I had a show that premiered when I was 19 and right away, everyone formed a strong opinion about me because of the way I was marketed. I was supposed to be sexy, this tough action girl. That’s what people expected…I felt like I was being objectified, and it made me uncomfortable. I wanted to be chic and elegant!” – Jessica Alba speaking to Marie Claire magazine on her time acting in the Fox television show Dark Angel.
It’s a very interesting statement for an actress like Alba to make. She’s certainly gone on to make other films where she was marketed in a sexual manner and objectified in the role, but as a young women, it wasn’t something she was ok with. “Now that I’m older, I’ve learned how to own it, but I’m still not very overt,” she continued. “There are some women who dress for men. I dress for myself. It took me some time to get here. Being a mom and feeling grown-up have helped. Now if I’m going to wear something short, it has to have a high neck or a little sci-fi toughness to it, an edge.”
Alba will be reprising one of those roles that puts her in a sexual spotlight, that of the stripper Nancy Callahan in Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller‘s Sin City sequel, A Dame To Kill For, opening October 4, 2013. The pairing of these two things is rather unfortunate timing but I won’t call foul on Alba. If she’s personably comfortable with the roles she takes these days, that’s all that matters.
(via Blastr)
