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| 'Plastic' Kate: Hilary Mantel exposes the image not the person | 'Plastic' Kate: Hilary Mantel exposes the image not the person |
| (30 days later) | |
| The woman dubbed the "plastic princess, designed to breed" (TM: the Booker prizewinning Hilary Mantel) stepped out of the flashing car on to a street in Clapham, south-west London. She was there to visit Hope House, a branch of Action on Addiction, the charity of which she is patron. There were six Kate-fans and roughly 150 journalists. | The woman dubbed the "plastic princess, designed to breed" (TM: the Booker prizewinning Hilary Mantel) stepped out of the flashing car on to a street in Clapham, south-west London. She was there to visit Hope House, a branch of Action on Addiction, the charity of which she is patron. There were six Kate-fans and roughly 150 journalists. |
| "I just want to be close to her and see her for real," said Stacey Winter, 24 (one of the fans). "She seems like a real person, it's just an ordinary love story," Morag, 36, added. | "I just want to be close to her and see her for real," said Stacey Winter, 24 (one of the fans). "She seems like a real person, it's just an ordinary love story," Morag, 36, added. |
| I don't really think these two views, Mantel's and Morag's, are mutually exclusive – somewhere underneath the image of Kate is a flesh and blood Kate who, by the laws of probability, is a real human being. | I don't really think these two views, Mantel's and Morag's, are mutually exclusive – somewhere underneath the image of Kate is a flesh and blood Kate who, by the laws of probability, is a real human being. |
| Mantel's "venomous attack" (TM: the Daily Mail) wasn't really about the person underneath the image – it was about the image itself, the constituent features required of the consort, and how our desire always rejects animation, in preference for cliche. | Mantel's "venomous attack" (TM: the Daily Mail) wasn't really about the person underneath the image – it was about the image itself, the constituent features required of the consort, and how our desire always rejects animation, in preference for cliche. |
| But you can also forgive Kate herself, if she woke up thinking: "That sourpuss, what have I ever said about her?" Although of course I don't know if she thought that. I'm trying not to get sucked into this vortex of either caring or assertively not caring. | But you can also forgive Kate herself, if she woke up thinking: "That sourpuss, what have I ever said about her?" Although of course I don't know if she thought that. I'm trying not to get sucked into this vortex of either caring or assertively not caring. |
| There is a peculiar kind of intellectual mischief to be had from slagging the Middleton-figure of such a family, its vulnerable, blameless member. | There is a peculiar kind of intellectual mischief to be had from slagging the Middleton-figure of such a family, its vulnerable, blameless member. |
| The day after Princess Diana died, Brian Sewell wrote a piece about her for the Evening Standard so critical, so remorseless (he called her a dull-eyed brood mare) that not only did they not run it, I saw someone literally hide it (this was when people still wrote things on paper). | The day after Princess Diana died, Brian Sewell wrote a piece about her for the Evening Standard so critical, so remorseless (he called her a dull-eyed brood mare) that not only did they not run it, I saw someone literally hide it (this was when people still wrote things on paper). |
| Mantel's remarks aren't dissimilar and are probably a bit milder, but the inexorable logic of the bitch fight, in which women operate at the emotional level of amoeba, puts this down to Mantel's envy. | Mantel's remarks aren't dissimilar and are probably a bit milder, but the inexorable logic of the bitch fight, in which women operate at the emotional level of amoeba, puts this down to Mantel's envy. |
| Geraldine McArdel, 50, who travelled from Ireland for the Duchess of Cambridge's appearance on Tuesday and runs a Facebook page called Kate Baby Watch, said: "I haven't read it, but she's obviously jealous." | Geraldine McArdel, 50, who travelled from Ireland for the Duchess of Cambridge's appearance on Tuesday and runs a Facebook page called Kate Baby Watch, said: "I haven't read it, but she's obviously jealous." |
| Asked what first attracted her to Middleton, she said: "Her kindness, her niceness. She's different, she's like Lady Diana – she's for the people." Time and again, the people who love Kate don't seem to disagree that much with the person who – putatively – hates her. Kindness, niceness, beauty, some rogue threw in "poise" – these are the attributes of photofit creation, rather than a human being. | Asked what first attracted her to Middleton, she said: "Her kindness, her niceness. She's different, she's like Lady Diana – she's for the people." Time and again, the people who love Kate don't seem to disagree that much with the person who – putatively – hates her. Kindness, niceness, beauty, some rogue threw in "poise" – these are the attributes of photofit creation, rather than a human being. |
| The 'princess' arrived, wearing MaxMara Weekend (Stacey Winter told me), with her perfect hair. Is she any more plastic than anybody else? Not really; her hair is tidier than most people's, but she'd just got out of a car. Does she have any discernible personality? No, not so that you'd notice, but opinion is united on this – if there's one thing worse than a princess without an opinion, it's a princess with one. And everything moves so fast, out of the car, into the addiction charity, a quick spin round the canteen, back into the car without even a pause to collect the supermarket flowers from the ad hoc ladies-in-waiting on the pavement. | The 'princess' arrived, wearing MaxMara Weekend (Stacey Winter told me), with her perfect hair. Is she any more plastic than anybody else? Not really; her hair is tidier than most people's, but she'd just got out of a car. Does she have any discernible personality? No, not so that you'd notice, but opinion is united on this – if there's one thing worse than a princess without an opinion, it's a princess with one. And everything moves so fast, out of the car, into the addiction charity, a quick spin round the canteen, back into the car without even a pause to collect the supermarket flowers from the ad hoc ladies-in-waiting on the pavement. |
| The people waiting formed a uniformly good impression, straightaway. | The people waiting formed a uniformly good impression, straightaway. |
| Jessica Patchett, a 21-year-old American student, praised her choice of charity: "It's a little bit off the beaten path, for a royal," she said. | Jessica Patchett, a 21-year-old American student, praised her choice of charity: "It's a little bit off the beaten path, for a royal," she said. |
| Everyone was reminded of Diana. Everyone thought she was beautiful. The positive impressions are totally random, based on something so fleeting, instantly over, a comet that didn't even leave a hole. But that's the job. | Everyone was reminded of Diana. Everyone thought she was beautiful. The positive impressions are totally random, based on something so fleeting, instantly over, a comet that didn't even leave a hole. But that's the job. |
| Kate Williams, a royal historian, was delighted to get a glimpse of the duchess, but nonetheless came down firmly on Mantel's side. "It was nothing to do with Kate Middleton herself. It was an intellectual conversation, about portraits of the monarchy." | Kate Williams, a royal historian, was delighted to get a glimpse of the duchess, but nonetheless came down firmly on Mantel's side. "It was nothing to do with Kate Middleton herself. It was an intellectual conversation, about portraits of the monarchy." |
| That's the core of it, especially given the context, a London Review of Books-organised speech to an LRB sort of crowd, it probably didn't even occur to Mantel there would be anyone listening who couldn't distinguish between the actor and the role. If the tabloids are outraged, well, maybe they shouldn't have been earwigging while the grown-ups were talking. | That's the core of it, especially given the context, a London Review of Books-organised speech to an LRB sort of crowd, it probably didn't even occur to Mantel there would be anyone listening who couldn't distinguish between the actor and the role. If the tabloids are outraged, well, maybe they shouldn't have been earwigging while the grown-ups were talking. |
| Mantel has blown it, of course. She'll never win a third Booker, not now. | Mantel has blown it, of course. She'll never win a third Booker, not now. |
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