Keira Knightley’s Bum And Lady Dianna

I just watched a trailer for “The Duchess” a sumptuous costume drama staring Keira Knightley. Yes I’m on my celebrity hobby horse again. I don’t think the bum I saw in the trailer is Kiera’s – it has some meat on it for a start – but it’s placed there, inter-cut with shots of her to make you think, even for a second that you might get a glimpse of her with her kit off.

Such is the way of celebrities and those who seek them out. There’s always someone typing “Britney Spears muff shots” into Google or “Christina Aguilera sex video” or if they’re really perverse “Paris Hilton sex tape” (IMHO you have to be pretty desperate to want to see that one). So “Kiera Knightley arse shot” is to be expected too

Another ruse the producers of the film have used is to deliberately draw attention to what they see as parallels between the Duchess and the late Dianna Princess of Wales, mainly because her husband had several affairs. Yawn. If they really want to look back into the Devonshire family’s history (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Cavendish%2C_5th_Duke_of_Devonshire) they would find that there are powerful women like Bess of Hardwick who are just as if not more interesting than the later ones. Kiera’s character is apparently an independent woman, though flawed and would probably prefer to be remembered for her work with women’s suffrage rather than her gambling excesses. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Georgiana_Spencer. The Spencer connection works doubly for the film makers, via Georgiana Spencer’s story and that of Dianna, her contemporary descendent.

Pity that we can’t just have the film stand on its own merits but have every angle used to push it by the film studios. But the investors want their money back I suppose.

Celebrities today cavort and have affairs for the same reason that the gentry did in the past. Because they could. They have the time and the money, and if everyone around you is paid to tell you that you’re right then I suppose your own sense of ethics, commitment and common sense must degrade over time.

In fact, writing this post has made me realise that little has changed over time. The names alter and the social hierarchy changes and reorganises a little as the years pass, but the eyes of the many are always fixed firmly on the antics of a privileged few.

Tags: The Duchess, Kiera Knightley, Dianna Princess of Wales, Lady Dianna Spencer, Cavendish family