Why is Angelina Jolie so famous if all of her movies are just ok?

The quality of her films are subjective (I enjoy a lot of them)… it’s her humanitarian work that is appreciated by many, many people.

Here is a nice little article about some of the things she has done.

@rpmpseudonym She’s famous because of her humanitarian work? Wow, I didn’t even know she did humanitarian work.

She apparently has very good parts…. and not in a movie sense…

@Chrissi85 Well, that’s the thing – I know a lot of people would disagree with me but I don’t even think she’s that attractive. I find her kind of odd looking.

I think she’s admirable as a person even though I rarely watch any of her movies.

She goes out of her way to change the world a little at a time. Seeing her photographed with her work as a UN Goodwill Ambassador and pictures of her with her biological and adopted children makes me respect her more than actresses often photographed going to fashion shows and other events.

@Luffle Ok, so maybe people just respect her for the good stuff she’s done – like adopting hundreds of starving kids from the Third World and inviting them all to come and live in her house and be entertained by Brad Pitt every day.

Oh and by the way, if that’s really a picture of you, Luffle, I think you’re much better looking than Angelina Jolie. (Am I allowed to say that here?)

@dunkin_donutz I agree, I even know a lot of (straight) women who say she is attractive, I am not totally sure what all the fuss is about.

It’s just the lips.

@poofandmook I think the lips are weird. Are those even real?

Gia, Girl Interrupted and Foxfire are all great movies/good performances. Have you seen any of them?

I like her in those movies. I just don’t find her all that attractive.

@jjmah Ok, well we respectfully disagree on her movie performances then.

Sex appeal

@dunkin_donutz I don’t really think that adopting kids is what makes me like her. She has an interesting life and takes her kids with her when she travels around the world. I just think she sets a good example of how someone can have a great career, be a good parent and try to do good things for other people.

I don’t like everything that she does but the things I like make me forget about the things I dislike about her.

@Luffle What do you dislike about her then?

@dunkin_donutz Did you watch any of the movies that I listed above?

@jjmah Yes, that’s why I said we respectfully disagree on her movie performances. I actually think she’s a painfully bad actress.

@dunkin_donutz =)

@dunkin_donutz Curious as to why you care? Why does it matter?

I would say that Jolie is a commercial product sort of like Hannah Montana or Britney Spears were. Not actually particularly talented, and the companies that own them like it that way, because it makes them easier to control and exploit. Jolie is promoted by design as super-attractive, because she is attractive and unusual-looking enough that that message is plausible enough to enough people in America. Then too she is the subject (for whatever reason) of a constant circus of tabloid events, connected to the super-repetitious oscillating love-triangle with Pitt and Anniston, so it’s been a rich source for many years of tabloid fodder, and all that name recognition and “interest” means, marketing scientists think, that more people will pay to see her films, etc. etc. crossbrand crossbrand blah blah bleh.

She was involved with married man (Brad Pitt when he was married to Jennifer Anniston.)
She gets tattoos for other people and not for herself (ex husband Billy Bob Thorton, Brad Pitt)
She adopts children from other countries when she could adopt from the US.

There are many things I dislike about her.

@jjmah Because Angelina Jolie consumes so much of the world’s mental energy. I wish that energy was directed to someone who seems to deserve it more.

@Luffle Why does it make a difference if you adopt a child from the U.S. or from abroad?

It’s called Celebrity, today’s stand-in for talent.

She does good work, though, if not always on the screen.

@Zaku That seems like the definitive explanation so far. Well said.

Some people like her for her ability to “give to those in need”, other people (cough cough men) like her because she looks like a walking orgasm.

I frankly see a lot of her humanitarian work as self serving, as it gets her a lot of attention (that she appears to revel in), and I don’t like the fact that she chooses continually to adopt third world children when we have needy children in America. I don’t find her attractive, either. As a bicurious female, I prefer women who have a more subtle appearance. She strikes me as an attention whore. But that’s just my take on her; she could be a perfectly nice person.

@dunkin_donutz She has adopted several children. I don’t see why one of them couldn’t be from the US when there are plenty of children in need of good parents here.

DSL’s, breasts and tattoos. it’s the only reason

My neighbors have adopted children from all over the world just like she has. I’ve never read an article about them. If she weighed 300 lbs. and did even more than she does now she would only be in the tabloids.
Hollywood is run by Satan.

I loved Wanted. Other reasons:

Brangelina, Little Earth (their household), humanitarianism (as enumerated), pumped parts, and that raised eyebrow that intrigues us so well.

She’s the child of another celebrity (Jon Voight) and she’s been marketed as sexy, daring, edgy and mysterious. When she was married to Billy Bob Thornton and they were carrying around each other’s blood, that was hyped too. Many people also find her physically attractive and the constantly played up ‘bad girl who stole Brad Pitt from America’s sweetheart’ stuff on top of ’ sex symbol’ helps too. I feel like her acting is meh, except for her work in Gia.

Her humanitarian work is admirable, though. She’s using the fame that’s been handed to her to bring attention to highly worthy causes and I can’t fault her for that.

You should pity us poor Brits, many of our newspapers, in an effort to create something comparable to the US celebrity circuit, focus heavily on our home grown ‘celebs’. No talent is required, future obscurity is assured, but nonetheless people seem to need to read about them these days. At least you can argue about the merits of Angelina Jolie’s work, our current high profile celebrity: Jordan, seems to have absolutely no talent whatsoever.
What I’m saying is: if Angelina Jolie disappeared off the front pages of the news, you would soon be questioning the merits of some other high profile actress. Angelina Jolie is famous because she is Angelina Jolie, no other reason required.

Her performance in CHANGELING was amazing and moving. She is a great actress, she’s been acting for a long time now. She is also beautiful on the outside and known for her big lips ( WHICH ARE REAL ), and for being beautiful on the INSIDE for her Humanitarian efforts. That being said, whether you think she is beautiful or not, or even a good actress, She is her to stay. I think she’s pretty damn awesome, and I know there are a lot of haters out there that question it, nothing wrong with having different opinions, but I think she’s great.

@dunkin_donutz – YES her lips are real. If you see photos of her as a small child you will see similarities, her brother also has big lips too which proves iher lips are GENETIC.

” She’s using the fame that’s been handed to her to bring attention to highly worthy causes and I can’t fault her for that.” – That itself is admirable.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with liking her either. I think she’s a good role model. She used to have a crazy past being a teenage and coming from a dark place, to being a humanitarian and passionate actress.

I think Brangelina is more famous than Angelina herself. Maybe she wouldn’t be so big if the two weren’t together, and if she didn’t birth three kids that look exactly like Brad. Another vote for the humanitarian work, and adopting her first three kids.

First, she was just Jon Voight’s kid. Then she did Gia and Girl, Interrupted and achieved some fame, but then she starred in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (based on a popular video game) which was basically a hot, exotic woman kicking tons of ass (otherwise known as winning over every penis in America). She also had a very publicized personal life – she married Johnny Lee Miller wearing a white shirt with his name painted in her blood, then married Billy Bob Thorton and the two allegedly wore vials of each others blood around their necks. Then she adopted Madox, and left Billy Bob because he didn’t want to have a child with her. Cut to a few years later, and Jennifer Aniston is America’s Sweetheart, along with her (then) husband Brad Pitt. Pitt and Jolie star in Mr. and Mrs. Smith together, and afterwards, Pitt leaves Aniston for Jolie. America is outraged. How could he leave Jen? She’s our Friend!!! Jolie must have seduced him, because we adore Pitt to much to hold him as accountable for cheating on Aniston. Jolie starts to get very involved with humanitarianism, and is seemingly always in the process of adopting a new child from a 3rd world country. Then she and Pitt have kids of their own (in the biological sense).

In short, she’s hot, exotic, and always gives us something to talk about.

And now my fellow Flutherites, she’s in our very own community. This is a marketer’s coup of choice having people of all intellects, abilities, interests, etc talk about one thing. As @papayalily said, “and always gives us something to talk about.”

The marketers from Hollywood have won.

I always thought the same thing about Paris Hilton. Why?

@Jabe73 I hope you’re making a personal judgment in terms of why you can’t understand why some people like certain celebs & not grouping Paris Hilton & Angelina Jolie into the same category of ‘famous for being famous’, because they aren’t even in the same league in terms of accomplishments & talent.

@rpmpseudonym There are many humanitarians that are not as famous as Angelina Jolie. I’m not saying she is a bad actress but nothing special about her in that department. I can think of many better actresses than her. No I am not comparing Jolie to Paris.

@Jabe73 Jolie is actually an actress, though. Paris Hilton simply was born into the money and power needed to hob-nob with celebs, and then got enough press that people gave her parts to get more people to see their movies.

@papayalily Yes, I am very aware of that. Perhaps another factor not mentioned here is that maybe some celebrities actually try to put themselves in the spotlight as well. There are some celebrities you rarely hear about who seem to go out of their way too avoid attention and others seem to be in the middle of it.

Are you serious?
What about Changeling and Girl, Interrupted?
And Gia is soooo good!