Author Topic: This makes me sad...  (Read 7521 times)

Offline JCinNYC2006

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Re: This makes me sad...
« Reply #20 on: April 25, 2006, 02:03:31 pm »
Good point, but again, are we parasites as well?  Or is the relationship symbiotic in some ways?

I chuckled to myself at seeing this thread right up against the one called Jake and His Family.   :laugh:

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Offline YaadPyar

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Re: This makes me sad...
« Reply #21 on: April 25, 2006, 02:09:07 pm »

Good point, but again, are we parasites as well?  Or is the relationship symbiotic in some ways?


Well - if you area a consumer of this kind of media, you are feeding the parasites as well.  If their host provides nothing, they will die.  If no one bought photos and mags, etc., they wouldn't still be around.  I have a subscription to People and Entertainment Weekly.  They do provide Entertainment/Celebrity news, but I think they are fairly respectful of their subjects, and are a huge part of the promo cycle for entertainment, so there's a symbiotic relationship.

Other stuff - Ted Casablancas for example - I don't know how that's ever ok.
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Offline wtbgirl

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Re: This makes me sad...
« Reply #22 on: April 25, 2006, 03:02:35 pm »
There's no easy answer.  On the one hand, if you want to be a sucessful working actor, you need a widespread fan base - and ergo fame comes with it (along with, I must note, MILLIONS of dolllars).  Let's face it, for the most part, most actors barely etch out a living - rich movie star sounds like the better alternative to me, over starving actor.  UNLESS you fall into the almost perfect in-between niche by making a living being what I call "THAT GUY" - that is, the true working actor you see in a MILLION films but never know who the guy (or girl) is - paparrazzi scum is part of the deal.  (Kevin Spacey was a THAT GUY years ago.  Same with Philip Seymour Hoffman until fairly recently.   I would say a guy like William Fichtner remains a "THAT GUY" to the majority of the public.)  So to a degree this is the price one pays for fame and fortune.

Both sides of the argument have validity.   Jake chose to be a movie star, and to a DEGREE, should be willing to put up with these scumbags (and believe me, I think these paps are parasites as well).  Believe me, there are hundreds of formerly famous actors in the "has-been" Hollywood dustbin that would KILL for a second chance at fame.

Having said that, on the flip side, it irritates me to no end that these parasites have relentlessly trolled around the West Village and Soho, day after day, looking for Jake.   I was in the West Village the other day, and for the first time in the 15 plus years I have been here, I saw 3-4 paps roaming around with telephoto lenses.  I knew who they were looking for - and honestly, as a New Yorker, I felt disgusted and invaded - like the city was overrun by bugs - LOL (believe me, it already is at times!)   I guess when Jake first arrived here in NYC, I was OK with the first, second day photos - he's visiting, big family news, etc. etc., there is some reason to take a photo - but these loser paps have just NOT stopped - and it's been TWO weeks.   Believe me, I'm no saint, I enjoy seeing Jake - but I do think a line was crossed at some point here.  Enough is enough. 
   

Offline ednbarby

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Re: This makes me sad...
« Reply #23 on: April 25, 2006, 04:38:54 pm »
I learned what I think to be a valuable lesson one day about 10 years ago.  Ed and I went to see what was then called the Lipton tennis tournament in Key Biscayne.  Andre Agassi was playing.  He was married to Brooke Shields at the time.  We were lucky enough to score seats in the box right in front of hers - they were owned by a tennis partner of Ed's whose wife was a big promoter at the tennis venue.  We got there before his match started.  As he came out to warm up, Brooke was being seated behind us.  I know this because *everyone* in our box (I swear, I did not know any of them - we were using Ed's tennis partner's tickets) and the boxes around us *stood up* and turned around just to gawk at her.  Mind you she was only about 10 feet behind us.  Ed and I refused to stand up or turn around.  He leaned over to me and said "I'll be God-damned if I'm gonna make a jerk of myself like these numbnuts."  I said, "I'm with you, baby."  So that was our silent protest.  On top of that, two stragglers came in while Andre was still warming up and all the hoopla of her arrival had died down.  Both women, they started talking really loudly to this affect:  "Ooh - I wonder if Brooke is here!  She's probably over on the other side.  Do you think she's pretty?  I think she's kind of horsey.  Yeah.  I don't know what he sees in her, really."  I turned around and said quietly to them, "You might want to keep it down.  She's sitting *right* behind you."  They turned around and glanced at her and turned back around beet red.  It wasn't that I gave a damn about them embarrassing themselves - I just didn't think she should have to hear that crap on top of the previous gawking.

This is what I came away with that day, but I think I already knew it:  Celebrities DO NOT OWE US ANYTHING except the best job they can do at whatever their particular art form is on any given day.  And honestly, I don't even think they owe that TO US - I think they owe it to themselves.  We're just lucky enough to get to be along for the ride from time to time.  I know I'm gonna catch royal shite for this - we pay all this money to see their movies, go to their concerts, look at magazines in which they model or advertise products, blah, blah, blah.  It's part of the price of their fame, yada, yada, yada.  I don't buy it.  Do I like looking at the cute Jake pictures?  Sure.  Would I be heartbroken if they disappeared off the face of the planet tomorrow?  No.  Some will say magazines like Us Weekly and People and OK exist because we the public demand them.  Bullshit.  They exist because the owners of the companies that make them know that if they put that crap out there, people will buy it.

As Victoria said, it's one thing to do publicity for the film or record or book you're selling and to go to photo shoots to promote your latest project.  THAT is part of the job.  Being dogged by paparazzi is not.  It helped kill Princess Diana, for Godssake.  How far does it have to go before people recognize that not only is it ugly and unnecessary, but it's criminal?

Needless to say, I don't blame any of these folks when they get pissed off about it and say enough is enough.  It surprises me, generally, that it takes some of them as long as it does.
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Offline littleguitar

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Re: This makes me sad...
« Reply #24 on: April 25, 2006, 05:44:32 pm »
Quote
This is what I came away with that day, but I think I already knew it:  Celebrities DO NOT OWE US ANYTHING except the best job they can do at whatever their particular art form is on any given day.  And honestly, I don't even think they owe that TO US - I think they owe it to themselves.  We're just lucky enough to get to be along for the ride from time to time.  I know I'm gonna catch royal shite for this - we pay all this money to see their movies, go to their concerts, look at magazines in which they model or advertise products, blah, blah, blah.  It's part of the price of their fame, yada, yada, yada.  I don't buy it.  Do I like looking at the cute Jake pictures?  Sure.  Would I be heartbroken if they disappeared off the face of the planet tomorrow?  No.  Some will say magazines like Us Weekly and People and OK exist because we the public demand them.  Bullshit.  They exist because the owners of the companies that make them know that if they put that crap out there, people will buy it.

As Victoria said, it's one thing to do publicity for the film or record or book you're selling and to go to photo shoots to promote your latest project.  THAT is part of the job.  Being dogged by paparazzi is not.  It helped kill Princess Diana, for Godssake.  How far does it have to go before people recognize that not only is it ugly and unnecessary, but it's criminal?

Needless to say, I don't blame any of these folks when they get pissed off about it and say enough is enough.  It surprises me, generally, that it takes some of them as long as it does.

Really thoughtfull post, Barb and I completley agree.

Like I said before, that's it for me, I'm swearing off Iheartjake and jake watch.  I've never been into tabloids or even magazines like people and us weekly, I used to get Entertainment weekly for the film reviews but I don't during the school year.  Jake sparked a new obsession in me, he's the first celebrity I've really watched closely.  But that stopped with that picture.  Like you said, they owe us nothing and as much as i like to look at Jake he deserves some sort of privacy... That picture makes me feel guilty.  I didn't start this thread though to make anyone else feel guilty or to say that those who still want to check out those sites are doing something wrong... just that I can't anymore.

Really interesting discussion on this thread though! thanks for sharing your thoughts!  :)
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Offline ednbarby

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Re: This makes me sad...
« Reply #25 on: April 25, 2006, 06:32:11 pm »
Really thoughtfull post, Barb and I completley agree.

Like I said before, that's it for me, I'm swearing off Iheartjake and jake watch.  I've never been into tabloids or even magazines like people and us weekly, I used to get Entertainment weekly for the film reviews but I don't during the school year.  Jake sparked a new obsession in me, he's the first celebrity I've really watched closely.  But that stopped with that picture.  Like you said, they owe us nothing and as much as i like to look at Jake he deserves some sort of privacy... That picture makes me feel guilty.  I didn't start this thread though to make anyone else feel guilty or to say that those who still want to check out those sites are doing something wrong... just that I can't anymore.

Really interesting discussion on this thread though! thanks for sharing your thoughts!  :)

Thanks, lg.  And I'm with you - that picture makes me feel bad for having gone to those sites (yes, I admit it freely - I have been a hypocrite) in the past, too.  I don't think there's anything wrong with people who do still enjoy it and don't feel guilty about it or who have a different point of view than I about what celebrities do and do not owe the public - I just feel differently.  I agree - very interesting discussion!
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Offline kirkmusic

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Re: This makes me sad...
« Reply #26 on: May 03, 2006, 05:45:37 am »
I think about this stuff sometimes because I plan on being famous within the next couple of years.  As someone who likes going places on my own and enjoying my solitude, I wonder how I'd handle it.  For me, fame isn't a goal.  I would just take it as an indicator that I'm reaching the audience that I think I'm capable of reaching.  But how dramatically does one's life change?  Will I still be able to go to Disneyland and just have a good time being a rambunctious adult like I always have?  As a fan, I have enjoyed seeing pictures of Jake working out and hanging with friends, so I don't think I would mind sharing some of that with my own fans.  But, like, where do you take vacations if you're Madonna?  Or how about George Michael?  Being openly gay and famous is a dangerous combination in some places, I'd imagine.

I figure if I really hate being famous I could always just stop doing work for public consumption and let my career crash.  I don't want to be Kurt Cobain after all.  But (using that word a lot here) would the price of not being able to write and sing and share my own songs and make my living off of that be worth having my privacy back?  I've been tremendously unfulfilled for not doing that up until now.  I've only learned to really open up in the past 6 years or so and to suddenly have to start keeping secrets would fckng suck!  Think about it.  Just the little things.  I'd have to change my name on this forum.  I'd have to take my face pictures down from the personals sites I have profiles on, and what good are said profiles without them?  Well, that wouldn't be a big deal.  But you know what I mean?  Think about how you live now and what would have to change if you knew that everything you did might be subject to public scrutiny.  Part of me thinks, the hell with it.  What do I really have to hide?  Nothing I'm ashamed of but there are certainly things for which some would judge me.

I can't possibly know what it would be like until it happens, if it happens.  I trust myself to handle whatever comes, it just gives me pause sometimes.