I first saw Jennifer Beals in Flashdance. Of course. That was her first major starring role and she was drafted to play Alex Owens right after high school. She danced to the song ‘She’s a maniac’ and this totally made everyone go maniacal – as Flashdance became the third highest grossing film in America of 1983. In 1983!!! I was born in 1983. That makes Jennifer nineteen or twenty years older than me. But I could care less, really. She’s hotter than hot, and can I just say this for the record – better than filet mignon – if there is such a thing. And I just want to write about the actress who got me watching The L word before I talk about the series I have been following for years now.Jennifer – I hope she doesn’t curse me for calling her by her first name – was born to an Irish mother and an African-American father. She went to Yale and received a degree in American Literature, graduated with flying colors. After Flashdance and before her stint in The L Word, she starred in more than 40 or 50 movies, some were major roles, most of them she played minor parts. But what’s really amazing is that she survived in the movie business and was never the kind of actress who would settle for anything less. She focused primarily on independent films and wasn’t really the type who would clinch the camera for spotlight.
When I started watching The L Word, I was awed by her talent. She plays Bette Porter, a control freak alpha female who seeks to destroy just about everything that she created – figuratively and literally. You have an actress who is unrelenting of her integrity to stay true to her character – she does not just ‘play’ Bette. She is Bette. I don’t suppose there is anyone who can sink her teeth into the role better than Jennifer Beals has. Her character Bette is not only a lesbian, she’s also biracial and Jennifer has said in a number of interviews that she appreciates what the role has to offer her as an actress – the depth of being sort of an ‘outcast’ of society, not solely because of gender but also because of race.
Because of her role in The L Word, Jennifer, to legions of fans – gay or otherwise – has become some sort of a heroine, being their voice and perhaps an unofficial spokesperson. And now let me speak for myself. She is a creative writer and all that but there is one thing that she said in particular that hits home – underscoring her insight and understanding of where she stands – apart from the whole, apart from the society – in terms of respecting the choices that each and everyone of us makes –
‘Love is large, love defies limits. People talk about the sanctity of love…love is by definition sacred. Not some love between some people but all love between all people. How can anyone say one person’s love is more sacred than another person’s? If indeed it is love it is sanctified. If it is indeed love, the right to marriage is not questionable. In my mind nothing pleases God more than love. I do not think it pleases God to codify bigotry. I do not think it pleases God that fear guides the hand of the law in the name of a cultural war.’
Thus spoke Jennifer Beals.
If only most of the people in the world are as enlightened as she is. If only.
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