Today, after my usual preview of the Post en el tren, I went straight to the newsstand and purchased my very own copy. You see, this A.M.'s cover story is an exclusive regurgitation of the Ashley Alexandre Dupre (aka Kristen, former Emperor's Club employee and the Elliot Spitzer Hook') in-depth People Magazine interview. We have loved some political smut-ness, ever since the Starr Report (which bears rereading) was printed and reprinted for perusal by a certain thirteen-year-old Able, both furious at Bill's impeachment over "private matters" and incapable of looking away. We also have a neverending story of fascination with abuse of power and flesh bartering, reading Moll Flanders twice, planning an (unwritten) thesis on Evelyn Nesbit and Stanford White.
Clearly the aesthetics of this scandale are their own story: The American Ibiza of the Jersey Shore, Facebook, Bebe stores, layers of lipgloss, tattoos in foriegn languages, baking, bleaching, waxing, bottle service, baldness, the clear hawk-eyes of a prosecutor, the new, deeply unsubtle Eastern Seaboard--a greasy E. 79th street, a clunky Mayflower Hotel, and, in the wake of the Summer story, a gross collapse of Wall Street. That's the important bit--How do we feel about Dupre and Spitzer at this moment, after this delay, after the general election, post investment banks, post Manhattan? We are newly attuned to images of the healthy and wholesome Obama clan, an oval office where brain trusts and puppies roam, not cocktail waitresses and lusty interns. Several years ago, Dupre would have seemed the louche chaser of clubland dreams and Sarah Jessica Parker footwear; in November 2008, the girl just seems like a worker, yet another bill-payer in an over-priced world. It's an old story, but mayhaps we have new eyes . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment