Well, maybe hate is too strong a word. But I don't think there's one word for "find relentlessly tiresome". Well, the Germans or the French probably do. Can't remember the last movie I liked, much less loved, that had someone that Entertainment Tonight or the tabloids go ga-ga over in it. I like real actors. Michael Cain, Peter O'Toole, Gene Hackman, Anthony Hopkins, Ian Mkellan, James Woods, Judy Dench, Johnny Depp, Jack Nicholson, Robert Deniro, Harvey Keitel, Bob Hoskins, Jodie Foster, Richard Dreyfus, Al Pacino, John Malkovich, Jermey Irons, Marlon Brando when he was alive. Y'know, real goddamned actors. They do their art, and they keep to themselves. Not these fuckin movie stars. Really, I can't think of the last movie I enjoyed that had these tabloid star/starlet twits in 'em. Eeew, Brangilna! Eeew, Tomkat. Fuck 'em. They suck. Pampered gitzy douchebags. Put it another way, did you ever watch an Angelina Jolie movie even a really decent one, that made you go "wow, I'm really really glad I watched that!". Course you didn't. It's like Hot Pockets. You get it into your gullet, you poop it out, it's gone, you forget about it. Tom Cruise is capable of some good performances, but did a Tom Cruise movie ever change your life? Really? Come on. I watch a movie like Taxi Driver, it massages my goddamned soul with Icy Hot. Movie stars are junkfood. Give me the real shit, man. Call me an eletist, I don't give a shit. I don't see it as eletism, it's just the standard we should have. And fine, there aren't enough masterpieces to go around to fill our time, watch the junkfood movies if they lift you up for a little while, I do; but to elevate these people to royalty, and aspire to be these people? Yuck. That's when I worry for our fucking values. Gets so discouraging. Another thing that's discouraging, all these real actors I mentioned? They're a dying breed. By the time I'm in my mid 40's a lot of these folks are gonna be gone. And who's coming to take their place? Fuckin no one. Really, who are we gonna have? Linsay friggin Lohan? Ugh. Damn. But I dunno, someone could surprise us. Look at Tom Hanks, y'know? Buut, it just ain't lookin good. Eh, no ending for this rant, so I'll just cut it off I guess.
I would not mind if the celebrities achieved their fame by at least DOING something. Look at Marilyn Monroe. She was a hot blond. She slept around. Did drugs. Consorted with powerful people. Like lots of celebrities today. But she was also an actress who head and shoulders above the average blond babe we see in the news so often today.
BTW, just why is Paris Hilton a celebrity anyway? What sets her above the rest of the "pretty daughters of rich families" pack? And what's the deal with Daisy Fuentes? (for example).
I dunno, I just remember one day on E! some toothy grinning bimbo tabloid hostess saying "her name is Paris Hilton, and you're going to be hearing a lot about her in coming months! ". And this is just before "The Simple Life", hit. It's like she was just GONNA be famous whether we liked it or not.
celebs are the modern version of valium - a soothing exit from reality and drudgery for a while. britneys certainly becoming the goddess of chavs, after all going out pissed sans knickers, whilst leaving a oddly named child at home is the province of the not-working class, britney just does it on a larger scale.
Paris exists to make the rest of us feel superior. Most of the 'slebs' fulfill the same function, as opposed to real actors, who move us. Good point about Tom Hanks though. I remember the days when he was spoken of in the same breath as Steve Guttenberg...
This is called "good management." It's all about the PR, all about the marketing. It's the same way a book you've never heard of by an author you've never heard of ends up on the Times bestseller list six weeks before you can find it in a bookstore.
*Flashback of Richard Rush demonstrating this principle by unsuccesfully trying to stuff a triple decker cheeseburger with a "The Stuntman", logo toothpicked onto it into a single decker cheeseburger wrapper representing "generic movie"*
Great list, though I'd replace Johnny Depp with Robert Duvall and Richard Dreyfus with Meryl Streep. And if we're adding actors that have passed away, there are many more to add to the list.
IMHO celebrity status has been a matter of selling a product as opposed to a specialist individual to the masses in recent years. Nowadays it tends to be image and lifestyle that people buy into, rather than talent as such. I think it's mainly based on sex being the product, which is why you get a lot of 'perfect' people on the covers of glossy mags and in the news. And the demand is obviously there, sex seems universally to be the number 1 interest generator. People like looking at attractive people It's a lot easier for people to 'get' an image now, and more avenues of propaganda than in years gone by. This means you have more fame hungry young 'uns jockeying for position, resulting in the glut of similar people thinking that they're different. Unfortunately, the by-product of this means it's harder for say a brilliant but dumpy actress to gain enough steam to actually go anywhere, whereas those that can generate $$ get pushed forward in a mass marketing blitz.
