The once darling former teen actress, Amanda Bynes, tried for a little bit of Hollywood tactics on Sunday, August 16th.
Bynes is a woman who has a permanent twinkle in her eye and, in my definition at least, is a bit of a lovable rogue. That is to say she lives life with an edge, if only to ensure no repeat of Macaulay Culkin’s “child actor lock-hold” happens (only being remembered as a child actor, despite being old enough to raise Justin Bieber).
So there was no surprise at her jaunty I’m-one-step-ahead-of-you-all actions in court on the road, as she was pulled over again despite already sporting a suspended license among other legal pile-ups. Her PR team was likely finishing strategies to clean up the damage over her recent hit-and-runs, but now there’s more mess to clean up, as the troubled actress pretty much silently said “Is that all? Really — that’s a pity!” with this recent legal mishap.
Obviously it was for added measure. Bynes likely thinks there is no situation out of which she cannot dance courtesy of her quick wits, Teflon confidence and articulate manner.
So why was she driving behind the wheel? Again?
Whether Bynes is simply going through a depression or indeed making a run at Lindsay Lohan’s drug/legal kingpin status, I know not — and could care less.
What is interesting, I’d argue, are the howls of anguish and anger from some media in regards to this string of incidents, which should serve as a bit of a notice to any young black actress under the age of 30.
We all know Lindsay Lohan has gotten more chances at second life than Foxy Brown has gotten with a big piece of chocolate cake. The unofficial rules also dictate that being a black actress under 30 is beyond a privilege, moreso than being an NFL player, and any margin for error is slim. Very slim.
The net gain for Hollywood after the Lohan years has been immense. Now she’s a crybaby actress who feels she deserves more chances and despite Hollywood effortlessly giving all of the chances in the world to her over and over again, one can’t feel the same for Bynes. I hope justice is done, one way or another, and that Bynes is allowed to move forward in her life and work. I will not apologize for her flaws — she must face the music. But I will not allow her era to dissipate without it being firmly marked that she is the new posterchild for legal drama alongside Lohan, when Lindsay plunged herself into the depths of hell years ago with her obnoxious behavior.
And that expression applies to her approach. Instead of just taking the L and keeping quiet from the media with the hit-and-run incidents, Bynes decides that she is indeed above the law and figures “king kong ain’t got nothing on me” and takes Hollywood’s million chance safety-net into her own hands by jumping behind the wheel for a booze-cruise. I hope she takes the same approach fighting for both her reputation and her status as a good actress.
I watch all this and share one part of her sentiment: What a pity.