Marlee Matlin

Marlee Matlin

Obsession Level: I'll Scream About it Now!!!

It's been a while since I updated, but no worries.  Personal life gets in the way sometimes, but my obsessions continue on and I keep adding new ones.  That's how it is, I guess, when you end up completely obsessed about things.

The newest obsession in my life is not likely to go away any time soon.  It's Marlee Matlin.  I don't know how I missed this person throughout my  life, but somehow I did.  I discovered my obsession for Marlee while watching the L Word with a friend of mine.  Needless to say it has taken me some time to actually watch all the seasons, but I'm sure that's going to be a new obsession of mine that is going to appear and reappear from time to time.

In seasons 4 and 5 we meet Marlee, who is Jodi on the show, and she and Bette have a relationship for a while that ends when Bette cheats on her with Tina (ahem...I'll come to that...)

On the show Jodi is a deaf artist who, like Shane, doesn't exactly believe in monogamy.  Bette can't handle that aspect of Jodi because seeing her with other people bothers Bette (and we all know that Bette is a wonderful character to be demanding monogamy from anyone...).  Jodi decides that her relationship with Bette is one that she values, and therefore swears off other lovers and devotes herself to Bette.  She falls in love with Bette and then later finds out that Bette has gone back to Tina behind her back.
   

So there you have it, the scoop on Jodi.  Marlee, however, is a little bit different than her character.  She is married with four children and does tons of charity work, focusing especially on children with hearing problems.  She has won an Oscar for Children of the Lesser God (amazing performance), she has been on Dancing With the Stars (and can dance much better than many people who CAN hear the music), she has a star on the Walk of Fame, and she was on Celebrity Apprentice to earn money for charity.  That's just to name a few things.  She's basically amazing and a great role model.  She has shown everyone that being deaf wasn't going to stop her from achieving anything that she put her mind to doing.  Needless to say, I'm a little awestruck by this person!

Now, returning to the whole L Word fiasco...I am NOT a Tina fan.  I just don't like her character (I have no judgement on Laurel Holloman, I'm like Switzerland on that point).  Tina is a whiny, needy, manipulating individual who can't make up her mind what she wants.  She doesn't want Bette because Bette is too much for her to handle, but she doesn't want anyone else to have Bette either.  That's my take on things.  Even though she tells Bette that Jodi is perfect for her, as soon as she sees that Bette is going to make that work, she goes all sentimental and decides to rekindle their love (behind Jodi's back...although she gets all hurt when Bette cheats on her...pot, meet kettle).  She declares constantly that she doesn't want to hurt Jodi, but there she goes...Trust me...it annoys me to no end.

Then let's talk about Bette.  Seriously?!  Seriously, Bette?! KEEP IT IN YOUR PANTS!  Bette is a natural born cheater.  That's what she does...she cheats.  It's just like Alice says in Season 5.  That's what Bette is all about and she comes through by cheating yet again on Jodi...with Tina...who she cheated on...That's just a mess.  Now I know that most people are all TiBette and think that Tina and Bette are the greatest couple and meant to be together so that justifies everything, but I have to admit that I'm JoBette all the way!  I know they are characters and couldn't control the script, but I really have to scoff at the idea that someone who had Jodi would go back to Tina.  If I wrote the story it would have gone differently.  I can also say that had their been other seasons, I'm positive that Bette ended up cheating on Tina again...after all, she does that.  Maybe it was with Jodi...who knows.  

So enough about that.  I could go on for days.  The point being, however, that the show was where I became obsessed with Marlee Matlin, but it was just the beginning.  I became even more obsessed when I branched out and began exploring her work in other programs, movies, etc.  This woman does it all!  If you haven't discovered her then you're really missing out.  Not to mention that enough interviews, movies, television shows, etc. with her in them will have you automatically learning sign language and leave you with the desire to learn more!  LOL