Is Jennifer Garner happy?
We know what's in her wallet, but what about her heart?
It’s impossible to accurately analyze the life decisions of someone you know almost nothing about. It’s even more impossible1 to determine if they are happy. But the wife is tired of me asking this question every time we see the commercials, so let’s try.
Is Jennifer Garner happy?
Yes, that Jennifer Garner.2 The Jennifer Garner who was in that one show and then those movies, but whose current role in the cultural zeitgeist is that of Capital One spokesperson.
She is part of a cast that includes but is not limited to, Samuel L. Jackson, Taylor Swift, Derek Jeter (in a minor role), Slash (an even more minor role), and a guy with wildly visible neck veins3 and an overwhelming number of catchphrases.
All of them are distant supporting roles to Jennifer Garner. She is, unequivocally, the star of this behemoth credit card company whose slogan is, somehow, a question.
Neck Veins may argue that point, but while he does carry a fair share of the commercial load, he in no way carries the same general appeal. Case in point: I do not know his name and lack any desire to learn it.
What is, in fact, most odd about him is that I am more confident I can peg his happiness level than I can Jennifer Garner’s. The question is only interesting in as far as it relates to her because it hints at a possible fall from grace.4
Neck Veins is pretty happy. But in an uninteresting way.
He works a job that he is moderately proud of but that he also shrugs off when asked about. Strangers sometimes recognize him. Not often enough to overwhelm him but enough to mildly quiet the existential question everyone asks of themselves at night. Which is to say, he receives the right amount of attention.
Jennifer Garner, however.
Less happy, I think, than Neck Veins, but also—and this is why we’re still here—potentially infinitely happier. She achieved societal success at a young but not-too-young age. Money. Fame. Respect. Public appeal. Critical appeal. All of these things came to her at a time when she was both young enough to enjoy them and grown enough to reckon with them.
Her personal life, from the outside, seemed strained but in the same way that every celebrity’s personal life seems strained. So, like, net neutral there.
Now, she acts in commercials. Lots of commercials. Some of them where she ironically (I think?) parodies the well-known work of her very famous peers.5 At face value, that seems kinda depressing.
It’s logical to picture Jennifer Garner showing up on these commercial sets once a year to do her duty with a shy or sheepish, if not downright embarrassed, demeanor. Here she is, the ex-movie star selling her soul—and name and image and likeness—to be the mouthpiece of a multi-national credit card corporation.
Here stands a woman who once made art. Now she sells double miles on every flight.
And yet, somehow, in every image I can conjure of Jennifer Garner filming these commercials, she is beaming. A glowing, transcendent, radiant image of kindness and joy.
Because that’s her character. She doesn’t play “credit card spokeswoman” or “famous celebrity.” She plays Jennifer Garner. There’s not even a fourth wall left standing for her to break.
She is there. Herself. Excited about double miles. And her farm. And the wedding she is attending (crashing?). And the airport lounge. And, hold on…is Jennifer Garner’s life amazing? Is she undeniably happy?
Is that million-dollar double-point smile and twinkle in the eye real because she knows that you know that she spends two days out of her entire year filming a commercial that you’ll watch one thousand times as she cashes the fattest check imaginable before returning to a life where the other 363 days of the year are fully hers to spend as she pleases?
Or is she just a really good actor? And if so, has she then somehow risen to the pinnacle of her career?
She stars in a role that both is and is not a role, and she completely shrouds the distinction between truth and fiction in a way that could theoretically (or literally) mark her as a genius of her craft.
Jennifer Garner is Jennifer Garner. Her current livelihood depends on her ability to convince you of that fact, in both the most obvious and most ambiguous sense.
And she’s nailing it. Which seems to me a good reason to be happy. Or at least mildly pleased with oneself.
Thanks for reading this far.
-jd
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#content
Art as Therapy - “The art we love is a guide to what is missing from our societies.” Take that to the bank.
Modern Family - We’ve recently returned to what I would describe as one of the most well-written sitcoms of all time. Their ability to start a bit at the beginning of an episode and bring it full circle in 24 minutes is unmatched.
Passage Du Desir - Scooter Blues is my SOTM (song of the moment). That and Charleston Girl but also because I’m in Charleston as I write this.
Question
What’s a commercial on TV right now that you love or hate? And do you think Jake from State Farm is happy?
Not a thing. Impossible is an absolute adjective. I know this. You know this. But for reasons I cannot explain, it felt right here. The only point in knowing the rules of grammar is so you can retain your self-righteousness when you break them.
Jennifer Anne Garner was born in Houston, Texas in 1972. She is an actor, model, mother, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. She is perhaps most well-known for the television series, Alias, for which she won a Golden Globe Award. She has acted in several movies, including 13 Going on 30, Juno, and Dallas Buyers Club. She seems nice.
That neck veins are his recognizable features says more about his stylist and makeup artist than it does about him. I also don’t think the crewneck t-shirt under a crewneck sweater under a blazer is doing him any favors but that’s just me.
“Grace” here being used as a stand-in for the more accurate term “celebrity status.”
“There’s no crying in baseball…or banking!“ is categorically stupid and one of the purest examples of absolute hack.