Separating Celebrities From Their Image

[vodkafan]

Hi, just an idea I had for a thread and didn't know where to put it....the title doesn't explain it very well. I was thinking about why we like certain people and help them get famous just from what we see on screen, which may be nothing what they are really like.

For instance, take Arnold Schwarzenegger. I can't help it I really like most of his films. He is good on screen. Yet in real life he has not been a person I can admire, especially in his attitude to women.

Lady Gaga. Are we supposed to buy her music just because of her political stance on things? Because her music has really gone downhill In my opinion.

And Michael Jackson. He may or may not have been a peaedophile, I don't want to get into that. It is easy to despise Jonathon King or Gary Glitter, their music was forgettable anyway, but I can't help liking some of Jackson's early tunes. Yet I feel a bit guilty listening to them.

Don't know where I am going with this really.

I guess it is that, if we like somebody for the product they represent, are we being shallow?

Edited July 28, 2012 by vodkafan

[Kylie]

I understand where you're going with this. It's funny you should bring it up because I've been thinking about it (or something similar) myself in the past few days. In the lead up to the Olympics, there have been minor controversies here with athletes whinging about one thing or another.

 

I'm always disappointed when I find that authors whose work I love were not very nice people. This especially involves classic authors, who were sexist, racist etc, although I try to cut them a little slack given they were a product of their times. Hunter S Thompson is a more recent example; I love his work but don't think I like him much as a person.

 

Then there's Charlton Heston, one of my favourite actors, who was the president of the NRA for years, and I don't advocate people having guns unless absolutely necessary.

[poppy]

Whether or not I like actors or celebrities depends largely on who they are as people. Tom Cruise gets right up my nose because of his ridiculous Scientology views on childbirth and child rearing. And like you Kylie, I sometimes get disappointed that some of my favourite authors are not quite the people I thought they were.