Minus her personal life mind you. She guards that fiercely in all of her interviews. I have seen more than one interviewer live to regret the personal questions asked of Ms Chopra. She is not mean or ugly to them outwardly. It is more like watching a 350 lb wrestler body slam a much smaller adversary - in a mental way - while said fictitious huge wrestler is smiling. A kind of thoughtful yet devastating mental judo. I like the way she does that too.
But social issues - either in her homeland of India or globally or even in the U.S. - well THAT is a whole other story. She dominates the subject almost without fail. She has obviously thought about all these subjects deeply, and she is not afraid to share her opinion. She is likely to turn the interviewers question upside down to point out what is usually the obviously correct answer.
Well, at least to her. And many others as it turns out. Though some will and do disagree. She seems to encourage debate. You can see the wheels turning in her head as she thinks through her answers, the juices flowing. She is passionate with her answers. Not in an unbalanced emotional or confrontational way. But she answers with a kind of deceptive conviction. The kind of conviction it takes you a minute to realize the depths of. She won't do it, but she has had many "drop the mic moments" with her press in Bollywood. You get the sense that she has most likely considered it (#micdrop), but thought better of it. She just causally sets the mic down as she smiles as if nothing profound has just happened.
With Priyanka there are few weaknesses. It is quite obvious her mind is also not a weakness, but rather a major advantage.
#WomensRights
The press continues to distort Priyanka's message on women's rights in a myriad of ways. She is used to this. The advantage the print media/blogger world has over Priyanka is that - she cannot argue back per se. The article is printed or posted online and left as a personal observation of Priyanka's views, her views subjected to the authors own biases and prejudices. Some writers are not so bad but, celebrity gossip columnists especially are paid to print content which provides sales, whether accurate (or thought through correctly) or not.
Vanessa Golembewski of Refinery Writes:
"A distinct pro-woman vibe runs through Quantico. You might even use the f-word to describe it. But when I float this idea by Chopra, she balks. “I don’t think it’s feminist, but it’s empowerment,” she says. “It’s got very strong female characters, and I don’t think it’s a bra-burning feminist show where you’re like, we hate men, but we have really strong male characters, too.” Still, Chopra acknowledges that Quantico is forward-thinking. “It gives females an opportunity to be equal with the boys, and I think that’s really progressive.” (So...kind of feminist.)"
The f-word? I think using that as a way to describe Feminism shows one's understanding that the word is a very strong word these days. A word that a mainstream actress would most likely avoid. Most do. But with Priyanka, well. You can't just tell Priyanka what to say. Priyanka does choose to be diplomatic here.
DikSha Madhok of Quartz writes:
"But the initial desi pride I felt when seeing the billboard diminished significantly after I read this interview by Chopra in Refinery 29, a lifestyle website. Asked by the interviewer if the show is feminist, the Bollywood star replied:
I don’t think it’s feminist, but it’s empowerment… It’s got very strong female characters, and I don’t think it’s a bra-burning feminist show where you’re like, we hate men, but we have really strong male characters, too… It gives females an opportunity to be equal with the boys, and I think that’s really progressive.
With these statements, Chopra has joined the ranks of educated, urban Indians who shun the word “feminism” like the plague. Many of them appear to believe that feminists are women who hate men and sex and go around burning bras whenever they are angry."(sic) #lotsofsicsinthere
Some authors would attempt to shoehorn Chopra's personal beliefs into her take on the Quantico message. Or in the former quote above at least challenge her take on whether the show is feminist or not. In the latter the author just flat out rejects Priyanka's statements. These are mistakes. Priyanka will retaliate if she ever gets the chance in my humble opinion.
In the latter Quote Madhok would go on to write (and shamelessly make his headline):
"Sorry to break it to you, Priyanka Chopra, but you’re a feminist"
No. Priyanka never said she was not a feminist. She is. She was simply talking about Quantico's message, not her own beliefs.
#Stamango'sMiniRant :)
The ultimate problem here is the battle about the word Feminism itself. While the meaning is simply 'The belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities', it is well known that the texture and tone of the word can be adversarial now (the f-word, etc), and this can no longer be ignored. Feminism now has degrees of meaning, covering a vast spectrum.
So the battle rages on mindlessly as forces oppose each other; apparently unaware that the argument itself is now flawed; either side using it's own interpretation of the word Feminism to suit their own rhetoric and agenda.
My own little 2 cents. Font shamelessly in bold. Now back to our original program...
Priyanka, being the wise soul she is, chooses to steer clear of the Feminist argument many times (not all) with the print media because they are so irresponsible with facts. I don't know this, it is only my opinion. But to be clear, I have heard her call herself a Feminist many times on YouTube. That is a setting where she can be very clear about her stance on any given issue. But obviously it is her choice what to say to the press at any given time.
The amazing interview below is what made me realize that there is much more to Chopra than just her striking beauty. And her view on Feminism is very clear.
Priyanka makes her views on Feminism very clear at the 13:00 mark
Priyanka would also say about intolerance in general:
"I don’t know if it’s the right thing to say or not, but I believe we’ve created borders with too many colours. I don’t like [when people say], “It’s a great time for women of colour.” No, I’m just a woman. Black, brown, white, yellow — why are we always talking about colours? I’m a girl. I believe in a global community... And if I can quote Robin Thicke, I believe in blurred lines. Entertainment is entertainment, cast the right person for the job. Let’s get beyond looking at each other for where we come from."
I think her message is pretty loud and clear.
#Racism
Priyanka's song "In My City" was used by the NFL to open many of its telecast's. The NFL recieved a backlash solely because (as she puts it) she is brown. This a quote from The Guardian:
“My song replaced one from Faith Hill, who is like the all-American girl...and suddenly there was this brown girl and the NFL got so many emails from fans saying: ‘Who is this Arab terrorist?’ I got so much of it, too...I find it really funny that people have such primitive thinking"
She decided to acknowledge and challenge this hatred:
"I called them out. I said: ‘Why is every Arab person a terrorist, and why am I an Arab terrorist just because I am brown?’”
Boom. Primitive thinking. Hard to argue with that, though she fully understands there are those that will. She is from India which also has intolerance problems (at least 5 major languages, a very diverse 1.4 billion people).
She has an interesting quote about how she wanted her Quantico role laid out for her. ABC (to ABC's credit they have been on the forefront of diversity among U.S.networks as far as I can see) was more than happy to comply with her requests:
“I wanted to be cast as an actor on merit as being the best person for the job. I didn’t want to be a stereotype of what an Indian girl should be. I wanted to be what I personify in my Indian movies: independent, sexy, good at my job and really smart.”
The writers of Quantico rewrote only that Chopra's character Alex Parrish would be half Indian and half American, to explain her background. But other than that anybody could have played this role technically.
That Chopra won a People's Choice Award for this role tells us ABC picked the right actor.
Priyanka could have been a politician, and still could be one day. She was actually advised by some to be a politician shortly after her Miss World 2000 Pageant win. She chose acting of course, but I could see her debating her message anyway. With anybody.
She already does.
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