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| internet address currently unknown...but here's what I know: | |||||||||||||||||||||
Author: Maureen Olsen EDP 380, FALL, 1997 December 4, 1997 |
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Oprah
Winfrey Oprah
has become a name in the entertainment industry that stands on its own
much like Madonna or even Cher. For the uninformed who think Oprah is
just another gabby talk show host, guess again. Anyone who has ever watched
"The Oprah Winfrey Show" knows that it stands in a rank all
of its own. There is something very different about this black talk show
host- she is real. Oprah's key personality factor is her "vulnerability".
She is not afraid to expose her own doubts, emotions, problems, failures,
and even fears to her millions of viewers. "The reason I communicate
with all these people," she told 60
Minutes' Mike Wallace, "is because I think I'm every woman and
I've had every malady and I've been on every diet, and I've had- oh, men
who have done me wrong, honey. So I relate to all of that. And I'm not
afraid or ashamed to say it" Oprah
Winfrey has indeed been down a long and rocky road. She has overcome one
adversity after another to become the world's highest-paid entertainer,
worth almost a half a billion dollars, and with a daily audience of almost
20 million, one of the world's most powerful. Last year Oprah decided
she wanted to "get this country reading again," so she turned
her talk show into an on-the-air book club once a month. Not only has
everyone of her selected novels become a national bestseller, but she
has been cited by the American Library Association for "single-handedly
expanding the size of the reading public". In terms
of Gardner's model of multiple intelligence, Oprah shines in the verbal/linguistic,
intrapersonal, and interpersonal areas. This creative genius seems to
fit extraordinarily well into Howard Gardner's model of creativity. In
fact, Oprah fits almost ideally in Gardner's Portrait of the Exemplary Creator in chapter 10. I find the similarities
rather surprising considering she is not a White, European male from the
Modern era like most of Gardner's examples. On the contrary, Oprah is
a contemporary Black female who grew up in the segregated South during
the 1950's. In choosing such a contemporary figure I realize that I run
the risk of encountering deep divisions between those who value Oprah's
work and those who feel it is just nonsense entertainment. (We cannot
forget that Freud faced the same controversy in his day.) While I may
not change anyone's opinion, I can
define her creative "work", and show how it differs from anything
done before in her field. CHILDHOOD
Oprah
Gail Winfrey was born February 1, 1954, out of wedlock, and into an impoverished
farm family in Kosciusko, Mississippi. Her parents met on a one day fling
in Kosciusko while her father, Vernon Winfrey, was home for the summer
in the armed services. Her father and mother never repeated their union
after that first time. Vernon didn't even know that Vernita was pregnant.
He received word of Oprah's birth while in Alabama when Vernita sent a
birth announcement with a note that read "Send Clothes!" (King
30). After the birth of her daughter, Vernita Lee, age 18, was eager to
split the farm and head north to Milwaukee, where there was more work
and more money to be made. There was no place for a small baby in the
big city so the responsibility fell to Vernon Winfrey's mother. Life
with Grandmother was not particularly an easy one for young Oprah. Vernon's
mother was a strict member of the Faith-United Mississippi Baptist Church
and wouldn't put up with any resistance to her orders. Oprah's first public
appearance came at the young age of three when she spoke at her grandmother's
church during a recital. It was Easter time, and the theme of her talk
was "Jesus Rose on Easter Day." Later on that winter she gave
a Christmas talk. "I was a very articulate child," she explained
(King 31). She was not just articulate, but a prodigy as a speaker. Due
to her church performances, Oprah was nicknamed "The Preacher"
by the other kids her own age. The kids at Sunday school would spit on
her and announce her arrival with a "Here comes Miss Jesus",
or something nasty. Oprah was alienated at an early age. It seems that
this was the beginning of Oprah's bottling up of frustration for inspiration
later in life. With no playmates and no toys, Oprah immersed herself in
reading and writing, and the one thing she did best- talking. When
she started Kindergarten, it all seemed just a bit childish
to her when she finally became aware of what the curriculum entailed.
While the other kids were stringing beads and drawing funny pictures with
crayons, Oprah was devising one of her earliest rebellious protests. Oprah
decided to write a letter to the teacher, informing her that she felt
she didn't belong there in Kindergarten. Surprisingly enough, her teacher
agreed. Oprah had made her point, and had made it in a most unconventional
and unexpected way. Five-year-olds just weren't supposed to write letters
of protest! Shortly after that Oprah entered the first grade, and her
prodigiousness persisted so much that the school skipped her from first
to third grade. Her prolific advance was due primarily to her grandmother's
strict pedagogy of reading, writing, and, of course, Bible stories. "I
am what I am because of my grandmother. My strength. My sense of reasoning.
Everything. All of that was set by the time I was six years old. I basically
am no different now from what I was when I was six" (King 35). At the
age of six, little Oprah was beginning to become a handful for her grandmother.
She decided to seek help from Oprah's mother, Vernita, who was now living
in Milwaukee making some money as a maid. And so Oprah Gail Winfrey was
shipped off to Milwaukee to begin a whole new page of her life with the
woman who was her mother. LIFE
WITH MOTHER Vernita
Lee was not exactly equipped to take care of her daughter. They lived
partly off of welfare in a shared, dingy apartment, infested with cockroaches.
With a lack of attention and affection Oprah began acting up and stealing
money from her mother's purse. Meanwhile,
Oprah's father had just settled down in Nashville with his new wife, Zelma.
In 1962, when Oprah was eight years old, she had become such a handful
for her mother that Vernita leaped at the sudden and welcome opportunity
to send Oprah to her father and stepmother in Nashville. Oprah seemed
to like living with her father and stepmother. Zelma was, as Oprah explained,
"real tough, a very strong disciplinarian, and I owe a lot to her
because it was like military school there. I had to do book reports at
home as well as in school and so many vocabulary words a week." Unfortunately
though, her stay with her father was brief. Vernita had married a man
in Milwaukee and she wanted Oprah back in order to be a "real family"
again. Oprah began to feel her own alienation. To her, it seemed that
neither of them wanted her.
Back
with her mother, and the poverty, she began to act out her need for attention
by playing tricks on anybody and everybody, and by running away from home.
It was at this time, at the age of nine, that Oprah was first raped by
her 19 year-old cousin. During the next five years she allowed herself
repeatedly to be sexually molested by other men. All of the men who abused
her were "trusted" members of the family or "close"
friends. Like many rape victims, Oprah blamed herself. She felt that she
was not capable of being loved and so she deserved to be mistreated. Oprah's
mother may have known about the abuse, but she never did anything about
it. Trouble followed, and, she says, she was pregnant by the age of 14.
(The baby lived for only "a week or two," says Oprah without
elaboration.) During these turbulent years, books were her preferred reality.
"I threw myself into books. I read books about troubled women."
"No
one ever told me I was loved. Ever, ever, ever. Reading and being able
to be a smart girl was my only
sense of value, and it was the only time I felt loved." -Oprah
Winfrey, in an interview with Life, 1997 When
Oprah was in the seventh grade, a teacher spotted her reading a book at
the lunch table one day and realized she was gifted. He got her a scholarship
to a prestigious high school that was experimenting with integration.
This was the late '60's. Oprah, poor and black at a rich white school,
suffered a blow to her self-image. She realized for the first time that
she was truly poor. Anger
and frustration was building within Oprah and the result was a very disobedient
girl. Oprah's mother sent her to a juvenile detention home only to be
turned away because the beds were all full. As a last resort, Oprah was
sent to live with her father and stepmother in Nashville. This move was
one of the best things that could have happened in her life. A
NEW BEGINNING Getting
14 year-old Oprah under control was not an easy task; but one that only
Vernon and Zelma could have accomplished with their stern, disciplinarian
style. Oprah recalls the time that she came home with C's on her report
card. Her father sat her down and told her, "You can't bring C's
in this house because you are not a C student. If you were a C student
you could because I'm not trying to make you do or be anything that you
can't be. But you are not a C student; you are an A student. So that's
what we expect in this house."
This type of "tough love" was just what Oprah needed at
the time. The
year 1970 was a big year for Oprah. She was 16 years-old, president of
the student council, voted most popular girl in her class at school, and,
most importantly, she was one of two students picked from her state to
attend the White House Conference on Youth in Washington DC. She was chosen
because of her good grades and her active participation in school and
politics. This trip instigated a whole chain of prosperous events... First,
after being interviewed by a local radio station in regards to her White
House experience, she was chosen to represent the station in the upcoming
"Miss Fire Prevention Contest". Because of her brilliantly witty
responses to the question-and-answer segment of the pageant, she came
out the winner! The next day when Oprah arrived at the radio station to
pick up her prizes, she got to talking to one of the producers. He became
interested in her voice, and before she knew it, she was hired as a radio
newscaster. As a senior in high school she would rush away after school
everyday to do the news at 3:30, 4:00, and every half hour until 8:00
(King 65). "It was a marvelous life!"
College By the
time Oprah entered college at Tennessee State University she had her mind
set on one day becoming an actress. Much to her father's disapproval,
she continued diligently on her studies in speech and drama. She excelled
in speech and drama. Besides, she had always been able to read quickly
and intelligently and with proper expression. Her biggest obstacle in
becoming an actress, however, was not her conventional father, but the
color of her skin- and more importantly the particular shade of black
that she was. The color of her skin was the deepest of blacks, however,
her speech resembled the lightest of whites. And in the 1970's, for a
black woman from the South seeking to fulfill her Hollywood dreams, this
verbal/linguistic capability was essential to her success. Her
sophomore year in college Oprah was discovered on the radio and recruited
for a job at WTVF-TV in Nashville. She turned them down three times because
she felt that it would interfere with her studies. Finally, a professor
set her straight by saying, "Don't you know that's why
people go to college? So that CBS can call them?" Needless to say,
she applied for the position and got the job. At nineteen Oprah was already
displaying her marginality by becoming the first black co-anchor Nashville
had ever seen. Oprah had no previous experience behind the scenes in television.
She admits, "I had no idea what to do so I pretended to be Barbara
Walters. It seemed she was my
only mentor" (King 79). "The
problem was that you can't pretend to be somebody else for too
long. You need to develop your own sense of style. So sometimes I'd forget
to be Barbara and Oprah would
start slipping through. I felt that being Oprah was certainly more comfortable
for me, but in the beginning, being Barbara was what saved me, because
otherwise I'd have been petrified" (interview). It is
important to note here that like many of Gardner's creative individuals
Oprah began her professional career imitating the works of another before
her own style developed. Professional
Career Oprah
graduated from Tennessee State in 1976, and became a full-time news anchor
in Nashville making $15,000 a year. Despite her good fortune, she did
not feel like she could fully enjoy her position. It was the fact that
her father still had her on a strict midnight curfew that caused her to
look for jobs away from home. Her
move brought her a step up to Baltimore's WJZ-TV as a six-o'clock co-anchor
and reporter. But once again, Oprah didn't think her position suited her
right- and her director couldn't agree more. Oprah just wasn't cut out
for covering news stories where she had to divorce herself from the emotional
drama. She would actually cry when the story was too sad. Without really
knowing what to do with her, her director quickly demoted Oprah to a little
5:30a.m. spot on the talk show People
Are Talking. This move from hard news to soft news proved entirely
successful. She recalls thinking, "Thank God! This is it.
I've found out what I was meant
to do. This is what I was born for.
This is like breathing!"
(King 96) While
her professional life was on the rise, her personal life was on the downfall.
"I had so much going for me, but I still thought I was nothing without
a man. I'd had a relationship with a man for four years...and I thought
I was worthless without him" (interview). Oprah's depression eventually
led to a breakdown where she actually wrote herself a suicide note. Once
she had surfaced from that emotional plunge, Oprah felt ready to move
on. "Getting out of that relationship was a major turning point,
and the other turning point was realizing
that getting out was a turning point," she said. "As soon as
I was able to put that relationship in its place, as soon as I was able
to stop demeaning myself, things began to open up. I saw the light"
(King 102). As she was beginning to do some soul searching in her personal
life, on her show, she was coincidentally refashioning herself into the
real Oprah Winfrey- one who had never before existed! She found a style
all her own which was simply being able to be herself at all times. With
this personal metamorphosis under way, Oprah was promoted once again to
take over the morning talk show, A.M.
Chicago. Six weeks into the show, she brought the it ahead of the
competition. Before Oprah moved
to Chicago, she had gained a great deal of weight. Whenever Oprah got
nervous or scared, she would indulge in food which would calm her. Not
only was the new talk show host of A.M.
Chicago completely marginal in her appearance (how many flashy, overweight,
black women are on TV?), but her show format was unlike any of the mainstream
talk shows of the time. She took a whole new approach to this show by
stepping into the audience and allowing for open communication between
the audience and her panel of guests. Her show topics were also not your
run-of-the-mill "how to apply mascara" or "how to bake
a soufflé". Oprah tried to tackle a topic that got right to the heart
of matters. She was not afraid to go out on a limb and invite the Ku Klux
Klan on her show, nor to devote a show to victims of incest. Move
over Phil- Oprah's on! In September
1985 her show became nationally syndicated under a more appropriate name-
The Oprah Winfrey Show. Oprah
was 30 years old, grossing $30 mill., and had the devotion of millions.
What an anniversary for her! Exactly five years ago, she wrote a suicide
note. She has certainly come a long way. Many
individuals have had a great impact on Oprah's life and her career. As
a young adult, Oprah's support system centered around God, her father,
and books. She credits Maya Angelou, author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, as her "mentor and mother
figure, the woman who has had, undoubtedly, the greatest influence on
my life" (Johnson 60). Oprah remembers reading her book at age 16
and being astonished that someone else in the world had gone through the
same awful experiences that she had. In the last seven years, Oprah's
matrix of support has centered around her fiancé' Stedman Graham. He is,
as she states, "my rock." Because both she and Stedman are full-time
executives and share a passion for their work, their time together is
somewhat limited. This may be Oprah's Faustian bargain. She is the most
influential woman in television, and with such fame comes a lack of privacy
and a limited time to devote to her personal relationships. In the
past decade Oprah has literally produced thousands of creative works.
Creating a show is, in essence, a performing art. Coming up with a new
topic each day requires creativity. One just never knows what Oprah or
her guests will say or do next. As I mentioned earlier, what makes The
Oprah Winfrey Show unique is Oprah's ability to be herself; just like
she's your best friend that you've known for years. Oprah has a stylized
kind of performance that separates her from Donahue, Geraldo, and all
the other talk show gurus. Oprah
is also not afraid to be marginal and ask the questions we really
want to know. I'd have to say that this makes her very much like the child
who, without concern for social norms, has the audacity to ask almost
anything to anyone. Even her constant search for answers is a childlike
characteristic. Oprah's
show serves a greater purpose besides pure entertainment. When nearly
20 million viewers tune in each weekday to watch The Oprah Winfrey Show, it's a sure bet that somebody, somewhere
is going to benefit from the day's topic. Whether it's a show on finding
lost loved ones, creating a loving environment in a stepfamily, or life-saving
first aid techniques, The Oprah
Winfrey Show helps people live better lives. "I feel that my
show is a ministry; we just don't take up a collection. And I feel that
it is a teaching tool, without preaching to people about it. That is my
intent" (interview). In 1996,
(nearly ten years after her first show),Oprah launched a monthly book
club to get people interested in reading again. She has literally started
a revolution in reading. Ironically, All of the authors that she has picked
for the book club were lonely children whose refuge was in books. Oprah
clearly fits into that club. Oprah
Winfrey as applied to Gardner's Model of Creativity I will
conclude by pointing out the amazing similarities between Oprah Winfrey
and Howard Gardner's own "Exemplary Creator": "E.C.
comes from a locale somewhat removed from the actual centers of power
and influence of her society, but not so far away that she and her family
are entirely ignorant of what is going on elsewhere. The family is neither
wealthy nor in dire financial straits... The atmosphere at home is more
correct than it is warm, and the young creator often feels a bit estranged
from her biological family; even though E.C. has close ties to one of
her parents, she feels ambivalence, too. E.C's
family is not highly educated, but they value learning and achievement,
about which they hold high expectations. E.C's areas of strength emerged
at a relatively young age, and her family encouraged these interests,
though they are ambivalent about a career that falls outside of the established
professions. There comes a time when the growing child, now an adolescent,
seems to have outgrown her home environment. And so, as an adolescent
or young adult, E.C. ventures toward the city that is seen as a center
of vital activities for her domain. Sometimes E.C.. proceeds directly
to work in a chosen domain although she might just as well have flirted
with a number of different career lines until a crystallizing moment occurred.
Experiences
within domains differ from one another...Still, with greater or lesser
speed, E.C. discovers a problem area or realm of special interest, one
that promises to take the domain into uncharted waters...Surprisingly,
at this crucial moment, E.C... craves both cognitive and affective support,
so that she can retain her bearings. Without such support, she might well
experience some kind of breakdown. ...E.C.
succeeds in effecting at least one major breakthrough. And, the field
rather rapidly acknowledges the power of the breakthrough. So special
does E.C. feel that she appears willing to enter into special arrangements-
a Faustian bargain- to maintain the flow that comes from effective, innovative
work. Given
E.C.'s enormous energy and commitment, she has an opportunity for a second
breakthrough, which occurs about a decade after the first one. The succeeding
breakthrough is less radical... When E.C. produces an outpouring of works,
a few of them stand out as defining, both for E.C. herself and
for members of the surrounding field." -Howard
Gardner, Creating Minds Bibliography
For
more information and pictures on Oprah check out her site in the Gallery
of Achievement at: http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/pagegen/mainmenu.html
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