By David in TN and Nicholas Stix
Marcia Clark is still failing upward. Her “mystery novels” full of PC pap don’t sell very much. Now TNT has optioned the Rachel Knight character for a TV series.
N.S.: So, this woman has made millions of dollars, and continues to make millions, based on:
1. Her refusal to give up her delusion that black women like her;
2. Her defeat in a high-profile murder case;
3. Her feminist politics; and
4. Her literary incompetence.
Let me go Medieval for a moment.
I suppose that everything can be reduced to #1, since once she held on to her delusion, everything else was gravy. Causally, however, everything can be reduced to her feminism, which was the source of her delusion, and likely her position as prosecutor, as well.
[Previously, at WEJB/NSU:
“O.J. Simpson Prosecutor Marcia Clark Writes a Mystery Novel”;
“Marcia Clark Embraces the Dark Side”;
“Failed O.J. Simpson Prosecutor Marcia Clark’s Second Mystery Novel Tanks”;
“Marcia Clark: The Reading Public Will Not Support Writers of Realistic Crime Fiction; It is Only Excited by Stories of PC, Feminist Detectives and Prosecutors (Like Her!) Pursuing White, Heterosexual, Male Serial Killers”; and
“O.J. Simpson Prosecutor Chris Darden: Lead Defense Atty Johnnie Cochrane Tampered with Glove, Prior to Dramatic Courtroom Demonstration.”]
During the O.J. Simpson trial, I became interested in the history of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office. I have read everything on the subject I could find and have even corresponded with two former members of the office.
ReplyDeleteMembers of the office often refer to themselves as "DAs" rather than "prosecutors."
A book that those intersted in the subject should read is "The D.A.," by Lawrence Taylor (a former member of the office, not the football player). This book follows a Deputy DA around during 1991-92 and shows the culture of the office. There are vignettes of many Deputy DA's. The one of Clark is very revealing.
Marcia Clark joined the office in 1981. The Front Office had their eye on her (a female they could promote and showcase) from the start. She was assigned as second chair to one of the top attorneys, Harvey Giss for several years. In 1989, she was assigned to the Special Trials unit, which usually got the high profile trials.
In 1993, after putting the Mt. Olive Church killers on death row, she became part of management. She was constantly being promoted even though, she claimed, the men were "afraid of a strong babe like me."
In 1994, she asked to go back into Special Trials. About this time, the Simpson case broke. The other deputies in Special Trials were either in trial or about to start one. Detective Vanatter asked Clark to look over their work and she never left the case. Clark got the Simpson case by default.
Garcetti seems to have felt taking Clark off the case would get him in trouble with the feminists.
Although her efforts were almost universally panned and she lost the case, Clark received a 4.2 million dollar book contract. She's hung on as a Grade C celebrity ever since.
David In TN
Marcia Clark seems to have hit the ceiling in her Failing Upward trajectory. She's had four Rachel Knight novels published but none are listed (on Amazon or Barnes and Noble) for this summer. Her contract has apparently run out.
ReplyDeleteMediocre sales and ho-hum plots seem to have ended her run as a novelist.
TNT seems to have filmed one of her novels but hasn't shown it.
Well, Marcia Clark has written something this year. She contributed a Forward to a new edition of Meyer Levin's "Compulsion."
ReplyDeleteThe Simpson Miniseries, which is shaping up as an apologia for the verdict, has continued Marcia Clark's Upward Failure. There are stories calling her a feminist icon.
ReplyDelete