07 July, 2010

oh please, i barely lindsay lohaned.

today lindsay lohan was sentenced to 90 days in jail for failing to attend alcohol education classes after she missed a court date. her very public struggle with drug and alcohol related problems has sparked something very odd in me. i honestly thought i would be cheering for her decline, we all like it when pretty people fall. famous attractive successful people is like hitting the hilarious trifecta. we enjoy it all the more. still, this weird popular culture fascination with celebrities concerns me on many levels.

my first instinct is to rant. why the hell do these people have so very many issues? vices that we 'normal' non-famous people don't struggle with nearly as often. yes, some of us have the same addictions but this is a relatively small closed community (the entertainment/music/fashion industries) and it is prevalent. OR at least it seems to be. i think, we don't understand their lives and through the media seek to gain some understanding and/or perspective. we think if we had that perspective we might somehow get how these very talented (or not so talented) wealthy people manage to screw up their lives so royally when we think they have everything so much easier than we do. i mean, these people don't ever have to worry about money and.... well, that is really it.

it was then that i began to get it. lindsay might be rich but, she has the same wants and fears that we all have. self worth, the wish to be loved unconditionally, to matter in the world and later, leave a legacy that has helped the future in some way. we all desire these things. i'm not saying money doesn't make this easier, it most definitely does but her wealth does come at a price. fame. she became internationally famous at the age of 11 yrs and if you have ever read or watched anything about her parents it really is no wonder she has the problems she has today.

a legacy of child stars has taught us that going into the entertainment industry at a young age is not a good idea. yet, people still push their children into it. this thirst for fame is uncontrollable for some. i don't get it. lindsay might not have been old enough to choose this life as a child but that is no excuse for her behaviour now. she could walk away from the spot light, get some help, do a natalie portman and go to school. do something else. but she hasn't and she won't. thus, we all won't be surprised to see her, like so many other famous people with issues, die a premature death. this is goulish!

when heath ledger died last year, the media went nuts trying to get us all the information we needed to fully understand what happened. they gave us, the public, what we wanted then we turned around and called them vultures for doing exactly as we asked. now, i'm not about to go into journalistic ethics (and yes, they do have them, sometimes) but, we should take some responsibility for 1. the news we receive, 2. the insidious way it is procured and 3. the down side of this 'cult of celebrity'. audience models for media analysis are very complicated and boring, by the way. still, what media we consume and why are central to all theories.

i can't say i ever expected to see these words typed by me but, i've got to the point where all this celebrity/social decay has to reflect something in me. i enjoy when pretty people fall, this is wrong. i should never find myself cheering for another persons self destruction. but, hey when the person is famous then it's perfectly acceptable. if it were my friend i wouldn't, even if it were a friend of a friend, i wouldn't. just because i don't know lindsay doesn't make it is ok.

then again, i'm not proposting we go out and sponser a celebrity, to get them back on their feet. but seriously, i think it's enough to simply feel sorry for these people and have just the smallest amount of human compassion. because, not matter what their situation everyone deserves that.

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note - the title of this post is a quote from the tv show 'will & grace'. grace almost faints after feeling sick at a wedding.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

like the not so talented dig! last paragraph is very true. sometimes its easy to forget that celebs r humans too :)

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