Blaze Berdahl is Autumn Blevins: If the Voiceover Actress had Learning and Developmental Disabilities.
The most jarring aspect of Being Special is how beholden the main character, Autumn Blevins, is to her real-life counterpart. For instance, they star in similar television shows and both careers follow the same trajectory. They also inhabit the same neighborhood and, for the most part, pursue the same goals. Well, there is one notable difference. Unlike Blaze, Autumn has learning and developmental disabilities. However, besides that one significant outlier, they are essentially the same.
Of course, this designation of labeling Autumn the same as Blaze, must be tempered with the realization that the author does not know Blaze (I was too young when Ghostwriter initially aired). In fact, I’ve never even met her. So, with that said, what is the basis of basing Autumn on the personality of an individual one has never even encountered? Simple. Autumn is based on the persona that Blaze incorporates when promoting herself to the public.
This personality is not unique to the American experience. It is one based on selfishness and greed. The two most dangerous traits that have fostered a predatory, capitalistic society. Further, Blaze’s persona, which is featured prominently on her website, also highlights another epidemic in the United States. The self-centered egomaniac.
The above paragraph demonstrates this narcissistic attitude. For instance, Blaze claimed to have a longer autograph line than Neil Diamond at Mall of America (presumably during the height of Ghostwriter’s popularity). Despite a dubious claim that is almost impossible to prove, it belies a superiority to other people that is reinforced later in the paragraph. When talking about her contemporaries, Blaze notes that “competing against pageant girls with rollers in their hair and dreams of stardom,” befuddled casting directors when comparing them to the Berdahl sisters. This is meant as a smug criticism against the other young actresses that Blaze was auditioning against. However, it is also a personal attack against the other girls for their physical appearance. Remarkably, Blaze wrote this paragraph as an adult. Meaning that even with maturity and years of hindsight, she still felt it was appropriate to criticize other girls over how they dressed and the way they did their hair.
Blaze’s testimonial also deflects on her own shortcomings as an actress. For example, Blaze mentions that because she, and her sister, were “nonchalant” about the entire auditioning process, they were passed over. That the more superficial actresses with “rollers in their hair” managed to secure these roles because of this very same superficiality. Moreover, Blaze emphasizes that they were more down to earth and would rather be at a “playdate” than dress up. Later on, though, Blaze makes sure to stress that she was still cast in commercials and other television work (according to Blaze’s imdb page, she only made sporadic appearances on television after 1995). This technique to blame others for one’s own shortcomings is a common tactic among those with egomaniacal personalities. It also mirrors the strategy of the former, despotic president, Donald Trump.
The fixation on her own self-image, and nothing else, is most apparent on her Twitter page. On her Twitter description, Blaze states that she is on Twitter for “professional reasons only.” On the surface this appears harmless and is certainly in Blaze’s right to do so. However, it creates a barrier and silences conversation. It infers that the only reason she is in this particular “public space” is to self-promote. Not only is this selfish but it is also another strategy employed by Trump to quell dissent (before he was banned from Twitter for encouraging a white supremacist insurrection at the Capitol).
This is not to infer that Blaze is the exact mirror of Trump or is an expression of his most toxic elements (and it certainly is not an implication that Blaze shares Trump’s hateful worldview). Instead, it’s a microcosm of how innate selfishness has sullied the mindset of many Americans. That a retreat into the “self” is often a barrier to understanding and empathy for others. This is characterized most aptly in the novel, Being Special.
In Being Special, Autumn Blevins is undeniably selfish and single minded. Also, she clearly resents her fans and supporters. In the first chapter, she grumbles about having to attend a horror convention to sign autographs. Later on, she insults someone with a stuttering problem and anxiety. Not to mention, when Autumn is confronted by Meylin about it, she concocts a plan to exploit those with learning and developmental disabilities in an effort to achieve more fame.
Both Autumn, and Blaze, indeed share similar traits (although one is a fictional character). It is also an illustration how ego can overtake one’s public persona for the worse. This article is not meant as a “personal attack” on Blaze but rather it’s meant to emphasize Autumn’s origins as a character. As a warning on the detriments of self-promotion in a capitalistic society.
Blaze has built a very successful career for herself. On her website, one can find all the voiceover commercials she has contributed to. The former child actress can even be heard as an insert during children’s programming.
Just remember that when you hear her voice on Noggin.
Related Articles : Being Special, Chapter 14 (all previous chapters are linked at the bottom of Chapter 14) https://baltimoreraven87.medium.com/being-special-chapter-14-ebf7c4381c99
