Imagine one of the best times you had with your friends and family; your partner or colleagues. Imagine the stories you told one another. The laughs you shared; the embarrassments, fears, anxieties, and inconvenient truths — all while setting the world to rights.
Now, compare that to the last celebrity interview you saw on a TV talk show. The inane anecdotes involving people you don’t know or at least think you know. The polite laughter of the host and the other guests, as well as the obligated approval of the audience. The preconceived opinions and complete lack of insight on any subject that even comes close to important. The phoniness of it all.
This is not news, of course; celebrity culture has always been shallow and phoney. To quote Dorothy Parker, ‘… the Thames, I hear, remains as damp as ever in the face of these observations.’ Yet why do we continue to devote so much time and discussion to it when we know how superficial it is? News stories, magazine articles, Youtube channels and podcasts all devoted to doing exactly that.
Because we’ve been made to believe there is no alternative. That our humdrum lives can’t possibly match up to the jet set lifestyle of the beautiful people. It’s something we are expected to worship and — most crucially — want for ourselves (I’m reminded of that hideous word ‘aspiration’). To feel inadequate when compared to it as that is how you’re supposed to feel. You too can look as beautiful as the people on your screen so why don’t you buy everything you can to make that possible, yeah? And it’s fun… for a while.
Hollywood, while having always been a cesspit of corruption and backscratching, with moneymaking taking precedence above all else, at least had some genuine glamour and star power during its ‘golden age’. Now, it’s completely, shamelessly hollow, with endless remakes, sequels, franchises, marketing, and publicity cycles to deaden the mind and dull the senses. Now, an American actor from a remake of a British TV show endorses CIA propaganda in his barely watched Amazon Prime series.
The jig is up for Hollywood and, perhaps, celebrity culture in general. We’re bored with these people. They have nothing left to offer us. If it’s not soul-curdling quarantine singalongs it’s absolutely vile presidential voting campaigns. If either of these two things have taught us anything it’s that, even during a pandemic, celebrities can’t deal with being ignored by the masses. Without our attention these people will just cease to exist. Amazing to think we actually have that power in our hands, no?
People have grown tired with the shallow politics and ideologies of a bunch of overpaid, self-involved millionaires, the vast majority of whom have — would you believe? — very little understanding of politics and world events. It’s not entirely surprising given it’s a quick and easy way to buy some small measure of credibility and appear to have some depth when you really have none.
The mainstream culture is splitting off into all different directions now. People you’ve never heard of can have millions of followers on social media accounts and there’s a variety of niche interests to be catered to on any number of outlets. Dare I say, the rise of reality TV over the past couple of decades is in tune with a preference for seeing ‘ordinary folk’ and their far more relatable antics — even taking the scripting of these shows into consideration. Not that the celebrity culture surrounding these isn’t every bit as loathsome but I have to admit some small pleasure in them exposing just how venal Hollywood must be without its carefully crafted PR glean.
Actors, pop stars, and even writers being paid obscene amounts of money to be held up and worshipped like gods is something that needs to be over in our society. Our art and culture should be something that ennobles us, speaks to our humanity and lived experience — both personal and shared — and inspires us to do good and, ultimately, benefit the collective. Not a consumer dystopia of fame and money for fame and money’s sake.
Think of all the most personal styles of expression and creativity that inspired countless more: Blues, Gospel, Rock n’ Roll, Punk rock, Hip Hop, Dance, stand-up comedy, Anime, Manga, independent movies, short films, documentaries, podcasts, Youtube videos, blogs, memes, GIFs and so on. Before many of them were inevitably bought up and sold off as commodities, they meant something to the people that made them and those who were moved enough to respond.
So, let Hollywood go down in flames. The only culture that matters is the one we make for ourselves.
