Angelina Jolie: Star Theory

Angelina Jolie: Actor or Activist?

by Michael O'Neill

In the article "Star Studies"one of the first things the reader picks up on is "stars attract attention". Before filming the 2008 psychological thriller "Changeling" actress Angelina Jolie was at first reluctant about taking the role. However the shocking events that the movie is based on is what persuaded her to do the film. This was because whilst reviewing the script the hard hitting events which focuses on single mother "Christine Collins" as she attempts to return her kidnapped son after finding out that the police gave her the wrong child and whilst she attempts to go against the authorities, because of her gender she is sent to a mental institution.

(the video above is an interview of Angelina telling the audience why she chose to play the role of Christine)

In the interview above Angelina says how she found it "interesting how little women were taken seriously at the time period the film was set in" (1920's Los Angeles).

In the film several shocking scenes are created and one that I believe truly backs up the theory that Angelina Jolie is an activist as well as an actress would be the scene where Christine is forcefully admitted to the mental institution.

The first thing the audience see in this scene is the representation of power: Captain Jones (Jeffrey Donovan) immediately calls back-up, however it is worth noting that all throughout the scene Captain Jones always has someone in the background of his shot, nine times out of ten the people of power in the police force are males, throughout the whole scene there is only one woman of power and even her main role is to take orders from a man (Jones orders Christine however has no-one. This represents the amount of power the police had at the time and during the film. Christine is forced to fight for herself.