I haven't even seen 'Juno', and the sole reason I'm avoiding it is how tired I am of running into another article about Diablo Cody everywhere I look. "Stripper-blogger-screenwriter­-and-oh-she's-snarky-and-briii­iiiiiilliant-too"....barf. I never get the sense of her as a real human being; it's far more likely that she's something Nerve.com grew in a vat in 1995 to boost sales.

And now she's everywhere. EVERYWHERE. The next time I go into Starbucks I expect to see Diablo Cody-brand croissants. "Flaky and arch--but soft and warm on the inside!"

If you think you hate Cody now, wait'll you see the movie!

I hope she hasn't "Norbitted" her Oscar chances with that EW column.

Oh, okay, I hope she has.

It's true she's a painfully easy target. But so is George Bush, and I don't feel any inclination to take it easy on him either.

The fact that you never get a sense of who she is as a real human being is more the fault of lazy writers who fall back on the obvious and easy than Diablo herself. She's just gamely doing interviews at the behest of her studio, and if the writers who profile her make her out to be this, that or the other -- that ain't her fault. Heck, up 'till five months ago or so, she didn't even have a publicist.

As someone who knows her, I can attest that "who she is as a person" is an enormously humble, self-effacing, sweet person with a great sense of humor who's as baffled by the way she's portrayed as everybody else seems to be.

bah! you've shamed me, argento! the truth is, you're mostly right--the publicity machine is ultimately not her fault (though she certainly doesn't have to write that EW column!) and I've seen no evidence that she isn't a really good person. the problem is she wrote a script that is structurally sound but extremely irritating (to me) and has shot to A-list status in an incredibly stupid studio system (which is ENTIRELY not her fault). i think she is talented and hope she manages to rise above the hype. as for me, I'll save my cheap shots for our lame-duck president and stop being an anonymous smart-ass on message boards.

the_other_argento_kid:

who's as baffled by the way she's portrayed as everybody else seems to be.

Yeah, and Britney's just trying to live a normal life, too.

I get so sick of the "Poor celebrities; they never get a moment's peace!" drivel. If they didn't want the spotlight they wouldn't seek it out.

Fiore, that you?

Anyway, Cody writes the most grating, self-conscious dialogue ever. This phenomenon reminds me of the emperor's new clothes. I suppose it's good that she can at least feign humility, no?

I'm not saying anybody should pity her. I'm just saying -- as with Britney or whoever -- that what you see in the media frequently has nothing to do with who they are as actual human beings. I didn't in fact say anything about "a moment's peace," but of course that's where people go automatically.

Phooey -- the thing is, when you're a writer/director/actor, you have to do publicity for your art. Its a fact of life. Whether you're Diablo Cody or Quentin Tarantino or the little indiest director of the little indiest film of all time, you have to do publicity. Meaning people write about you. Meaning you are then subject to their whims regarding how you get portrayed. Its that simple.

I'm just saying that in real life she's a really sweet person. That's all. Simple.

And it isn't feigned humility either.

Okay, fine. I understand that the public persona of a celebrity as put forward by publicists and the media (often the same thing, for all intents and purposes) is often very different from who they actually are as a human being.

That said, the public 'face' of Cody is irritating and frickin' OMNIPRESENT! And though I know you only have the best intentions, the fact that I can't even grouse about her in an online forum without being immediately reassured that she's humble and lovable and awesome and really really sweet does not help her case!