Good Lord, She did it, AGAIN...Billie Piper made me cry...AGAIN!

[rabid1st]

And she did it wearing a rubber suit and nine-inch stilleto heels. Spoilers and more under this cut...

I already feel free floating guilt for watching Secret Diary when many of my friends are boycotting it. And I am so not into S&M that I figured I would just say, "No, Thanks!" to this week's episode. But I am very glad I decided to watch it.

The thing, as I've said before. that interests me about Belle is the way Billie plays her. The show itself needed better writers. The scripts aren't particularly witty. The subject matter, for all of the hysterical reactions in the British press, isn't presented in a titilating way. Well, aside from Billie herself being polished and sexy. All this show has going for it is Billie's performance. And she manages to make a woman I have nothing in common with...likable. She makes me laugh a bit...but mostly she makes my heart ache.

If the real Belle is truly a completely cold-hearted person who loves only sex and money, she's gotten the biographical shaft from Miss Piper. Billie makes Belle conflicted and vulnerable and self-delusional and childish and it gives me an ache inside to watch her struggle with not really understanding herself. I don't mean she's all..."Woah is me, I don't understand myself." I mean, she believes she is having a wonderful time...and she isn't. It really makes me want to sit Belle down and tell her she should give this life up before she becomes one of the shells of womanhood that all the papers (and the older hookers in this story) foretell.

Early on in the very first episode, Belle/Hannah assures us she's not addicted to anything...she just likes the hooker life. But, it has become increasingly apparent that Belle is addicted to sex. The only difference between her and a cocaine addict is she is feeding her addiction AND getting paid for it.

Anyway...that breakdown over the beating was something...I liked how Bill didn't oversell the actual anger. You can see it but it's great because it is so Belle...lying to herself. But the bit that made me cry was the text message to Ben at the end. A bit of honesty...but look how she does it...running away like a coward. Ah, Billie...nobody will think to award you for this performance...but they really should.

Comments

[inwe-amandil.livejournal.com]

Hey, I was just having a look at your journal (as you always have something interesting to say.) and I saw the tags down the side -okay I admit it I was perving on your new layout- I decided to click on the billie piper tag as My slight itty bitty really quite tiny girl crush on her has re-asserted itself and I don't know if you'll even be interested but she's been nominated for a golden rose for best entertainer and SDOACG has been nominated aswell. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/billie-pipers-call-girl-leads-british-charge-at-europes-top-tv-awards-790336.html

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Well...my HUGE girl crush on Billie continues to rage...and I did already know about this. But it is always good to meet another sufferer. Even if you only suffer a itty bitty bit. And I'm happy to hear that someone thinks I've got interesting things to say. I tend to believe people come for the smut and put up with my ranting.

I'm not completely sure I believe SDOACG deserves to be nominated for things. It wasn't the preverted tripe that the British Press insisted on labeling it. It is rather slackly structured and not very funny. But Billie does add emotional honesty and depth to the rather shallow scripts. And through her performance I did get to know Belle better...or the character SHE saw in Belle. And I'm not so prudish as to think that characters like Belle don't exist. I've been to Las Vegas. I know there are high class prostitutes who probably do the job voluntarily for the money they make. And I can see those people are a far cry from the poor streetwalkers desparate for a meal or their drug.

Nobody should be forced or manipulated or driven into selling their body. The thing that SDOACG is saying is some people have throughout history chosen that career because it radically improved their circumstances and they either didn't mind the sex or enjoyed it. Madame Pompodore was much the same as Belle.

Rae

[inwe-amandil.livejournal.com]

I completely agree. I live in Australia so I haven't actually seen all of the episodes although I did download some of them, but from what I have seen it doesn't seem to me like the show is encouraging people to get into prostitution. The show itself isn't really my thing I only ended up watching it in the beginning because of Billie but from what I saw I thought that her potrayal of Belle was very well acted and it showed a different side to that kind of life -or given the general underlying unhappiness some of the lifestyle seems to give to Belle- more puts foward the idea that some women do actually choose that as a career choice, they're not all just drug addicts looking for their next hit as they are often potrayed by the media.

Oh and when I said tiny girl crush I was perhaps been a little bit ummm sarcastics not really the word maybe whatever a good word for purposely understating is...? Anyway It's always good to hear from you let me assure you your journal is never uninteresting although I have to admit being curous about hot fuzz whatever that is. Although maybe I shouldn't go and look stupid library studies assignment refuses to just walk off and do itself.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Ah...you interest me strangely with this talk of library studies assignments. Is this something you are being forced into by a well-meaning establishment or are you, perhaps, hoping to be a librarian. I ask because, you may have noted, I am one of the legion of suffers who work in the public library. Go academic, I say, go academic.

No, I kid. I love my job. I just wish people would pay me for doing it.

And I figured you might be understating the state of your girl-crush since you actually picked Billie out of my tag list. But then again...I didn't want to expose myself too much for my HUGE crush if you were indeed just browsing. :Hopes I retained my level of sophistication throughout: :grin:

Anyway, yes and yes, to the idea of the underlying sadness to Belle. The thing I love about Billie is that she doesn't treat it as a moral sadness but as the sadness of one cut off from general society. You are left wondering if Belle and her ilk would be happily plying their trade if it wasn't considered deviant by most of society. Billie does really fine things with the character in very subtle ways and it burned me that the British press insisted on belittling the whole thing.

As for Hot Fuzz. It is Simon Pegg's movie...and I would be amazed if it wasn't released in Australia...unless you have strict laws about violence. It is very, very violent because it is satire of the American films about cops or cowboys who ride in guns blazing and save the day. If you have seen any of the over the top American or Spagetti Western movies...like the Good, the Bad and the Ugly or Fistful of Dollars or Bad Boys II...you won't be able to stop laughing at it. Check your DVD provider...it came out here last year.

Rae

[inwe-amandil.livejournal.com]

No not being forced into it actually I to the horror of all my friends actually chose to do it. I'm doing a degree in Media Communication and Information studies: Librarianship and corporate information management. (which sounds really long winded I know.) I was doing teaching but well the less said about that the better I think. I chose it because yes I want to be a librarian although the records keeping side of it is looking quite interesting at the moment too, and one cannot ignore the fact that society is continually trying to get away with underpaying librarians where as I know someone who just finished her degree and is doing record keeping for a mining company get 90k a year, but I fear that my love of all things book may win out.