The Obscure Reference Cluster: Amy Adams, with a little Jack LaLanne mixed in for good measure
One of my favorite writers, Sarah Bunting, has written about a phenomenon she calls the Obscure Reference Cluster. You know what she means–it’s when you hear the same random person, place, or thing mentioned in different situations by different people. Like, say, when your boss and your best friend both bring up Jack LaLanne in the span of eight hours. Or whatever. Well. I’d like to propose a special category of Obscure Reference Clusters just for actors. And I’d like to start with one person in particular: Amy Adams.
Now, I know she was nominated for an Academy Award for Junebug, but I hadn’t heard of her then, and I didn’t hear about her for quite some time afterwards. But now? She’s everywhere. I first ran into her as Katie on The Office (my half-hour TV love), and right afterwards she was in Talladega Nights, where I totally failed to recognize her. But then she turned up as an Indiana farmer/environmentalist on The West Wing, and I see that she’s signed for five movies over the next two years. So maybe she herself is no longer obscure. Apparently, we’re going to be seeing a whole lot more of her.
One could argue, of course, that the Obscure Reference Cluster doesn’t apply here, that it’s just an actress working her way up in Hollywood, so we see more of her. And that’s definitely a part of it–she’s in more things; therefore, she gets more exposure. But I would say that it’s a little different when it comes to Adams, because she turns up in old things as well as new. She was on Buffy, for crying out loud. So: starlet, maybe, but not a newcomer. And while she may be losing her “obscure” status as an actress, her showing up everywhere may still count. And anyway, she’s way prettier than Jack LaLanne.
October 19th, 2006 at 12:17 pm
She was also in Drop Dead Gorgeous, one of the funniest movies of all time. I am a big Amy Adams fan.
October 19th, 2006 at 9:57 pm
oh my god, she WAS in Drop Dead Gorgeous. How did I not know that? I have seen the movie approximiately 187 times.
November 25th, 2007 at 6:22 pm
[...] nobody at CHHQ is trying to say that Amy Adams is anything but a legitimately talented actress. The woman was nominated for an Oscar (for Junebug, for those of you who are asking, and we know [...]