The mystery of the twins Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen becomes a documentary

From 1987 to 1995, Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen starred in the series The house partythen from 1998 to 2000 in The twins get involved (and it is only by writing this title today that I understand a play on words that until then had escaped me …), and from 2001 to 2002 in Totally twins. In short, they rocked the childhood of an entire generation in the United States and in all the countries where their series and many films derived from their fame have been exported. Back to the time when we used to watch programs on VHS tape, which we often rewound to watch them in loopand you know them almost by heart, creating a strong bond with these fictional characters.

Add to that the fascinating factor that twinning can represent for many people and you have icons of popular culture.. Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen chose to do it anyway withdraw from small and large screens to silently dedicate themselves to the creation of clotheswith their luxury brand The Row, and another more widely known Elizabeth & James (the names of the other sister and brother).

It is in this context of silent hypernotoriety that the announcement of a new documentary on the Olsen twins may intrigue. Directed by Indo-British director Zara Meerza, Twins will return to Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen’s first rise to fame (they started their acting careers at the age of 9 months!) until today’s media silence.

This documentary decodes how the Olsen twins made their mark in pop culture

Presented by WeTransfer (the platform for sharing digital files via the cloud), this short documentary is already available for free on YouTube from 23 June 2022:

“Since childhood, director Zara Meerza has been fascinated by the Olsen twins and their almost mystical place in pop culture. In this short film, through a series of clips and films from Mary-Kate and Ashley, interviews with women who grew up with them and interviews with pairs of twins, Zara explores the fascination of history for twins and the unique way Mary- Kate and Ashley were indelibly intertwined in the culture. “

And the director hopes she’ll need to produce another, longer one on twinning in general, from her mythological representations of yesterday to those of pop culture today.

How the Olsen twins escaped the traditional fate of former child stars

With the British media Stunnedcontinues the documentary director Zara Meerza Twins to ask questions, in particular, about this very common dynamic of the general public of wondering which person looks most like in a group of people on screen (be it the Kardashian sisters or the characters of Friends).

Is it to facilitate this process that Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen have been so described by the media as being opposite? : the first very feminine, ethereal and lively, while the second more masculine, dark and tormented? (I’m clearly a Mary-Kate.)

Moving from such a public life to such a private life, the Olsen twins continue their career in fashion with rare success for celebrities who launch a brand.as Zara Meerza explains Stunned :

” I don’t think I’ve seen many child stars with their level of fame and success move so gracefully into a second career.. What surprises me most about their ability to do so is that the media largely respect this movement. Personally I think it’s because they’ve already had to give so much of their lives to their fans and that’s part of why there’s a mutual respect there. “

The power of media silence of the Olsen twins

And if the Olsen twins still escape the tabloid bile today, unlike many other former child stars, perhaps it is precisely because they never chose to become famous, continues the director:

” Since they’ve been in the public eye since they were nine months old, it’s hard to blame themselves for truly chasing glory.. Since most of their audience has grown up with them, I think we feel deeply protective of them, and aside from their time at NYU, they seem to have consciously avoided the life of celebrities.

There is so little to take out of context when you live in private and not on social media, here’s why I think their silence and consistency have so much power. It’s also why images of Ashley in the woods with a machete end up in the New York Times rather than gossip sites. Unlike most celebrities, they appear so rarely publicly that we are grateful when they do – we ask for nothing more. “

Front page photo credit: YouTube screenshot of The Twins documentary; Instagram screenshot by @olsenoracle.