Remembering the Extreme Stupidity of "Hathahate" on the Eve of The Idea of You

A decade ago, we were told, there was an upsurge of hatred of Anne Hathaway, which seems to be getting some attention again these days--mostly, I think, as part of the publicity for the upcoming release of her romantic comedy The Idea of You.

By the time Hathahate rolled around I had long since realized that the claqueurs of the entertainment media, in their extreme vileness, breathlessly talk up particular figures in the film industry--and then start talking them down at some point, with the presumption involved that said claqueurs are reflecting "everyone's" opinion.

Still, the attacks on Ms. Hathaway did not seem to me to conform to the usual pattern. Often the claqueurs begin the attack on the targeted figure after some big movie of theirs flops (the way, for example, the claqueurs came after Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez following the failure of Gigli). Or they make some public faux pas, however small and however much it has to be blown out of proportion. There had been nothing of the kind in her case, making the turn seem especially strained and artificial.

Considering these disgusting episodes I do not doubt that they serve particular agendas--business and personal. For instance, the Suits need someone cut down to size--maybe many someones--and they get the media to do their bidding, very easily. (Certainly I recall, and think everyone should recall, how the press dutifully played its part when the studios wanted to break the power of the auteur filmmakers of the New Hollywood era.) But even after these years I have no notion of what the agenda might have been in her case, and remember how if something must have been behind it it still felt like a totalitarian thought-control experiment--seeing just how much control they had over the entertainment news audience by seeing just how much they could turn her against Ms. Hathaway on no grounds whatsoever.

I have no idea how many people who are not part of the media actually responded to that--but the thought that any of them did is exceedingly depressing.