Katie Holmes as 'Queen of the Oompa Loompas'?
On June 13, Huffington Post published a blog item about Katie Holmes and Daniel Radcliffe presenting an award at the Tonys. The award was for Best Feature Actress and it went to the lovely and talented Scarlett Johansson. The blog post featured two photos of the night: one of Holmes and Radcliffe and the other of Holmes and Johansson. (You can see the photos below, courtesy of HuffingtonPost.com).
Ok, so I know I’m an optimist and at times I tend to live in a snow globe of rainbows and puppies, but here is an example of what I WISHED I had seen in the comments section below that blog post:
Comment #1:
“Oh, they all look so glamorous. Congrats to Scarlett!”
Comment #2:
“Wow, great job! And Katie Holmes looks so elegant! Daniel, you are lookin’ sexxxxy these days.”
Instead, I was shocked to see what people were writing. Every single commenter cared more about the “extreme” height difference between Holmes and Radcliffe (and Holmes’ ill-fitting, blah-colored dress) than their purpose for being there.
Here’s a sampling of some of the gems people left in the comment section:
Comment #1:
“She looks like the queen of the oompa-loompas.”
Comment #2:
“What, is she a tree?”
Comment #3:
“Daniel Radcliffe looked cute. Sort of embarrassed to be standing there with her, but cute.”
Comment #4:
“She should start a website called Amazon Dot Tom.”
Comment #5:
“Believe me, she IS that tall. The chick is a giant. It’s the only reason I noticed her when I saw her in a restaurant about 8 years ago. IMO there is nothing else notable about her other than her height.”
Comment #6:
“A regular Statue of Liberty isn’t she? She just TOWERS over other women and boys.”
Comment #7:
“The first photo reminds me of one of the scenes in the Wizard of Oz, when Dorothy is welcomed by the Mayor of the Munchkin City (in the County of the Land of Oz).”
I could go on and on, but I thought these were the most jarring of the bunch. Not everyone was leaving evil, height-related comments. Some people were defending Holmes and her “natural” hair and uneven hem line. And one comment made me particularly happy:
“She keeps up the slouching and she’ll look like she’s got a hump in her back in a few years and possibly back trouble. She has terribly rounded shoulders.”
This comment is so true. When I first started acting in theater in high school, I would always slouch over to “fit in” with all the other shorter people on stage. After a few performances, my family members finally told me my slouching didn’t make me any shorter and it didn’t make me blend in with the background. Instead, I just looked like a humpback and it actually made me stand out more than if I had good posture. So I started standing up taller and people started using words like, “striking” and “elegant” to describe my height. I wish someone would tell Holmes this.
Regardless of her slouching, she is tall, but she isn’t gargantuan like these comments would suggest. IMDB.com claims Holmes is 5’9″ and Radcliffe is…*cough*…5’8″. (Side note: No amount of magic will make you that tall, Mr. Potter). And she was wearing what looks like 2″-3″ heels, which doesn’t help reduce the height difference. If she would just improve her posture, I don’t think this would be as noticeable. However, I know firsthand that it can be incredibly difficult to follow that simple rule when surrounded by a room of average-height people, especially when you know there’s a whole blogosphere out there just waiting to pounce on you in the comment section.
Katie Holmes and Daniel Radcliffe present at the Tony Awards
Katie Holmes awards Scarlett Johansson with the Best Feature Actress Tony Award
