I’ve been looking for an excuse to post more BAFTA photos of Angelina Jolie looking like the goth goddess of my goth teenage dreams. We don’t talk about this enough: Angelina is super-committed to being pale these days. In her 20s, that wasn’t the case. In her 20s, she wasn’t this pale – she went out in the sun, she got tan, she might have even fake-tanned. But throughout her 30s and now into her 40s, she’s just going all in on being pale. I’m into it. I just wish her lipstick was a tad darker here.
Angelina likely flew into London on Sunday, the day of the BAFTAs. I thought maybe she flew right back to LA, but no – as it turns out, she stayed in London because she had to give a lecture for her Masters Course at the London School of Economics. Professor Jolie, educator.
Angelina Jolie is back in the classroom! The 42-year-old Oscar winner gave a seminar Monday to students taking the Masters Course in Women, Peace and Security at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where Jolie is serving as a visiting professor in practice. The class is part of a series of extra-curricular seminars called “Women, Peace and Security In Practice,” which are designed to give students an insight into the realities of working on gender equality in conflict-affected settings.
Besides speaking about her work as an UNHCR Special Envoy and as co-founder of the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative (PSVI), Jolie took questions from the students on everything from the importance of accountability for human rights violations against women in conflict to the link between violence against women and gender inequality.
A source close to Jolie tells PEOPLE, ”She found it very helpful to be able to sit with the students and debate different concerns for women internationally, and different views on ways forward. She hopes not just to be able to teach them, but also to work with them in the months to come, to shape ideas together on ways to improve the global situation for women.”
The mother of six also updated the class on developments on PSVI, the work being done with NATO to strengthen military training and practices; and the work being done to prevent crimes against women and girls and ensure their participation in all aspects of peacekeeping and peace-building.
Jolie has been teaching a master class at LSE’s Centre for Women, Peace and Security since September. The 9-month course, which runs through May 2018, focuses on “the ways in which women and gender are understood in relation to, and affected by, regional, national and global peace and security processes in conflict and post-conflict setting,” according to the school’s website.
With the Jolie-Pitt divorce, a lot of people assumed that Angelina’s professor gig was basically canceled, but as it turns out, she’s been lecturing at the London School of Economics whenever she’s in town. That explains a lot, actually. She’s been stopping over in London a few times in the past few months, and now we know: she’s been giving lectures and leading Socratic-method discussions about women in conflict. How would you feel, as a student, if Professor Jolie walked into your classroom, with her goth beauty and her tattoos and red nails straight from the BAFTAs? I think I would be into it.
Photos courtesy of Joe Alvarez and WENN.
“she’s been lecturing at the London School of Economics whenever she’s in town.”
How does this work? I’ve always had classes that had set schedules. So I’m not sure on the logistics of this. I’ve had a guest lecturer in my course, but that was simply someone who came to give a one day lesson and perhaps also do a larger speech/speaking event on campus that day.
Its probably not a class for credit but an extra credit lecture. Many universities have guest speakers come in and speak on a topic. Sometimes they are even open to the public.
Or it could be that if its a for credit class she is on a schedule with a professor actually supervising the class.
Guys, these are non-credit seminars. There are literally hundreds of these a year at every major British university. This is less a ‘teaching’ and more a ‘speaking’ gig.
Not to take anything away from her, I think she is great, but she also isn’t a ‘professor’, which is not exactly the same thing as it is in the US (in the UK in denotes a fairly senior academic, and the positions are hard to come by).
Yeah, a “Visiting Professor in Practice” isn’t at all the same thing as a Chair (full professorship).
People are gonna be snarky about an actress thinking she knows what she’s talking about and teaching at a university when she doesn’t have much education herself but I’d much rather be taught on women’s problems in war and poverty-stricken areas by a woman who’s been there and seen it all and actually walks the walk than by some white guy with 5 titles to his name whose only experience with women in developing countries is paying for hookers during his annual trip to Bangkok.
“whose only experience with women in developing countries is paying for hookers during his annual trip to Bangkok” Mike drop right there!
Not going to lie I would love the chance to sit in and hear her speak about her experiences.
I totally agree.
There is a third option. Learn from people who lived it. I love Angie, I do think she has a lot to say, but it’s nothing compared to what women can say once they live through poverty and everything that goes with it.
EXACTLY!
I very much agree with this, so I’m hoping they’re ALSO bringing in people who live/lived it to speak as well.
Her experiences are worth them hearing about, but it definitely needs to be presented from many perspectives.
while I agree with both Jojo and you, Milla…I think Jolie herself has learned from people who lived it, so hopefully she’s bringing that aspect to her lectures.
As far as being pale, I’d say this goes along with the overall style trends, no?
I remember when Madonna stopped tanning and turned into Pale Powder Face. Nicole Kidman might be the most famous for cultivating a vampire pale look. I assume the reason these celebs shun the sun is to “preserve their skin” and prevent “ugly” signs of aging. It works, but the trade off is you have to be alabaster white, a tad sickly-looking imho. Hope these ladies are all supplementing with Vitamin D, or their skinny bones are at even higher risk for osteoporosis.
Using sunscreen does not cause vitamin d deficiency.
Some of us are naturally pale. Kinda rude to say we look sickly or are in need of vitamins. I can be out in the sun all day, get burnt, and then have even paler skin once it peels. Tan does not always equate healthy.
@wurstfingers
A spf 50+ sunscreen blocks like 99,9% of UVA rays. You won’t synthesize vitamin D if you never expose your skin to the sun without sunscreen. So yeah, religious sunscreen use can totally give you a vit. D deficiency.
I would say that Angelina is probably more concerned about skin cancer than anything else. This is a woman who comes from a genetically disposed family and had her breasts removed to lower/eliminate breast cancer.
And yet oddly enough she has still been photographed smoking cigarettes….
True. She started smoking way back in the day. As I have never met the woman, I don’t know if she’s a one for when she’s stressed kind of smoker or a pack a day smoker. Quitting smoking is brutal, staying out of the sun is relatively easy to do.
not only style trends, but also the prevalence of skin cancer awareness/prevention.
Sigh. She is not a professor, she is a guest lecturer. Would I sit in on that class? In a heartbeat. But you can’t just lead a discussion in a class and become a professor. She has a lot of real world experience, but so did many of the professors I had in college – in addition to YEARS of academic experience.
This. The academic world is organized on pretty rigid hierarchy, which is organized on both training and achievement.
The ranks are lecturer or instructor, assistant professor, associate professor, professor. AJ would be a guest lecturer.
Agreed, except in the UK we say Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Reader and Professor.
*clapping*
I doubt that she’s showing up at lectures in a backless dress with the tattoos showing, but if she did, so what? I would love to hear her speak about her direct experience regardless of the colour of her nails. She gets a lot of flak about her “boring” fashion choices but I always thought she sticks to her classic, comfortable style and doesn’t give a damn about whether people watching – fans, press, fashion editors etc. – like it or not. It’s one of the things I admire about her – she goes on doing what she values and enjoys. Good on her. Wonder if there will be video available of her lectures, that would be so cool.
I have no doubt there will be a lot of snarky comments in regards to this and my response to those is (same as it is in real life), you wanna b*tch about it, then you better be playing a better game. She actually works to make the world a better place, most of us sit on our asses and b*tch about it while doing nothing (I include myself in that). Like her or not, she is walking the walk while she talks the talk.
+ 10000000
She does a lot of good in the world, but she is not a professor.
Is that snark? No, just facts.
She is not an academic professor and this has been confirmed by our UK celebitches. I think Eden is talking about the weird snark on her trying to you know, just talk about an important issue. How dare she. Eden, correct me if I’m wrong.
You’re not wrong, that is what I meant.
Growing up, my best friend was from Cambodia, in fact, her family was the last family on the last boat that came to Canada. The story of their leaving the country is long and horrible. I am glad that she is bringing awareness to parts of the world and the issues in those countries to people who may not know what happened and may not even know about them without someone like her talking about it.
she isnt a professor – there are people who are invited to speak at universities as they are experienced enough to talk about a subject. she is there for that reason – if people want to nitpick and find fault then blame the university. she was invited and went there to tell students who have no idea how it is like from her point of view.
Haha. My father, brother, and husband attended LSE and they all have the same harsh opinion when it comes to Jolie’s ‘professor’ gig. You might think people ‘sit on their asses’ and do nothing because you are the same, but my family certainly doesn’t. This line of attack by Jolie fans is so funny!
You’ll note the word most, not all. I like her movies, I don’t know the woman from Adam to have an opinion on her personally.
I’m glad that your family works to help, that’s great. I was making a comment on how people who seem to have a hate on for her would react to this.
if you dont like angelina then that is your opinion. blame the LSE for inviting her then instead of bashing her for speaking about her experience being with the un for more than 20 years – seems more like a personal attack at her rather than listening to what she is talking about
as a naturally pale person who doesn’t like to be out in the sun, I don’t see pale skin as ‘goth’ or ‘vampire-y’. I also appreciate that you have to take care of your skin if you are pale, as redness, blotches, etc show up strongly on pale skin and sometimes tanner skin can hide imperfections.
i think lots of people look great both tanner and paler, but I think Jolie is just so damn gorgeous that the pale skin really shows off her eyes, hair color and makeup.
I’m just here to say how beautiful she looks with the strong eye and paler lips. And those earrings!
I feel…. Ambiguous…. I really like her, she is a fascinanting woman who has seen and been in many places, and no doubt, her clases are truly interesting. But, I would prefer a real professor, one with true académic. knowledge, experience and a title in that field. I just feel this is just a publicity stunt for the LSE, and one not needed, considering it is one of the best…
I do not need privileged hollywood stars (even when they have the right intentions) giving lectures….
*Edit for typos.
On the one hand, celebrities like Angelina Jolie bring much needed attention and donations to causes and people who desperately need both. On the other hand, it is difficult for me to totally support this sort of academic speaking gig. In my work with refugees, asylees, and displaced persons, I learned much more from talking directly with them. Very often the priorities and interests of the people in charge of protection and resettlement (like UNHCR and IOM) differ wildly from what the people themselves consider important and necessary. What seems like good ideas at the time can sometimes have very bad unintended consequences. In my personal experience the best outcomes were achieved when the affected individuals were encouraged to brainstorm solutions to their problems and then empowered to implement the changes they wished to see. Rarely did I see the same results when outside policy wonks and bureaucrats (many with at least mild savior complexes) showed up and insisted that they knew what was best for all involved.
As committed as Angeline Jolie is to visiting refugee camps and trying to effect meaningful change to help women, at the end of the day that is NOT HER LIFE and it never will be. She will never truly know what it feels like to run for your life, give up everything you hold dear – your country, your family, your friends, etc. – and start over in an unfamiliar place with next to nothing. I sincerely hope LSE is also inviting women who have actually survived the refugee resettlement process and/or sexual violence to speak to their students about their experiences and their ideas for improving protection systems around the world.
@BEARCATLAWYER…..thank you 100000% for everything you’ve said. I come from the very situation you’ve described and it was a very long, difficult and fearful road getting to where I am now.
The needs and fears of poverty stricken nations differ based on gender and I can assure you that every bad and evil thing that can exist in an evil world lays violently at the doors of the women in these circumstances. You are preyed upon by outside international saviours in disguise and people of your own society. You are never too weak, sick or disadvantaged to be preyed on. Whatever your worst nightmare as a woman is, multiply that imagination by an exaggeration and that is someone else’s day.
Yes shelter, healthcare and such are much needed, but a woman’s security in those circumstances is the HIGHEST of priorities in my experience. And the thing is, no matter how often you state this, the response you get is….”yes but first something to eat” or “yes but first this or the other” because people with a saviours complex already believe they know what you need and they insist on it.
I’m not saying this is Jolie, but I’m supporting @BEAR’s position that it is important to speak directly to those who have lived through this and also to get these students to visit hostels and safe houses to personally meet these people in their own environment! Speak to the people involved in the actual transition from one situation to another. There are such places in London.
I’d definitely go to her lecture…but i heard that lecture she did for bbc radio 4 a while ago and then Q +A afterwards and i was disappointed. I don’t know if she was super nervous about saying something that would be too controversial but it was like she couldn’t really string a thought together. Lots of rambling without a point. Maybe she’s better scripted.
There’s nothing wrong in preferring real academic professors. They are still around and I’m sure most of their lectures are the ones you have to attend to graduate. My point is Jolie’s guest lecture is not intended to take over these lectures and replace academic professors. So I’m not gonna be all ‘she’s not a real lecturer and her perspective is not valuable’. I’ll say it again: she could be like any celeb who is not obligated to do what she has been doing and just enjoy her wealth and privilege. Heck I myself would be just like any other celeb attending red carpets and fashion week only. But the extra that she does to (diligently for 10 years) shed light on her chosen world issues is still admirable and I don’t think her aim is to claim superiority over other advocates who are on the ground day to day. Anyway this is another way for her to learn to speak about her issues. I can’t really fault someone for trying to learn and hone a skill, especially at her age. Perhaps actors are even worse at presenting because they are used to being scripted. Some academics are horrible at presenting, some are awesome.
I would love to hear what she said. She has laid on eyes on the situation.