Celebrity Atitude
Shari
McCarteny for example) and others are such massive tools?!
I've probably met a few dozen celebrities over the years, and I'm
sorry to report that many of them are less than kind to their fans - a
group, I believe, they view as a necessary evil. I've seen the look in
their eyes when a fan approaches to pay them a compliment or ask for
an autograph. I can only describe it as a mixture of fear, disgust
and the desire to end the transaction as quickly as possible.
Now, you have to know that I am anything but an imposing figure,
barely 5'5" and average build. I rarely ask for autographs, preferring
instead to try to ask a question about their career or simply tell
them how much I admire their work. I never try to but into a private
moment, reserving my expressions of fandom for public events like film
festivals and other promotional appearences.
I realize that the famous deal with a burden of being hounded and hung
on to and the feeling that everyone wants a piece of them. But then
why is it that some of the biggest celebrities in the world are so
approachable and giving, stars as big as Tom Hanks even?
It just pisses me off! We are the reason they enjoy the status and the
wealth. You'd think they'd have the common decency to simply be
polite.
Recently, I stopped to tell a favorite character actress (that 99% of
the general public would not even recognize) that I thought she was
wonderful in her most recent film. Her response was, "Yeah. Whatever."
Then she turned on her heel and walked away.
I vow that if I ever become famous (fat chance), I will never ever
make a fan feel like a fool, like dirt or that they are beneath me.
Wake up, celebrities! Treat us nice, because we just might not be
around to cheer you on in a few years if you don't.
Please forgive this tirade. I just had to get it off my chest.
Thanks!
Shari V
Zazzy
all day, are you? When you manage to get one you stick around longer,
maybe run after the limo, and ask for another, and another. Stalkers
with pencils would make me turn into a screaming bitch so I understand
why some famous people loose it from time to time. But of course there
are those that act like that ALL the time..
CassieIJ
news:bedcd572.03050...@posting.google.com...
> Why are some celebrities so kind and gracious (Bono and Paul
> McCarteny for example) and others are such massive tools?!
>
Some people are just real shitmuffins and would be that way even if they
weren't celebrities. The fame, money and worship they receive on a daily
basis just serves to puff up and already bloated ego.
Others may just be having a bad day. Maybe they just ended a relationship or
missed out on a really great part, and aren't feeling very sociable. Or
maybe they've run into one too many creepy stalker types who go mental when
the star doesn't treat them like family (I'm not accusing you of being that
way, I'm just sayin'). Sure, that type of thing goes with the territory when
one is a celeb, but they're still human. I'm a believer in being at least
cordial to everyone I meet, but I can tell you that *I* sure have those rare
days when I just want to snarl at anyone who talks to me. I don't imagine
that someone famous would be that much different even though they've
achieved "larger than life" status in someone's eyes.
Pax,
Cassie
MC
"CassieIJ" <whatchoot...@willis.com> wrote:
> Some people are just real shitmuffins and would be that way even if they
> weren't celebrities. The fame, money and worship they receive on a daily
> basis just serves to puff up and already bloated ego.
>
> Others may just be having a bad day. Maybe they just ended a relationship or
> missed out on a really great part, and aren't feeling very sociable. Or
> maybe they've run into one too many creepy stalker types who go mental when
> the star doesn't treat them like family (I'm not accusing you of being that
> way, I'm just sayin'). Sure, that type of thing goes with the territory when
> one is a celeb, but they're still human. I'm a believer in being at least
> cordial to everyone I meet, but I can tell you that *I* sure have those rare
> days when I just want to snarl at anyone who talks to me. I don't imagine
> that someone famous would be that much different even though they've
> achieved "larger than life" status in someone's eyes.
I worked on air in radio & TV for about 15 years and in that time I
reached a few conclusions about celebrity and fame from first-hand
experience and observation. Please understand we're talking about local
stations, small stuff, but nevertheless, I think some of this applies to
wide exposure and real celebrity.
First off, some of my colleagues *loved* being recognized, and *loved*
to schmooze with their fans (they were hurt when no one recogized them),
but a surprising number were outgoing on air, but were shy off air, and
really felt very uncomfortable being recognized.
I was never a star, just a journeyman interviewer, so I never got the
billboards, and the first years were in radio where you are pretty much
anonymous by definition, and that suited me just fine. Then I switched
to TV and the station manager warned me that my life was about to
change. And it did.
When you're in people's homes every day, they treat you in some
surprising ways.
They're often very rude. They frequently talk about you as if you're not
there, and they don't always hold back on what a putz they think you
are.
Or, they fawn all over you for absolutely no reason whatsoever. I've had
everything from free drinks to free meals to free trips just because I
interviewed people on TV. Some performers milk that for all its worth.
Others don't. I always felt very uncomfortable and defensive.
The reaction that I just could not understand was when I'd interview
some surgeon or doctor about something -- and *they* would act
starstruck. I mean it's absolutely ludicrous -- here's a guy who saves
lives, and I'm a guy who asks questions for a living... and he's all
over me with the "oh, wow" reaction.
The best interaction? A Christmas card from a bunch of prisoners who
obviously *loved* to rip me to shreds every time I came on -- it was
hysterically funny.
Typically, if it was a one-on-one meeting I found it fun and interesting
to talk to a lot of viewers, but in groups, it could be really awful,
and the *worst* would be when I ran into a bunch of teenage kids on the
street. Hell on wheels.
I haven't done that for a living for more than 10 years, but I *still*
get the recognition occasionally. Luckily, today's teenagers don't know
me from a hole in the wall, because they were 5 when I left that part of
my life behind.
My point (if I have one) is that if you're in the public eye you're fair
game, and it often feels threatening -- and no, I'm not talking about
the prisoners. I'm talking about total strangers who come right up to
you and think you owe them something more than what you gave at the
office, so to speak.
All this to say that it isn't always the celebs who are the assholes. A
great many of them are just trying to live a normal life in a world
where strangers come up to them 20 times a day with their hands out for
an autograph.
KAR
news:copeSPAMZAP-2007...@mail.inter.net...
I hang with someone who is very familiar as an actor on a few long-running
TV series and it is hard to describe the way those jobs affect her daily
life. She's both a lovely person and (fortunately) able (by necessity) to
go into a public persona instantaneously so she's practically on auto-pilot
when approached in public -- always gracious, friendly and accessible (when
in reality barely there). But I'm amazed at how persistant the approach
is -- in restaurants, at moments of heightened emotion, walking down a
street, in the car in slow traffic, through the stalls of public restrooms.
As the person who becomes invisible (frequently interrupted in
mid-sentence), I'm silently more perplexed than my friend (who is able to
snap right back into the moment before the interrupton) who accepts this as
coming with the meal, but it's hard to describe how inappropriate and
incessant it can be unless you've seen it first-hand. I do agree with the
above poster that the issue has to do with the personality of the person
involved; not all actors/public figures (excluding reality show contestants
of course) are extroverts (some actors are the shyest people in the world --
for some, pretending to be someone else is about being more comfortable
there) and what seems like coldness or arrogance may really be fear.
MC
"KAR" <fin...@earthlink.net> wrote:
That brought back a memory from longer ago than I care to admit to! I
was working on a film set out in the boonies with my girlfriend of the
day. One of the stars was Donald Sutherland, and one night invited us
out to dinner -- just the three of us in the nearest city -- Saskatoon.
A decent-sized place, but not a city exactly known for its glittering
night life -- and it's certainly not known for its parade of celebs.
All through the meal, people kept coming up to the table -- nothing
offensive -- quite the opposite, in fact -- but it was intrusive.
Sutherland was gracious and pleasant to every last one of them. It was
comically complicated to a degree by the fact that my girlfriend looked
quite a bit like Jane Fonda and I had my regulation 70s curly hair and
Zapata mustache -- so a few people leaped to the conclusion that I was
Elliott Gould...
When it subsided, I asked him how he could stand it, and he said, more
or less, "It goes with the territory. These are the people who make it
possible for me to live the life I lead."
But it really got out of hand (almost literally) when Sutherland & I
went for a piss. There we were, standing at the urinal, when a guy came
in and unzipped at the one next to Sutherland, glanced at him, did a
double take and asked for an autograph. He didn't get one.
Shari
the public eye. However, when a person merely stops to pay an actor a
compliment at a film festival where the actor is to promote his or her
work (which is what I did...no, I am not a stalker or an autograph
hound) the actor should have the common decency to at least say "Thank
You."