#2024 the independent

[shannendoherty-fans]

The Independent (UK) – Opinion

Shannen Doherty was irresistible, underrated, and permanently shackled to misogynistic speculation

The ‘Beverly Hills, 90210’ star, who has died of cancer, played women too interesting to be simplistically boxed in – and spent a large part of her career waiting for the respect she deserved, writes Adam White

Sunday 14 July 2024

Shannen Doherty, who has died at the age of 53 following years of living with cancer, was an actor famous for playing women to whom respect wasn’t immediately granted.

Her Nineties TV hits Beverly Hills, 90210 and Charmed – shows embraced by generations of young people growing up both then and now – cast her as characters who, to the unenlightened, could be read as bitches or mean girls, those annoying descriptors always levelled at women too complicated and interesting to be simplistically boxed in. But as a skilled if often underrated actor, she was deft at conveying pride and regret beneath the surface grumpiness; the feeling of women only being a certain way because the world has made them so.

Doherty was also one of the OG tabloid fixtures, a child star gone berserk (not really) whose club-hopping and on-set lateness apparently warranted round-the-clock coverage at the top of the Nineties. She experienced the kind of wrath that could only have existed back then – regular headlines in the National Enquirer that weren’t ignored at the supermarket checkout line but actually had an impact on her career; a popular newsletter for pre-internet teens who could come together every month to talk about how much they hated Doherty and Brenda Walsh, the mouthy teen she played in 90210.

She has since admitted to being incredibly hurt by all of this – it contributed to her firing from 90210 in 1994 – but it did at least add to the lore that surrounded her. Doherty was sharp and icy and a tiny bit dangerous – all the things despised by the boring among us, and oddly irresistible to those who secretly wanted to be like that themselves.

Doherty was also incredibly glamorous, stomping around with the force of a supermodel and with black hair so shiny that you can imagine millions of women over the decades bouncing between box dyes trying to emulate it just right. I adored watching her on screen, the sense that she was always just on the cusp of slapping someone – as part of a clique of cruel teens in the Winona Ryder classic Heathers, say, or as the pissed-off girlfriend in Kevin Smith’s Mallrats. She was brilliant in Charmed, as the eldest of a trio of sister witches, who understood the weight of her duty to protect the innocent. Prue Halliwell was cool, responsible, complex and always inappropriately dressed for battle, but pfft – who says you can’t kill a demon in a belly shirt and a miniskirt?

I loved how much Doherty gave to incredibly bad made-for-television movies, too. Friends ’Til the End, in 1997, saw her play an aspiring musician being stalked by her best friend (the tracks sound like Cranberries knock-offs and Doherty’s voice has an air of Susanna Hoffs of the Bangles). Satan’s School for Girls (2000) cast her as an undercover reporter investigating evil witches on a university campus. Blindfold: Acts of Obsession, from 1994, is the kind of erotic thriller so devoid of eroticism that it becomes almost hypnotic. But Doherty is good in all of them, always magnetic and spirited and salvaging whatever she can from dismal scripts.

From 2023, Doherty hosted her own podcast – Let’s Be Clear – a kind of audio autobiography that covered her work, her personal life and her health. Tales of her cancer journey – she was diagnosed in 2015 with breast cancer, which went into remission and then returned, latterly spreading to her brain and bones – were sobering and moving. Doherty was reluctant to pretty up what had been a life-affirming if undeniably painful time. But the most fascinating episodes were ones in which she conversed with Hollywood women equally hurt by an industry that has only ever celebrated female compliance, and only begrudgingly given positive attention to those who march to the beat of their own drum.

She had a natural kinship with the likes of Sarah Michelle Gellar, Katherine Heigl, Tori Spelling and Christina Ricci, all of whom appeared on her show. Like Doherty, they are actors who arrived in Hollywood as children, grew up in the spotlight, and found themselves permanently shackled to misogynist speculation about their character: they were too difficult, too unpredictable, too eager to have a voice on chaotic sets.

Doherty never claimed total innocence; she was happy to admit to sometimes reading the room wrong, or getting defensive rather than looking for a compromise during arguments. But her cancer also provided her with a sense of clarity about her past – the things she should apologise for, and the things she absolutely shouldn’t. She put to bed years of speculation about what had happened on the set of Charmed – she was fired after significant on-set tensions with her co-star Alyssa Milano, a feud inflamed by male producers – and spoke eloquently about the relationships she regretted and the domestic violence she experienced while working on 90210.

It was often quite beautiful – here was a woman who knew she was dying, but wouldn’t go quietly or with unfinished business. She was funny, sassy, a little intimidating. It was Doherty to a tee. What fool would expect any different?

[yellodisney]

[theriu]

This is a gentle, earnest reminder to anyone who needs to hear it that no matter what the media tries to tell you, no matter how fearmongering some people try to be, no matter what happens in this one election, it will be okay. Please don't lose hope if your candidate doesn't win. The world will not end no matter who gets into office. Some people want us to be afraid and at each others' throats, but hating each other isn't going to make things better or solve our problems. We're all people and we all have value.

If things get too stressful, you are not weak or wrong to take time for yourself, away from the news and the yelling, and focus on all of the beautiful, good things in your life that aren't going away. Family. Friends. Sunshine. Your favorite snack. Pretty colors. Pets. Those funny memes. That show you like. A warm beverage.

Rest. Humans are not meant to carry every weight of the world on their shoulders at once. Allow yourself to trust and believe that there is still good in the world no matter who is in office.

[myvoteismyvoice]

[kropotkindersurprise]

August 15, 2024 - French police have shot dead yet another protester in New Caledonia as clashes between pro-independence protesters and law enforcement persist. The latest death raises the death toll from now three months of violent unrest in the Pacific archipelago occupied by France to 11. [video]

[formulanni]

Dear lord please double Logan Sargeant’s misfortune and give it to the British this weekend 🧎‍♀️

Tag list: @st-leclerc @rubywingsracing @saviour-of-lord @three-days-time

[simplylovely-inchident]

we should recreate the revolutionary war in f1 this weekend. the alpine and haas drivers take out the british drivers and logan sargeant wins

[the-orange-shit-stain-scam]

So called MAGA “Patriot” leaders wrap themselves in our flag while pissing on the legacy of our founding fathers and the constitution. A vote for The False Orange Savior is a vote for tyranny. Putin thanks all of the MAGA politicians via $$$ for their service in the dismantling of the “United” States of America. It is always hard to accept that you have been scammed. However, this is reality. Look up how Putin was trained to take down western governments via creating this form of internal cancer when he was in the KGB.

[neiljohnsonphotography]

Edinburgh, May/June 2024.

[eugenedebs1920]

There are some on the right, the pro-fascist side, who would claim Dems, liberals are the establishment.

First I would like to start out with the definition of liberal. Liberal: Willing to listen to, or accept ideas and opinions different from one’s own. Open minded.

Now let’s take a loo at conservative. Conservative: Adverse to change or innovation. Holding to “traditional” values.

When one thinks of movements that have bettered humanity, and the world at large are these done in the name of tradition? Are these done by the ideals of old?

Tradition in this country can be rooted back to slavery, back to a time when white people lorded their superiority over others based solely on the color of their skin. It can be traced back to the most wealthy among us, exploiting workers to enrich themselves with as much as possible while no care is given for the health and safety of those who make their wealth possible. Tradition can be traced back to voter suppression and Jim Crow laws, disenfranchising the votes of those who don’t fit their socioeconomic standards, who don’t fit their color code.

This tradition can be traced back to TODAY! Because this tradition of disenfranchisement is happening TODAY! Nearly every state with a GOP majority has done, and is doing all it can to drop voters off the roles. Pretending there’s some kind of fraud. This fraud is simply the poor, those of color, and those who don’t fit a white Christian mold, that they seem to think this country is.

Through years of scheming and planning, through a lack of foresight from our founding fathers, trying to appease slave states. The GOP has found a way of minority rule over the vastly diverse country America is. This minoritarian rule can be seen clearly in SCOTUS, it can be seen in the senate where millions and millions of Americans have little to no say on the goings on in government. Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, all those states combined don’t have the number of citizens California does. All those states are “conservative” states, but California gets 2 representatives, the collective there is 10! A 10-2 vote with not nearly as many constituents. There’s the house though!? Some may argue. The house is a joke! So gerrymandered, useless idiots like Margery toilet Greene will keep her seat for decades to come. We outnumber conservatives in the real world but are trampled by them in representation.

We are the revolutionaries! We are the fight against the forces of old and evil! We are the fight for change! For a better America, for a better world where ALL have equal rights! Where ALL get the same shot at the American dream! Where ALL are treated as members of this country despite their origins or preferences or religion! We are the rebellion against “tradition”. A tradition that seeks to benefit one sect of peoples. We are the other sect and we will not be gaslit to think otherwise.

All of us in the pro-democracy movement are the heart of this nation. The liberals who will take the pinnacle of diversity and thrive with the ideas of all! We are the change. We are the next generation. We are love! We are hope! We are the open minded, accepting, tolerant, compassionate, ever learning, ever growing liberals of the United States of America.

[billionbrilliantstars]

Something I’ve been thinking about a lot since the debate is the fact that we are no longer having to choose a lesser of two evils. We now have a strong, vibrant, empathetic, and intelligent choice who will do her absolute best for us. The only way to have a president who you agree with 100% is to become president yourself. Her plan for the economy has been shown by economic experts to be far better for us than Trump’s economy. This was fact checked to be true. She is the candidate proven to support LGBTQ rights all her life. She is the candidate proven to support racial equality, she’s been fighting for it since she was a child. She is the candidate who grew up as a regular person. She is the candidate who cares about both Palestinians and Israelites (the citizens, not the corrupt government). She is the candidate who will push for a ceasefire. Let’s remember that she isn’t president right now. She doesn’t have any power unless there’s a tie to break in the Senate.

I truly believe that if we don’t see a real positive change in this country under Harris it will be because of Congress and Supreme Court pushback. And that is the worst case scenario with a Harris presidency. Nothing changes. What’s the worst case if Trump wins? A project 2025 dystopia. Best case? Increased racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, police brutality etc. The president serves as a role model beyond just their political power. If the commander in chief in a country says it’s okay to hate a certain group of people, the country is going to lay into that.

[mynameismad]

Excited and honored to have been the artist for MICE's convention poster this year!! I'll also be a featured guest! Come see all this awesome comics talent in Boston this December~! 🐁🐀🐁🐀

[deathdisc]

Please share this around !! The second issue of my book is out 🫀

[myvoteismyvoice]

George W. Bush’s Daughter Barbara Issues Shock Endorsement of Kamala Harris

[toshtoshtosh]

“I’ll tell you a little secret—he HATES her.” 🇺🇸

[365filmsbyauroranocte]

But I’m a Cheerleader (Jamie Babbit, 1999)