
Elizabeth is on the Summer issue of S/magazine, looking extremely gorgeous and showing off (once again) her bob cut. With the interview finally being released, I’m happy to say that outtakes have been added to our gallery! You’ll also be able to read the article below.
Authenticity, the unpretentious (even if conscious) ability to present an unvarnished image and likeness of oneself to the world, is one of the most appealing qualities of social media.
Especially for celebrities whose command over their public image has been greatly usurped by tabloid journalism and incessant paparazzi, social media may present an advantageous opportunity to win back a sense of ownership over their narratives while also expressing their individual truths. At the same time, however, these public displays of a more candid nature can become a perfect means of commodification, their naturalism a salable asset in a market that favours honest interactions.
Elizabeth Olsen, speaking over Zoom from Los Angeles, confirms that her short stint on Instagram was, by most measures, a business endeavour. “I’m not going to be coy about it: you try social media as an actor because there’s a financial gain—that’s why we are on these platforms,” she admits with tongue firmly planted in cheek. “I don’t feel comfortable selling things but thought I might as well give it a go. It didn’t make me feel great, even if it was something I believed in. I don’t think of myself as a salesperson or a personality, so it didn’t really suit me.” Where most Hollywood celebrities are steadfast in crafting an identity that juggles candor and commerce for the world to witness, it is refreshing to see an individual with such well-established cultural cachet recognize that this balancing act is more tedious than edifying.
But before quitting Instagram altogether, the actor admits, she may have discovered the raison d’être for her online presence. “I think I found my niche during the pandemic, at the beginning, before I deleted it, which was my gardening videos,” she reveals. “I was like, if I were to present myself as anything, it would be the wacky lady that I am, who just shows people things that they don’t care about at all!”
Olsen’s ascent in Hollywood was a gradual process that drew on her educational discipline. Besides attending New York University’s famed Tisch School of the Arts, which counts Academy Award winners Chloé Zhao and Lady Gaga as alumnae, Olsen also spent a semester training at the Moscow Art Theatre School, where she honed her craft as an expressive storyteller. From there, the actor scored her first role in the indie film Martha Marcy May Marlene, a complex thriller that paints a harrowing portrait of a young woman’s psychological disillusionment after escaping a cult.
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