While the likes of Ashton Kutcher, Hugh Jackman, Elizabeth Banks use Twitter to communicate with fans, Gwyneth Paltrow is on a wholly different Oprah level. Following Winfrey and Martha Stewart into the lifestyle advice arena, Paltrow’s fledgling site GOOP.com (christened after her childhood nickname) sends out a weekly email newsletter which bears the new-age tagline “nourish the inner aspect”.
In her own words, she started the site because she felt “I had a lot of really useful information that I was privileged enough to get, because I have this amazing, super, fortunate life..” Right. Stop. Right. There. We know where this is going..
The site is broken up into six sections - “Make / Go / Get / Do / Be / See” taking in tips for cooking, music, hotels, shoes, spirituality and style. When Gwyneth shares an obvious recipe for steamed peas with us - “Steam the peas for two to three minutes”, when she recommends you stay in The Ritz next time you’re in Paris or when she picks a $1,400 weekend man bag as a present for your man friend, you know the advice is either dumb, obvious or unaffordable.
While her intentions in dispensing these vital morsels of advice are well-placed, the execution and content of the newsletters are too condescending and out-of-reach for 99% of the world’s population. Indeed, a journalist for the Mail in Toronto recently wrote: “Why is it called Goop? Perhaps ‘Any Old Load of Rubbish’ and ‘Learn From Me, Ungrateful Peasant’ were both taken.”
Despite the ‘talking down to the helpless plebs’ vibe of Gwyneth’s “amazing, super, fortunate” unattainable lifestyle, many bloggers and readers have found themselves continually fascinated by GOOP both on a WTF? level and as an insight to a celebrity’s rather taut existence. So when Gwyneth’s celebrity friends like Stephen Spielberg, Sofia Coppolla and Wes Anderson share their top ten movies with us – you feel a pang of exclusivity, when Kabbalah scholar Michael Berg dishes out practical advice on being reactive while on holidays (“When we are reactive, we disconnect from the Light of the Creator”) you think - “Thanks Gooprah!” or when GOOP offers such wishy-washy hokum as “police your thoughts” or “nourish your soul”, it’s hard to take it seriously if you live in a place called “reality” but still makes for some fascinating missives.
http://goop.com
Fri, May 22, 2009
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