Cybill Shepherd Article Analysis

This article is very descriptive and engaging. The opening paragraph, which depicts Cybill's demeanor during the interview immediately grabs your interest and makes you want to keep reading. I liked how the article went back and forth from present moment of the interview to telling about her life. Normally, this technique would probably lose the reader but the writer of this piece goes back and forth seamlessly.

I think that it is the subject of this article in particular that makes it so engaging, because it shows the many sides of Cybill Shepherd. The details of her winning the science fair and setting the district record for the long jump show that she is not just a pretty-faced actress, but that she's a well-rounded, intelligent woman, who happens to act. I think this article has a great deal of universality, since everyone has many dimensions. We are all complex and hate to be put in just one box.

I think the details about Cybill's apartment add a nice approachable touch that one might not expect in a story about a well-known celebrity. The fact that it is "furnished with little more than a few director's chairs...a dhurrie rug on the dinning room floor,...and a small dining room table" makes one feel a familiarity with Cybill Shepherd, like she could be someone you know, not a rich, spoiled celebrity.

The only thing that bothered me slightly was the fact she is almost always referred to as "Cybill Shepherd" and hardly ever referred to as Cybill in the article, which I thought sent mixed signals. One the one hand, the story is depicting her in a very down-to-earth way, yet it usually names her in a formal way, which I didn't really like. Plus, it's not like we are going to forget who we're reading about. Overall, however, I thought this piece was very interesting and well-written.