I just love D!rt

Truth is a bitch.

Lucy Spiller is the harbinger of the hell that is Reality, at least Reality when exposed to the derision of the public. Lucy is the editor of D!rtNow magazine, the celebrity tell-all tabloid that writes the images that rule Los Angeles.

The philosopher Hannah Arendt observed, the “power of judgment rests on potential agreement with others”. The public agrees with D!rtNow, making Lucy the Queen of Judgement. If Truth is a matter of perception, then D!rtNow is the only perception that matters to the public. Thus D!rtNow equals truth, or the only truth that matters.

Lucy uses her power to topple action heroes for their hidden homosexuality, expose drug-addicted divas and make celebrities out of murder victims. For Lucy, the story is what’s important, what matters, and what sells. She has no patience for understanding or personal concern. D!rtNow deals in stereotypes and sensationalism.

That’s why the magazine is so successful.

D!rt is about more than just the magazine, however. The magazine’s success is about more than profit—its about power. And D!rt is about more than the sad state of celebrity in Hollywood, its about characters.

Lucy is the centre of the series, the epicenter of D!rtNow’s drive and dedication. Lucy is not a craven psycho-harpy. She’s the Hillary Clinton of the tabloids—broadly misunderstood and unwisely underestimated. She learned the LA gossip game before anyone quite realized she’d been allowed to play. Lucy is not out for revenge; she’s out for to keep her magazine on top. If that means giving up a few false ideals, well, at least she’s not afraid to separate fact from fiction.

In her blind allegiance to her job, Lucy’s sole softspot is for her schizophrenic and brilliant photographer, Don Konkey. Don can see truth easily; it’s reality he has trouble with. His photographs never fail to flaunt the facts that others try to hide. That’s why Lucy loves him. But Don can’t trust his own eyesight. He sees dead people and chats with imaginary friends. Just as Lucy uses Don to get at the truth, Don uses Lucy to “get” reality.

Lucy is played by the tiny, tightly wound and muscle bound Courtney Cox. Cox is the perfect opposite to the softer, sweeter Willa, a novice in the gossip game. Willa is learning fast, though, and she is fast-changing from a beauty to another bitch. From Lucy, Willa learns to use the secret self-indulgences of others to negotiate for more lucrative personal information. The more private the dirt, the more public the story. But Willa hasn’t quite killed the conscience that Lucy abandoned long ago (as a socially-constructed cover-up for the Truth). Willa is vulnerable because she can’t quite give up her attachment to a positive public opinion.

Rather like Lucy’s lover and celebrity gossip leak, Holt. Holt is THE leading man in Hollywood. Lucy put him there, and he is attracted to both her power and her complete indifference to private pain made public. Holt is a modern Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader. He is a man of Great Power attracted to both the Dark Side and the Light. With Lucy, he can have both.

In a Hollywood that made scandal synonymous with success, Lucy is a fictional Bonnie Fuller. Fuller is known for upping the sales statistics for such prestigious rags as UsWeekly. She showcases sex because sex sells. The state of the literary market is not her concern—Lucy plays it as it lays. With the same grim gumption exhibited by power players like the surprisingly successful Sarah Palin, Lucy isn’t out to “heal the world”.

She’s out to shape it.




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