Diamonds have been coveted gems for over 3,000 years, and are prized as tokens of glamour, resilience and luxury. They are also, of course, deeply symbolic of the enduring power of romantic love. But in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries their appeal has been further enhanced by the way they have made their way into the popular culture through books, films and music, and sometimes in the most surprising ways.
Music
In a classic song from the wonderful 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Marilyn Monroe summed up what many women had long known: ‘Diamonds are a girl’s best friend’. Dripping with the gemstones – including a 25.95 carat canary diamond – and dressed in a stunning hot-pink strapless evening dress, the starlet embodied the glamour and sex appeal of Hollywood in the 1950s. The lyrics primarily speak of female independence, and that – unlike some men – you can always rely on diamonds. It also emphasises the way that diamonds enhance a woman’s style and confidence.
The darker side of diamond fame is featured in Kanye West’s Diamonds from Sierra Leone and Prince’s Diamonds and Pearls. In the former, West discusses how empty he has started to find the constant striving for money and recognition in the music business.
“I was sick about awards, couldn’t nobody cure me, Only playa that got robbed but kept all his jewellery.”
In the latter, Prince sings of the vacuity of relying on possessions alone to make you content.
“If I gave u diamonds and pearls, Would you be a happy boy or a girl?”
The sparkling, iridescent nature of the gemstone is beautifully captured in Rhianna’s 2012 hit Diamonds. In this chart topping number, the star sings about being lit-up and empowered by love.
“When you hold me, I’m alive, we’re like diamonds in the sky”
And in his beautiful 1986 song Field of Diamonds, the country legend Johnny Cash also sang of his sense of awe at looking at the stars in the black night sky.
“Silent beauty shining high. Are you tears the angels cry?”
Movies
Just how did Cary Grant always manage to look to impossibly suave? In Alfred Hitchcock’s 1955 movie To Catch a Thief, the British-born actor plays reformed jewel thief John Robie who sets out to clear his name after being accused of a string of diamond robberies from a series of high-class hotels on the French Riviera. Of course he proves his innocence – and wins the heart of his leading lady.
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A set of five films that ran from 1963, The Pink Panther comedies saw the bumbling Inspector Clouseau, played by Peter Sellers, try to return the priceless ‘Pink Panther’ diamond to its rightful owner. Why the name? Well, it was so-called because legend had it that if you stared at the gemstone for long enough, it was possible to see a moving panther.
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In the 1971 movie Diamonds are Forever, James Bond, played by Sean Connery, finds out that the evil villain Blofeld is amassing gems for use in his deadly laser satellite. Bond enlists the help of elegant diamond smuggler Tiffany Case, played by Jill St John, to foil Blofeld’s wicked plan. It was left to Shirley Bassey to belt out the opening title track.
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Marathon Man, made in 1976, is guaranteed to put you off going to the dentist for life.A history graduate, played by Dustin Hoffman, gets caught up in an international conspiracy involving stolen diamonds and sadistic Nazi war criminal/dentist Dr. Christian Szell, play by Laurence Olivier. The scene that will literally set your teeth on edge is when Szell tortures the student by forensically probing, scraping and finally drilling down into his teeth whilst repeatedly asking the question, “Is it safe?”
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Based on a real life – and still unsolved – diamond heist in London, the 2008 movie The Bank Job is the story of a robbery that unwittingly exposes secrets that could embarrass leading members of the British establishment.
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About as realistic as you can get, Michael Mann’s 1981 film Thief was also based on an actual gemstone robbery, and was written by a burglar who was actually serving time in prison during production.
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The 1988 film A Fish Called Wanda is best known for the hilarious scene where John Cleese’s character ‘preserves his modesty’ with a photograph when some flat tenants turn up unexpectedly. However, the plot actually centres on a diamond theft gone wrong.
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Books
The deep, and mixed, prophecy attached to the world-famous Koh-i-Noor diamond is found in a fourteenth century Hindu text.
“He who owns this diamond will own the world, but will also know all its misfortunes”.
But, in contemporary fiction at least, book plots usually focus on individuals who have a wish to find the gemstones at all costs, sometimes to the point of obsession. In H. Rider Haggard’s King Solomon’s Mines, an adventure story set at the height of the British Empire, explorer Allan Quatermain is determined to find the site of King Solomon’s legendary diamond mines in Africa.
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Wilbur Smith’s The Diamond Hunters is also set partly in Africa. It is an epic tale of the love, hate, betrayal, and rivalry in a family gemstone business.
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One of the twentieth century’s most revered writers, F. Scott Fitzgerald, also uses diamonds, and those who covet them above all else, as emblems of the rapacious greed of Jazz era America in his works. These include The Diamond as big as the Ritz, and The Great Gatsby.
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by Australian Diamond Brokers : September 29th 2015 Come visit our store or browse our website to find out more.