On Glenn Close and Meryl Streep

I always thought of Glenn Close as the poor man's Meryl Streep. Not because I don't think Close is awesome, but for how she seems to be perceived by the masses. She and Streep seem to have a similar amount of acting cred, but Streep wins out by a long shot because, well why?

- Let's start with the fact that Streep is a little prettier than Close, and she appears more approachable and friendlier.

I guess we can end there, really, for this digression.

Freud once said "anatomy is destiny." He meant that to cover gender only. It was also quite contested. That said, if by anatomy you mean all physical traits (looks, weight, deformities, health, etc.),  that's a concept I could defend. If you look around at the people who surround you, do they all seem to be in some kind of role that suits them, physically speaking? And do their personalities fit their looks? Yes, for the most part. If someone has health problems, or a deformity and they seem to be beating the odds with an amazingly happy personality, i.e. people who refuse to let their problem define them, that still means that their physical issue is shaping their personalities. Of course there are many exceptions, there's also intelligence (oh, intelligence, so overrated), and environment and circumstance, but because I am someone who believes that who we become as people is mainly a result of our brain chemistry and physiology, it's an idea I tend to stand behind. I'm a lot of nature, less so nurture. 

Back to Streep and Close.

- No one does a better foreign accent than Meryl. 

- But no one does manipulative better than Glenn Close, and I'm not just saying that just because I finished watching Damages the other day. Great show, a few issues with it, but none with Close.

But Glenn Close has never won an Oscar and Streep has won tons. WTF, Academy? (btw, the Iron Lady, great performance, not so great film). If you recall Close's performance as the conniving Marquise de Merteuil in one of my favorites "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" for which she was nominated but didn't win, then you'd know she was robbed.

People think Glenn Close is amazing and she's been nominated a bunch of times. But they think Streep is Ah-May-Zing, and that might be the issue here. Close deserves an Oscar, but she and Streep are always lumped in the same category, they even confuse the two at times because they sort of look alike, plus they're about the same age. So if Streep won, they'd just as well assumed that Close has won at some point or another. But she hasn't. And that's messed up.

So to conclude one of the more non-sensical whims I've written here, I'd just like to thank the Academy for hearing me out on this. Glenn Close might be a little more angular and mean looking than Streep, but she is a formidable actress who deserves your recognition.

Meanwhile... People reading this are saying, Diane, I think Glenn Close is doing just fine.