just out of sheer curiosity....

[violachic]

Is there anyone left on the earth who actually cares whether or not J. Lo and Ben Affleck actually get married???

Comments

[febrile.livejournal.com]

Not I, said the fly.

I've never heard a song by Ms. Lopez nor seen one of her movies, to my knowledge.

[pheret1.livejournal.com]

I am interested in the same way that I am interested in an asteroid that will hit the earth in the year 2325. I can't do anything about it. It's not going to change my world. I don't know much on that subject, anyway.

but i am hopelessly drawn into any article about it...

[jasenka.livejournal.com]

you.

[violachic.livejournal.com]

I couldn't care less. I'm simply incredulous that it still seems to make headlines on the entertainment page.

[jasenka.livejournal.com]

anything to make money... i feel bad for the people... all they want to do is act.

imagine if the newest craze were accountants and nobody gave them any peace.
:)

[violachic.livejournal.com]

that, actually, I think I would find vastly amusing...

[name-omitted.livejournal.com]

Not quite true. They entertain. They live a fairytale life that we are supposed to enjoy by proxy. The craze is not, nor is it likely to become, accountants because when it comes down to it, there are a lot of accountants in the world, and they seem as ordinary as the rest of us.

Becoming a very successful actor (or politician, for a different reason) is by nature putting yourself in a public light; so much so that you have a change even in legal status. As a “public” figure, they are protected less from libel than the rest of us, and our free speech is expanded with regard to them to allow for parody. On a less solidly defined note, public figures give up their anonymity, and much of their privacy.

Think of it as a part of the job. We love to see fairy tales, so we buy reams of crap from news stands. It is a sign that people can make it, and it is a break from our normal existence; a metaphorical Marti Gras, where the rules that bind us, for awhile, don’t apply.

On the other hand, we love to see that people who live the high life also have problems, and that they do not necessary have it better than us. It becomes a social safety valve for our culture. I may hate my 9-5 job, but I suppose I wouldn’t necessarily have it better if I had it better. Having vacationed in my mind to someplace different, and found that I was not happy there, I am willing to go back to my 9-5, and society can continue.

It is not necessarily “good,” but it is part of the job, and at least Hollywood actors get well paid for it, and chose it somewhat intentionally (although not always fully knowingly). If you want to feel bad for someone, feel bad for the people who did not choose it. We have a tendency to make overnight celebrity out of “ordinary” people who were at the wrong place, wrong time, often when things go very, very wrong. With the eyes of the world watching, such people become public figures, and start getting ripped apart by pop culture or political pundits. It’s the people who did not choose to make themselves public (but become public figures) that really get screwed.

[jasenka.livejournal.com]

are you an actor?

[name-omitted.livejournal.com]

I am a singer, a storyteller, and an interactive entertainer. In all three roles, I sell a certain amount of fantasy. In all three roles, I accept a loss of a certain amount of privacy. You can not enjoy complete privacy and be a public figure. I think someone who intentionally becomes a public figure while assuming that (s)he can maintain complete privacy is naiveté that borderlines on disrespect for their fans, not because their fans deserve to know, but because the performer should have done better research on the way things are.

More to the point, I find it very disingenuous for people who are publicity seekers blaming the media when they get publicity they don’t want. When you are paid as much to get publicity as they are, you take the bad with the good. It is part of the game.

In fairness, I don’t know if the couple who started this conversation are in this category. I don’t actually know who they are, excepting that I think Affleck is an actor, and so made assumptions partially based on your comments. As you said, anything to make money, and they make plenty while playing the game.

[jasenka.livejournal.com]

i disagree with you.

as an actor and a performer i do what i do because i love it, not because it makes me money. i do it because i need it, not because i want people to worship me.
i don't think anyone has the right to take my privacy away. no one has the right to assume that because i do what i do, i don't deserve to have a life. that's presumptuous bullshit, and people who think i don't deserve freedom are bastards in my opinion.

america is sensationalist, and it's people think so highly of their freedom, they are taking it away from themselves.

[name-omitted.livejournal.com]

As a performer I do what I do because I love it. I am hoping to maintain privacy on many levels, I just have no illusions that I will be able to maintain complete privacy, if I become as successful as I intend. If people start worshiping me, I probably did something very wrong.

You deserve to have a life. You deserve to have some privacy. The sad reality is that in the direction we are going, the devil is hiding in the corner with a few details, one of which is publicity means publicity. You can keep your private life to yourself, but only until you cross some invisible, moving line. As long as we are somewhat obscure, we can maintain a private private life (which, contrary to my current argument, means a lot to me). We can be reasonably successful, and do so. To become superstars, however, we need to cross that line, as an inevitable, although unfortunate, step along the way.

America, IS sensationalist. It is that sensationalism that creates and feeds the industry, it is that sensationalism that allows superstars to exist. If we want to ever be that successful, we need to accept that that sensationalism is not only our bane, but our bread and butter as well. Want your privacy? That’s fine, don’t become such a star that you need to be sustained by sensationalism, stay at a level where you can be sustained by skill and a LOT of hard work on your part (I am not implying that being a superstar is not hard work, but they have a lot of people around to pick up the details, and so can focus more closely than the rest of us on what they do).. Ultimately, that is my goal. That being said, in doing so, I will be flirting with my own personal devil, because that line is invisible, is moving, and if I cross it, it is hard to go back.

America is not alone in this, by the way. The Marinnski Theater in St. Petersburg recently suffered a devastating fire that took out a warehouse full of props and costumes, yet the only theater news that is coming out of Russia is the ongoing dispute between Anastasia Volochkova (a ballerina of pop star success in Russia) and the Bolshoi.

[erik]

This knowledge is vital to my well-being. I check the newsstands daily for updates.

Do you believe me?

[violachic.livejournal.com]

not for the life of me