Art Imitating Strife

I have never seen the movie "Clueless" from beginning to end. But you really don't need to have seen the whole thing to understand its enormous pop cultural influence. I'd even argue that "Clueless" ranks second only to "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" as the ultimate snarky, "totally self-contained independent teen" movie.

The first time I actually did see a portion of the movie, I found Brittany Murphy's Tai character the most appealing of all the iconic roles. She was so baby-faced and sweet and plucky. Ironically, soon after that first partial viewing of "Clueless," I stumbled across the Lifetime movie "Double Jeopardy" with Brittany and Joe Penny, which had been released during the same year. She played a nubile young waitress from the wrong side of the tracks who was pursued by a married police officer, had his child and finally swallowed a bullet for threatening to expose him if he didn't dump his wife and marry her.

Afterwards, I remember being really impressed by Brittany's acting range. Even though she was essentially the same vulnerable, doe-eyed character in each movie, she had dredged up an edgy grit and determination for the Lifetime role. In fact, while I've still never seen "Clueless" from start to finish, I've probably watched "Double Jeopardy" 5 or 6 times.

Anyway, as I'm learning more about Brittany's tragic death yesterday, I'm thinking in some ways, her life mirrored her work way too closely. Consider the evidence: She also played Eminem's slutty girlfriend in the movie "8 Mile," and she was a fragile neurotic who hung herself in "Girl Interrupted," and she was a psychotic psychic in "Don't Say a Word." In other words, most of Brittany's major film roles oozed a frenetic, dark, negative energy. To top it all off, she wound up marrying a guy who some folks consider a sleazebag con man, and who's already being suspected of hastening her death.

I don't know. I guess I'm not suggesting that Brittany should have only accepted G-rated Disney roles with fluffy bunnies and rainbows. But I can't stop thinking that maybe, just maybe, there's something to that whole "Laws of Attraction" theory. Maybe if she had been able to create more positive energy in her career, she might have attracted more positive, nurturing people into her life. Maybe that would have made producers send her more positive scripts. Maybe she'd be remembered for lightness and uplift, instead of tragedy and confusion.

You know, come to think of it, I'm probably worse than the folks who sit huddled in their mother's basements and log onto Internet gossip websites to leave asinine observations about movie stars, in between X-Box rounds with their loser friends. After all, I'm 9 thousand miles away from Hollywood, involved in positive work that I hope makes a difference in somebody's life, yet here I sit drawing parallels between a Lifetime movie and the death of a young woman I never met and have no way of knowing anything about--other than what I'm reading on Internet gossip websites.

But whatever else comes to light, I do know that, at 32, Brittany Murphy had just cranked her engine. No matter what past mistakes, missteps, or wrong choices she may have made, there should have been time to start again, from scratch, if she needed to. Somehow, you could tell there was so much more to her than those flaky, fragile, flickering images on the screen.