Through the lens of famous photographer Annie Leibovitz, Didion posed for the Gap brand in 1989 at the age of 55. Then she lends herself to the game again, 26 years later, this time for the brand and in the eye of Juergen Teller. All with a confidence that many of us decades younger do not yet have.
From the immense work of Joan Didion, I retain first of all his book Miami – that I read 10 years after its publication and a few months before going to live in this bubbling city, an exemplary model of the wealth of immigration. It is in particular of her that Didion speaks in Miami. A book that presented a different perspective of the Cuban-American community, which at the time of the book’s release, was too often reduced to clichés that looped around in the news.
Through the pages and the interlocutors, the author presents to us the heartbreak of exile by drawing portraits which, without ignoring them, went beyond political crises, beyond Castro, beyond CIA.
Go further, differently and in depth. This is what Joan Didion did, with passion and elegance.
I have an unshakeable reverence for the women of this generation. So many among them have often been of all the fights, but especially of all the solutions.
And, for every first this and every first that which is celebrated today with good reason, but also with drums, fanfares and frontispieces, there were pioneers long before, who cleared the path, and this, without splinters or accolades. . Or if not, too little. Several are of the generation of Didion and Walters, like Barbara.
The Barbara Walters effect
Now retired from the screen, host, journalist and producer Barbara Walters is now 92 years old. Like Joan Didion, she presented the stories and their protagonists differently, in depth and with passion. In 1977, Walters was the first American journalist to interview Fidel Castro for five hours. It is one of his many interviews that it would not be an exaggeration to qualify as iconic, like so many others of his illustrious career. Fifty years marked in particular by talks with all American presidents from Gerald Ford to Barack Obama.
But how do you measure the Walters effect, even today? First, by the many journalists it has inspired. Among them, the biggest names in the business like that of Oprah Winfrey. Then, by his management of the profession behind the camera.
Notably, by being the first journalist to combine the news departments with the variety departments for her shows, thus increasing budgets, resources, revenues and, above all, giving her more freedom.
The success of The View is also a good barometer. The show she created celebrated her 25e season in the fall. In 1997, Walters gathered five women around a table to talk about hot topics. They were from different generations, from different backgrounds, and they represented the mosaic that is the United States.
The concept of this daily show may seem simple today, because it has been copied so many times, even outside of US borders. In Canada, for example, think of the show Lionesses, which was broadcast on Radio-Canada for several seasons. On CTV, The Social has been on the air since 2013.
The formula of The View is still the same today. We comment on the latest trends and present recipes for favorite dishes, but above all, we talk about politics. MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace, once director of communications for President George W. Bush and then strategist for former Republican Senator and presidential candidate John McCain, briefly co-hosted with The View. She once claimed that when politicians in Washington want to take the pulse of the country, they watch The View. Not bad for a talk show broadcast in the morning.
A televisual meeting
But despite this undeniable influence, Barbara Walters’ magnus opus remains, in my opinion of a big fan, her annual end-of-year show of the 10 most fascinating personalities, on the air from 1993 to 2015. The 10 Most Fascinating People de Walters was a television rendezvous, as few exist today. The show was a look back at those who not only made the news but who had also, in their own way, marked the imagination. Over the years, we have seen Pope Francis, Hillary Clinton, Tiger Woods, Andre Agassi and LeBron James in particular.
I remember the first edition of this 10 Most Fascinating People, in the 90s, having watched it while commenting on it, during commercials, on the phone with Isabelle Racicot – now herself a host and producer.
This show was our Super Bowl, our Olympics, and the start of a tradition for us. And almost 30 years later, this tradition has taken on a new lease of life.
On January 8 and for the second year, Isabelle will host The Ten on ICI TÉLÉ – a list of the ten most fascinating Quebec personalities of the year. And like the one who has inspired her for decades, Isabelle shines in this kind of interview. She goes further, in depth, with passion and elegance.
And instead of commenting on the phone, I will do it on set, accompanied by historian Laurent Turcot and sociologist Jean-Philippe Warren. I don’t know about the other three, but I’m still pinching myself.