Goodbye, Brittany Murphy
I've been thinking about what to write here since Sunday afternoon when I first realized that the news of her passing was legitimate. I spent a few hours in denial, hoping that it would be one of those sick celebrity rumors that people seem to love spreading, but as the story began to hit all the major media outlets I realized that she was really gone. What do you say about a person you've never even met, but who had a constant presence in your life? How do you reconcile feelings of sadness and grief with the fact that really, she only existed in your world through television and movie screens? But I can't NOT say anything...not this time.
I remember seeing Brittany Murphy long before Clueless, appearing in an episode or two of one show or another here and there...but Clueless was when she bounded into my life and stuck like glue. I'll always remember the moment when the camera panned up to reveal the frumpy, ditzy, pre-intervention Tai Frasier. From her first moment on screen, before she ever even uttered a word, I knew she was something special. It was all uphill from that moment on. Alicia Silverstone may have been the headliner, but it was Brittany Murphy who stole the show by playing Tai with a lovable naivete. A lesser actress would have gone over the top with the airhead angle, but Brittany Murphy played it perfectly.
I'm absolutely infuriated by the number of insensitive writers that felt the need to discuss how tragic her death is and in the same breath tear her down. Too many times I've run across and article that relegates her to the B-list and goes on and on about how she wasn't that famous or accomplished as an actress. I wonder when people will understand that box office success isn't an indicator or accomplishment or skill. This is a woman who has more than a couple of quotables forever embedded in the pop culture lexicon purely based on passion/believability/uncanny comedic timing. This is a woman who uttered the most cold blooded diss ever captured on celluloid ("(you're just a virgin who can't drive") in such an adorably endearing way that it made you love her character all the more...and it could have easily been a shark jumping moment. She was that good before she was even out of her teens, and she did nothing but improve over the years. As for accomplishments, check the list of credits...it's no small thing.
Hollywood is fickle. Brittany Murphy was one of a number of exceptionally talented young starlets who don't fit the aesthetic mold that Hollywood loves so much (despite her obvious beauty), so she never got the credit she deserved. It's a shame that she doesn't ever have a chance to get it now. She gave 200% in every role, no matter how small the part, no matter how low the budget. She shouldn't be gone so soon. She should still have her whole life ahead of her...she had so much more to give and so much more to do.
The fact that I find her passing so heartbreaking speaks volumes about her talent. It hit so close to home because watching her movies over the years...it feels like we've grown up together. In some weird way we have, and it's hard to accept that she won't be making the rest of the journey with me. If there's any solace, it's in the legacy she's left behind. There's small comfort in the fact that I can pull out a DVD and see her at her best. I can watch those moments in her films--like the moment in Clueless where Tai is singing along with the Mentos commercial and laughing, or when she's dancing through the park with Dakota Fanning in Uptown Girls--those moments where Brittany Murphy the woman seems to break through the character she's playing and leave a little nugget of herself behind.
To all those insensitive imbeciles who are so quick to tear down her accomplishments or her character...STOP IT. Just stop with the accusations of drug use and anorexia...stop, because none of it matters. Celebrate her life, celebrate all that she left us with, give her that one thing in death that the Hollywood machine wasn't willing to give her in life: appreciation. She deserves at least that much. The world has lost more than a little light...in losing her, we've lost the cinematic sun. I'll never forget the girl with the big, gorgeous brown eyes, quirky grin, and infectious laugh. I will truly miss her. Kevin Smith said it best: I hope she's rollin' with the homies someplace nice.
Goodbye, old friend.