There was, once, I assure you, a Princess Grace, Katherine Hepburn, Princess Diana and now...who...which women basically defines our world...a princess for our time? Oprah comes close, but she's too old. Paris Hilton is pretty enough, but spoilt and dumb. Hillary Clinton is too masculine and frankly, manipulative. So whose it? Who is it going to be?
Nicole Kidman might do it but I don't remember her name or face associated with any charity work. Sharon Stone has done more, but her branding was bad in a Basic Instinct sort of way. There is no one ought there that we can call the People's Princess.
In this sense, Princess Diana's death left the world in a terrible vacuum that has never been filled. A rags to riches princess (well, her rags were Middle Class weren't they), she spent her time serving charities and appearing to genuinely care. She brought about real differences. She showed us what it is was like to be an unhappily married woman, but she also showed how one could fight back, and why. She was a metaphor for the plight of women of her time. And now?
Women have become more powerful, hardened, and a little lost. Women have become more like men: breadwinners, tough, resilient, enduring, single, even predatory. Men have become more like women - they've had to in this world - learning how to communicate, be sensitive, defer, be malleable and non-aggressive.
But every Prince is looking for a Princess (sweet, moral, beautiful and with all the grace that the role implies) and every Princess seeks a Prince (charming, powerful, handsome and the ability to take responsibility, to be a leader, to take tough action when required). We've reached a point where it's all pretty mixed up. The sexes have become queer and confused.
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