be someone with enough backbone to push, question, and be taken seriously. We still have interviews, we just stopped having conversations.

Francesca Jaques is a writer for Rowdy Magazine. Her ex-boyfriends describe her as extremely kind, effortlessly funny, hauntingly beautiful, and humble. IG: @francescajaques13 EMAIL: tutijaques@gmail.com