Sarah Palin and The Star System

Sarah Palin, ten months ago.

What a year. Was it only ten months ago that John McCain tapped the then-unknown Sarah Palin as his running mate? Yes, Saturday, August 30th, 2008.

Flashforward to today - Friday, July 3rd, 2009 - and Palin's bizarre press conference to announce she doesn't want to be governor of Alaska anymore. She's received "a high calling," see, and has to go. Bye.

OK, you're asking, what does this have to do with movies?

Plenty.

Within the studio system, the likes of Joan Crawford and Bette Davis were held by the iron grip of Jack Warner - and flourished. Much like the actors forced to become freelancers immediately following the demise of the old studio system, Palin is a star who's somewhat adrift - rudderless - trying to control her own career and proving that she's not really up to the task.

I can't think of any major star or politician who doesn't have handlers, but Palin demonstrated throughout last fall's primary that she can't be - won't be - handled.

Sarah Palin, yesterday

Over the past 10 months, I've heard people respond to Palin's cringe-producing behavior and run-on sentences by speculating that either she is being poorly handled by her advisers or that she simply isn't taking their advice.

My hunch is that she has no advisors. She and Todd have been quite successful running their mom-and-pop operation up there in Alaska, and don't need any advice from fancy-talking, big-city strategists, thank you very much. (Take that, Steve Schmidt and Nicole Wallace.) But anyone who wants to make it in the Big Time, whether in movies or in politics, needs some kind of guidance, a perspective from a third party and the willingness to listen. Palin can learn from the movie's greatest survivors. If she wants to.

I don't think she wants to.