Matthew Rozsa interviews photographer Holly Bower on her humorous article about Donald Trump.
—
“The Huffington Post” recently ran this hilarious op-ed that I highly recoomend. It was written by Holly Bower, a woman who was told no because of her gender throughout her career… until no became yes. As a result, she is a successful still photographer in New York (the first female union photographer in the East Coast film industry), magazine writer, and film script writer.
Needless to say, she was the perfect person to write this piece, and I had to have a word with her.
What inspired you to write this piece about Donald Trump?
I knew, in fact, before Trump even announced that (1) he was going to announce and (2) he was going to be Number One. As a New Yorker, I knew about Trump… In fact, I remember that he wanted to build huge buildings on the West Side and New York had started to be co-opt – and the neighborhood that would have had their sunshine blocked by his development fought him against that and won. I knew he was a showman and I knew he would do well because (and I don’t want to sound snobby) I knew he would appeal to the common denominator. I know a lot of these guys who are going to vote for Trump, I’ll ask them why, and they’ll say they like his cojones.
Did you intend for you article to take him down a peg?
Well, I’ve been following Trump for the last month-and-a-half and everything has been said about him. I figured that my humorous, sarcastic take could get published. I think he might be a dangerous person for our country and, as someone who came from a smaller town, I can see how people like someone who is perceived as being strong. It’s not that they know anything about Trump… I recently had to take a cab in this town by a guy who was literally named Hogwash and, when I found out he was a Trump supporter, I asked him why. He said, “Because he’s very strong and outspoken and will bomb the hell out of the terrorists.”
You take jabs at his sexist attitudes in your article, particularly his obsession with how women look. How do you think Trump supporters will respond to the points that you make about how he objectifies women?
If they’re following him at all, they will know that he is definitely a put-down artist in terms of how people look and has made many nasty comments about females during his campaign. A lot of people in my area don’t give a damn, but intelligent women could not possibly vote for Donald Trump because his only interest in them seems to be in how a woman looks. I would hope that, in this point in our lives, we are beyond just how a woman looks.
What made you decide to bring up your own upcoming project in your editorial?
I remember reading that, when Trump was a younger person, he wanted to be a filmmaker. And when I read his comments, I don’t think he believes a word he says. I believe he’s a showman, a professional celebrity, and my reason for doing this was to draw attention to those facts about him. When I wrote this piece, I wanted to bring a humorous slant to what other people have written about over the past few months.
Photo: Flickr – Michael Vadon/”Donald Trump Sr. at #FITN in Nashua, NH”