Smearly Departed
LeSueur Breathes New Life Into Joan Crawford
By Tom Tietjen
In Mommie Smearest, author L. LeSueur reinvents Joan Crawford as a rap artist named mo.m.m.i.e.D. Why, you ask?
It all starts when Joan departs the earthly realm and is stopped at the gates of Hollywood Heaven by a sleeve-tattooed security guard and is told she’s being sent to Hollywood Hell. Of course she attempts to seduce the guard with her Hollywood charm, and it works! Except first she must atone for her earthly sins by exposing the folly of ego, and the related cheapening of “celebrity” that in today’s world, includes reality starlets and civilian selfies.
Joan’s mission is to publicly unmask all the wannabes who act like movie stars but are not. So from a secret base at a Florida trailer park, she launches a raucous plotline that begins with her becoming a hip hopper – because, after all, America is kinda obsessed with hip-hop culture the days.
Mommie Smearest is a hilarious roller coaster of a ride with tons of real-life celebrity call-outs and modern day references that will make readers reflect on how we have come to regard the status of celebrity. Author L. LeSueur explains more.
How have the nature of celebrity and the pursuit of glamour changed since Joan Crawford’s time?
Celebrity is more accessible and diluted today, with reality and now even social media people counting themselves as stars. In Joan’s life, fans may have copied celebrity glamour, like Joan’s shoulder pads or Farrah Fawcett’s hair-wings, but they would never have thought they actually were stars. Now fans broadcast their own lives and post their brunch menus as if its breaking news. In Mommie Smearest, Joan clarifies herself as a true star, not someone “…who just thinks she is a movie star because she has a goddamned smartphone and a Twitter account.”
Donald Trump launched a presidential campaign from a reality show. His Twitter account is also changing the way he gets his message heard by the masses. Might there be power and legitimacy in these new entertainment mediums?
Reality shows and social media have quantitative power to attract and engage attention. Junk food attracts engagement too but that doesn’t mean it’s good.
Where did the idea for Mommie Smearest originate?
I had this crazy idea of Joan Crawford coming back to today’s world in a Mommie Dearest parody where she blasted the over-amplified egos of the reality and selfie starlets of today’s culture.
Have you considered bringing other stars of Hollywood back to life?
Who could have been a more-fun narrator than Joan?
What would Joan think of Angelina Jolie and Kim Kardashian?
Joan would admire the Kardashians for brilliantly inverting the Hollywood model. As for Angelina, Joan describes her in the book as “an aesthetic head-on collision between Audrey Hepburn and Courtney Love.”
What would Joan think of Hillary?
She would greatly admire Hillary’s drive, intellect and stamina. In Mommie Smearest, she says there is no mistaking the filly Sarah (Palin) for the thoroughbred Hillary who can actually hold a real job and the world’s respect.
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