Greta Garbo & The Garbo Mystique

6 Pages 1579 Words

Greta Garbo

Greta Garbo introduced subtle sexuality to the world of Hollywood, and figured out that celebrity life isn’t all what it’s said to be.
Greta Garbo was born in Stockholm, Sweden with the name Greta Lovisa Gustaffson. Greta was born into a poor family who faced many hard times when her father, Karl, died when Greta was only fourteen. She was forced to quit school, and started out as a “lather girl” for a local barbershop, but then later began working at a department store. Greta was in two promotional films, one, “How Not to Dress” for the department store, and “Our Daily Bread” for a bakery. In 1922, she was accepted into Royal Dramatic Theater Academy, and was cast by Mauritz Stiller in The Saga of Gosta Berling. On November 9, 1923, Greta officially changed her name to “Greta Garbo”.
The Torrent was Garbo’s first American film, and turned out to be a smashing success. Greta’s second film, The Temptress, was when she gained the reputation of being a vamp. Her early characters most often had to die, but sometimes she had to make wrenching sacrifices other than the main one. But she was always a serious, intelligent, sympathetic character. The vamp destroyed men, and laughed to see them beg for her love. Greta was not actually a vamp though, she was very furious with this new vamp personality that was brought upon her.
Greta showed the American public that feminine sexuality was compatible with intelligence. During the 1920s, flappers still attracted scorn, but Garbo helped convince millions of American women that the sexual idea was not a man’s privilege. She showed that women were allowed the right to have passionate needs and desires.
In 1927, Garbo began the film Love, which co-starred John Gilbert. John and Greta had a relationship off screen, or at least there was a rumored one. Gilbert proposed three times, but Garbo refused each time. Greta stated, “There are ...