Why do we admire actors/actresses?

[doctorj]

patcat raised an interesting question in the body/image thread about undue attention to VDO's physical appearance, and i started wondering about the nature of our admiration for actors/actresses.

why are we drawn to performers? (and not, say, the local fireman, whose "work," we might all agree, is of dire importance.) what accounts for the sudden increase recently in celebrity culture TV shows and magazines? what need does this fill in us? and what, if anything, has truly changed since the likes of clark gable?

finally: is our admiration for actors/actresses a good thing or a bad thing?

curious about your thoughts.

[Sirenna]

I don't think it's that they're actors per se, but that they are people who have a certain something, a charisma or a magentism that speaks to people. That fireman in your example might have it. You know, some people are just more approachable in the schoolyard than others even though they're not necessarily prettier, smarter or nicer.

Hollyweird (love that one!) is the only place that pays huge $$$ for the 'it' factor.

[noc]

There have been several interesting articles on this lately, and I'm not sure that "I got" the basic thesis. So, I'm interested in reading the discussion here.

A lot of us agree that the fascination with VDO is that he is such a chameleon. It does seem like slightly different mannerisms, a different hairstyle and he conveys a completely different person. We were discussing first impressions at one point and it's amazing what he conveys during five minutes in a scene with no real "set up". Let's face it, we don't see much about Meryl Streep or VDO (or at least I don't) because they are working actors. They sell when they have to sell a movie, and it seems like they live somewhat special but not "breaking news" lives otherwise.

I'm not sure I got a clear message about what the growth in gossip magazines and internet sites really means, but it seems like it is a way for us to feel in "touch" with society. It's also often water cooler discussion. Where I now work, most of the people are too busy with their family life to care. But, there are some studies that the average worker spends 1-2 hours a day on the internet. I think that includes sports, music as well as general surfing. It seems like it has almost become one of those "games" or "soap operas" to distract from real issues. One of the articles I skimmed stated the gossip rags were hugely popular in the 40s and 50s. After the seriousness of war and with the new expansion of television, it was just a phase. Maybe the internet has created this little phase, too and this isn't so different from Clark Gable, or even the 1950s with Rock Hudson "dating" starlets for the magazines.

I sometimes stay off the internet for weeks because I have a real weakness for researching crimes, mostly white collar. My fascination is how did they think of it? what drove them to through their life away for a car, or $5,000 a year (silly amounts to wage one's life on), etc. Is that any better than gossiping and watching E! No, my time could definitely be spent more productively. But, I go through these phases, and as I recall, "true crime" magazines were also very popular in the 1950s. I used to love Ellery Queen magazine (and the tv show) as a young girl. I sure hope that was the 1960s and 1970s.

[noc]

By the way, Sirenna, your end quote is great.

[noc]

I hope it's ok to copy from another blog, but this is mostly from From Brian Williams' blog. This is his discussion on on the NYT's Vows column. IMO, people love brides, kind of like 15 minutes of being a celebrity. Here are part of his comments:

In my experience, brides in the Big Box have some common traits:
They are invariably "more at home in a pair of combat boots than they are in high heels." They are ALWAYS described as "spontaneous."

The brides-to-be are a "constant blur of activity" and are apt to "kayak down the Hudson at Midnight on New Year's Eve."

Many of the men are in passionless relationships until they are hit squarely on the forehead by the club of love, in the form of the aforementioned combat-boot wearing free-spirited woman.

Weddings are always on a bluff, a dune or a "sweeping lawn," and are usually officiated either by an Enormously Powerful Federal Judge who's a friend of the family or a member of the online ministry community with names like "The New Life Church of the Free Spirit." Participants seldom wear shoes.

Full disclosure: My wife can't understand why I spend valuable time reading this stuff. I should point out in my own defense that I read Style only after the A Section, Metro, Week in Review, Business, Book Review, Magazine and Automobiles. It's dessert on paper, really.

Isn't this how we sometimes feel about actresses and actors? It's like being the bride every day (or at least every time they run for coffee).

[rue721]

I think people like to gossip, and celebrity gossip is guilt free, since you can't hurt their feelings. And it makes people feel like they are part of a bigger community to gossip about the same people- everyone always like to feel that they belong to something bigger than themselves, even (especially) in our impersonal world. I don't think celebrity obsession is a bad thing... and even if it were, isn't that kind of moot? It's socially and psychologically necessary.

I saw on television that low-ranking monkeys will give up food just to look at pictures of higher-ranking, so-called "celebrity" monkeys. Everyone needs a role model, right? It gives a person hope.

I personally am not so into celebrities per se, but there are a lot of manifistations of the same thing- I don't get too into the actors, but I get into characters. And my mother couldn't care less about any of this, but she's obsessed with politics. Same diff., right?

[doctorj]

that's hilarious, noc. being an actor would be like being a bride every day! so much courted attention. the focus on beauty. the accepted artificiality of the whole thing.

living in tinseltown, my experience with actors/actresses is that they're... kinda weird. often. not always. confident one minute and then deeply insecure the next. talking to actors usually leaves me feeling like i've got emotional whiplash. (obviously, i'm weird too. just not in this particular way.) of course, the old saying goes, none of us would be here in h'wood if we'd gotten enough love as children. -- or my other favorite, from the movie kiss, kiss, bang, bang: "why are the all the girls in LA strange and damaged? i swear to gawd, it's like someone took america by the east coast, and shook it, and all the normal girls managed to hang on in the midwest." (okay, i digress...)

re: fascination with actors. i wonder if people get interested in particular actors because actors are a convenient vehicle for projecting their own desires. they either want to be or be loved by or be friends with someone powerful or beautiful or talented.

and hollywood is in the business of creating fantasies. some actors buy into it more than others, but everybody knows going into it that audiences adore their beloved idols, and we worship them at the playhouse shrine.

[BegToDiffer]

What I find interesting is when some actor/actress is being interviewed and they comment about being at a party and they are excited because they got to meet "Ms. Streep" or "Jack Nichols". They are almost as excited as us regular folks would be. I think that says that not all of them think of themselves as "the most famous, best, biggest etc.

I think some people admire them because we think they have so much more than we do. What we don't get is that, even with big fancy houses, cars and money to burn, how many of them are REALLY happy? Why are sports figures always at the top of popularity polls? Why aren't firefighters, teachers and nurses at the top of those polls?

[madger]

Celebrities get exposure, that's all, in the 1700s writers, poets and musicians were the rock idols of their day, people read and heard them and the grapevine spread rumors. I guess we want to have people who represents what we want and can never have or be, talent, beauty, glamour. It's just a shame that the current trend is so shallow, but still, Maya Angelou and Beverly Sills have their fan clubs and this board proves that admiration of a talent does not necessarily mean idolization of a person just for idolization's sake, we demand quality from the likes of VDO and KE, we wish them well as people, but most of us really don't want to know at what time they take a dump.
When there is no talent to admire, just good looks, all there is to do is nit-pick the superficial.

[Techguy]

I restrict my "admiration" for actors and other celebrities based on their talents only, the quality of their performances. Their personal lives are none of my business, and are of little or no interest to me. Many times they're jerks in real life, so no sense spoiling my appreciation of their acting or whatever because of their stupidity or foolishness.

I prefer to reserve my admiration for people as people for someone like Wesley Autrey. He's the construction worker who leaped on to the tracks of a NY subway to protect another man who had a seizure and had fallen on to the tracks. Mr. Autrey, the father of two young girls who were with him at the time, covered the victim with his own body, restricted his flailing, and saved him from being killed by an oncoming train.

[Patcat]

Yes, Mr. Autrey is the real deal. I fervently pray this won't be one of those "no good deed goes unpunished" deals.

Patcat

[noc]

Doctorj, I've just been a bridesmaid and maid of honor a few too many times & the fact that Brian Williams is blogging about reading, in essence, a newspaper version of a bridal magazine had me chuckling. I guess I have had a similar experience to you in that I used to be an officer of a charity ball in a large city. Long story as to how someone like me got involved, but I learned that those socialites had more drama and stress in a day then I have in a month and I work 60-80 hours a week and am hands-on involved in several charities I care about (which is how I got roped in to being an officer in a charity ball). There was a lot of insecurity and a LOT of concern about who sits at what table and the "status" of tables etc. I think there is insecurity in social status because it is so superficial.

I go through phases of overanalyzing a favorite movie or tv show, and anything with a mystery is great. I think there are a lot of cop shows because they deal with humans in crisis. There is also a lot of power in being a cop/detective solving mysteries, and that may intrigue people. Medical shows also deal with human crisis and power. It's interesting how cops and doctors dress so well, and very sexily on tv. Or, at least compared to my 80 year old physician in the Midwest who look like Mr. Rogers.

Techguy is right, as usual, about who we should save our admiration for.

[madger]

techguy said:

I restrict my "admiration" for actors and other celebrities based on their talents only, the quality of their performances. Their personal lives are none of my business, and are of little or no interest to me. Many times they're jerks in real life, so no sense spoiling my appreciation of their acting or whatever because of their stupidity or foolishness.

I prefer to reserve my admiration for people as people for someone like Wesley Autrey. He's the construction worker who leaped on to the tracks of a NY subway to protect another man who had a seizure and had fallen on to the tracks. Mr. Autrey, the father of two young girls who were with him at the time, covered the victim with his own body, restricted his flailing, and saved him from being killed by an oncoming train.

As usual Techguy, you said what I meant, but couldn't express as well as you.