This is what I think about celebs:
They're pretty much just regular people. It's just that more people know what they do for a living.
Because we've put them on pedestals, though, they seem otherworldly, but really, they're just regular homo sapiens... well, some more normal than others. Still, so many people worship them like gods and godesses, yet we'd hate to think they have all the complaints that all us regular folks have like indigestion, gas, warts, BO, hay fever, boogers, zits, and such. (I know that it's a no brainer, but from the way that some people go ga-ga over these people, you would think that they sh*t diamonds) I know that some people would find this hard to believe, but *gasp* they most certainly have the same bad morning breath when they wake up on their multi-thousand dollar sheets. Of course, they can afford to pay people a lot of money to try to keep all these things well hidden from our view. If you think about it, they have to because we shine a harsh spotlight on them and we demand our stars to be slim, made up and styled to perfection, whilst flogging ourselves to mental illness for not being as slim or as styled. What a dilemma.
There is a part of me hates the "see the stars without make-up" shots that are out there. Some of the photos are okay and just go to show that they're not as preternaturally beautiful as we've built them up to be. Those decent photos just underscore the benefits of having professional make-up jobs. What bothers me more are the really bad pictures. You know the ones that I'm talking about, the ones that, had you had a picture taken in such unflattering light and looking like death warmed over (and we've all seen pics of ourselves like this), you tear it up and burn the negatives/deleted the files. More often than not, though, those kinds of worst possible pictures are presented as the "normal" pics for the stars. Now, that's just mean, yet there are my people who worship celebrity that will gleefully tear them apart in the media or blogland for looking just like us (or, in the case of a really horrific photo, worse).
One thing that does separate us, though, is the money issue. I certainly don't begrudge the celebs their money because I've come to realize that the reason that they get paid so much is because we're buying their "brand". Do they come across as "cool"? Do we think that they're fun to look at? Lastly, though certainly not always necessary, do we think that they're talented in some way? Then we BUY BUY BUY! We buy tickets to movies and shows, we watch their shows on TV (where advertisers pay handsomely to bombard us with ads for things we don't need), we buy mass produced, Made-in-China merchandise with their pictures or names on them. Companies sooooo realize this and are more than willing to pay astronomical sums so that this person's face is shown next to their product. And we, as a general society, buy into that! Simply amazing. Eh, maybe the money is compensation for not being able to live normal lives. Then again, maybe it's the cause of their not being able to live normal lives.
One more thing that makes me laugh is that, through the media, we've come to think that we know exactly who these people really are. There's one phrase that I've read in umpteen variations that makes me roll my eyes every time and that's when the spouse of a celebrity cheats on them and someone comes off with the comment, "How could they cheat on [him/her]? Just look at [him/her]!" Yeah, okay. Looking at someone and living with someone are two different things. Let's remind ourselves that possessing beauty does not automatically mean that people also possess good personalities or are easy to live with. Besides, what do we really know about these people? We know who they've pretended to be while acting a role or how they've marketed themselves to appear via interviews and publicists, nothing more. They could be really horrible people. Or they could actually be really nice. Until we lived in close contact with them, we know absolutely NOTHING about them. Period.
So, do I worship stars? Nah. Would I want to be one? Nope. Actors/actresses are basically meat puppets with varying degrees of talent, though I have to admit that it sure looks like fun sometimes. Still, acting isn't my thing. I don't have any musical talent, so that rules that out, too. I wasn't born filthy rich, so I can't be a celebutante. None of it matters in the grand scheme of things, though, because giving up having the option of living a normal life would be out of the question. Seeing how celebrities have to live, I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.
Anyway, enough of my blah blah blah....
7 comments:
Unfortunately, that kind of celebrity worship seems to be a part of many cultures, even the one I chose. :) The telling thing for me is how a culture chooses its celebrities and on what basis. If a culture chooses, say, Mother Teresa as a role model and another culture chooses Paris Hilton, that says a lot.
chani-
I had to laugh out loud at what you said about how it tells a lot about a culture by who we've chosen as our role models... in that light, we're doomed! hee hee
I have to wonder just what it is about humans that we feel that we need to idolize the alpha members of society, though it seems that we idolize some who don't quite deserve their alpha status while some who deserve alpha status never achieve it. Hmmm, why is that?
I agree about the ugly photos. When you take into consideration that these people make their living mainly with their appearances, it almost seems like stealing from them to take those photos and publish them. At any rate, it is an unkind thing to do. I have met quite a few famous people and most of them treated me very well and I liked them with very few exceptions.
I used to lean in the direction of celebrity worship till I started to meet some of them as part of my job. In many cases, actors aren't nearly as interesting and 'real' as the characters they play. I generally would rather watch them act than meet them.
seventh sister-
I don't know if it's a reflection on our culture, but so many people worship these people, but will cheer with glee at their imperfections. It really can be quite shocking. Perhaps they don't ever think that these are real people with real feelings.
bernie-
That's funny! I can see where that could be true, too. Well said. :)
You have comments disabled on the recent post of yours. No lols. Just wanted to say how much I love Photoshop disasters.
Will be back in a second to comment on this post. Forgive any confusion.
Let's remind ourselves that possessing beauty does not automatically mean that people also possess good personalities or are easy to live with.
Amen sister, Velvet.
I used to want to be a celebrity so bad when I was young.
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