The Era Of Celebrity

[Zaphod]

I've heard it said, that an era effectively comes to an end when the fundamental illusions attached to it, become revealed and understood.

In keeping with this, I thought I might share this website, as I've known it to shatter illusions faster than a British government. It is odd, that I've known quite a few seemingly intelligent adults who are hung up on celebrity culture. I would have thought people just grow out of that phase naturally but in a lot of cases, apparently not. I've found this website is a simple but effective aid to people getting over this infantile psychosis. Their jaws may drop, they may groan or screech. They may cry long in to the night repeating names of random celebrities in a heart-rending tone of total disillusionment but at the end of the day they will thank you.

And jokes aside, why wouldn't they? .. I'm sure that having large swathes of the populace trying to live up to a physical perfection which, despite the constant propaganda, doesn't actually exist, must be extracting a far higher price on emotional and psychological well-being than most would give it credit for. The embedded video is interesting as well. The bottom line is that man or woman, from a very early age we are of course bombarded with imagery of physical beauty but also, that the imagery depicts someone who doesn't actually exist.

From within the manipulation, the man is never satisfied because his wife doesn't look like these mythical plastic faced, inflatable celebrities. The woman is never happy with herself, for exactly the same reasons. How much happier they might both be if they realised she has just as much chance of looking like a unicorn.

Be sure to watch the embedded video

http://seehere.blogspot.com/2006/08/celebrities-without-makeup.html

 

[luke wilson]

I loved reading your post. :)

Here is a list of celebraties I am currently hang-up on. Lewis Hamilton and Cristiano Ronaldo. Mainly because they represent something I want. Excellence.

 

[Hesper]

Thanks for the link Zaphod, I would highly recommend watching the embedded video to anyone interested in where all these "super-models" come from. It's really short but it packs a punch.

 

[judyanderson12]

Wonderful post, Zaphod. I recently had a discussion with a client about stopping coloring my hair and she maintained that she "did it for her clients." I stopped wearing any make-up, don't color my hair, and, like everything else about myself know that a very big basis of it is because I know we all strive to be authentic and work through PROGRAMMED fears. Thanks for that post (now back to the public with my graying hair and unmade face!).

Jazper

 

[Gimpy]

Any weird obsessions or 'crushes' I ever had with actors or characters went away with EE breathing. Its really good for healing your spirit of those kinds of wounds.

 

[Eongar]

At the time I had idols, but I realized that they are people like me, are not above or below me. Do not put anyone an altar.

 

[JEEP]

This is just too serendipitous! I and my hubby have just returned from watching the movie, It's Complicated with Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, and Steve Martin, still showing at the second run theatre for $2 admission. It was hilarious! The entire theatre was cracking up!! Many good lessons to be learned from this film. The premise:

Jane (Meryl Streep) is a self-reliant divorcée who owns a successful bakery in Santa Barbara, California. After 10 years of separation and three grown children, she finally achieves a good relationship with her ex-husband Jake (Alec Baldwin), a successful attorney who has remarried the much-younger Agness (Lake Bell).

Jane and Jake attend their son Luke's college graduation in New York. A dinner together develops into an affair, making Jane "the other woman". Part of Jane knows it is wrong, since Jake and Agness are still married and trying to have a baby; the other part of Jane relishes being "the other woman" and continues the affair with Jake in Santa Barbara. Jake is just enjoying the clandestine sex and doesn't show much interest in Jane's growth as a person. He however feels nostalgic for the family life he once had with Jane, particularly her cooking, and being close with his children, and wonders if he should be growing old with Jane rather than starting a new family in late middle-age with Agness.

If you think you might want to see this movie, I would recommend not reading any more of the plot or watching the trailer. It is so incredibly funny and the less you know before hand, the better the laughs, IMO.

Now, obviously, Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, and Steve Martin are celebrities, albeit "mature" ones. And that was what was great about the movie. Streep's character Jane is an older woman who becomes the object of desire of not only her ex-husband, but a new suitor as well. Some of the scenes deal with the fact that she doesn't look the same as when she and her ex were last intimate before their marriage hit the skids. Jane is often presented with little or no makeup and less than perfectly coiffed hair. Baldwin's character is also allowed to show the loss of physical robustness. My only problem with the movie is the fact that I had recently watched Shopgirl, in which Steve Martin played the part of a mature, wealthy businessman who acquires a twenty-something mistress. His character in It's Complicated, however, was the opposite, finding rapport with a woman close to his own age.

The movie sparked a conversation between my husband and me about celebrities/models and their looks, both facial and body attractiveness and how many actually look rather plain when not all made up for the screen or photo shoot. I also feel it takes a lot of guts for actresses to play parts that show them looking less than super attractive. So, it was interesting that this was the very first thread I looked at on returning home. I should note that the last time I was star struck was for the Beatles back when I was in junior high. I certainly enjoy and admire actors and actresses who are good at their craft, but I'm not a FANatic about them! It probably isn't the easiest life to live even if many think they have it made.

 

[truth seeker]

I've seen these types of pics before and think they can be good for helping people loosen their grip on physical appearance. What I find interesting though is the Dove ad using this idea to promote a marketing scheme of their own.

 

[luke wilson]

Hmm sorry for reviving an old thread.

Here is a new way of look at fame in our world:

9.105. Visit to the land of the cannibal Cyclopes: Odysseus' crew members are eaten like animals. The grotesque experience in the cyclops Polyphemus' cave repays Odysseus and crew for victimizing others. Polyphemus' name means "much fame," but you don't receive fame, of course, unless you are eaten. (Remember the covenant of the cave, the Paleolithic bargain with the wild animals.)

As for the covenant:

These earliest surviving works of western art typically are concerned with the hunt--and not with the hunters but with the hunted. They are images of victims. Why? The stone age tradeoff with the animal victim was that, in exchange for its meat, hide and bone, it was immortalized by humankind in art. The pictures were painted in underworld galleries where the dead animals could see that people are trustworthy and do nice work.

This art worked like a charm, from the cave-artist's point of view. The artist took credit for successful hunts when the animals vainly flocked in to dinner to have their portraits painted. Restoring the images of these poor beasts, as they had appeared in life, the artist also alleviated the guilt of the diners for killing and devouring their prey. (Yet how much happier the animals must have been, eventually in Neolithic times, to cut a deal with humankind for domestication. They finally got some real benefits, not just human lip service!)

Who wants to be famous now? :D

 

[cubbex]

NOOO Julia Roberts can't be that ugly!!... Me crawls on the floor and with the last sigh breath... no... Alicia... Silverstone :P

That's why I prefer natural beauty and personality, I find too funny that there are people that nearly fall in love for celebrities.

By the way, the video was removed.

 

[cassandra]

You can look that good without make-up when you are about 17!
By the way, I think the the way they pose and pout on the red carpet is absolutely ridiculous. Take a look at the kids (including mine) on Facebook all posing in the same way.

 

[skycsil]

The video was removed.
Some are just as beautiful without make up (ie, Halle Berry) and some are just as creepy be it with or without make up (Madonna!)