Comments on: The Shattered Glass of Celebrity

By: mmandaville

mmandaville — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 17:55:09 +0000

Well said. I appreciate you adding the Poetica reference.

By: Pinbot

Pinbot — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 18:05:09 +0000

That what was so great about Death Note – the protagonist is the ultimate social engineer gone wrong.

By: Wes

Wes — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 03:41:27 +0000

lulz

By: Jake_Was_Here

Jake_Was_Here — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 02:09:34 +0000

To give the Japanese credit, they seem to be skeptical about their own desire for utopia. Over and over again, their fictional villains turn out to be well-intentioned (or at least originally well-intentioned) extremists who think that the best way to create a world without war or hatred is to kickstart some sort of catastrophic change.

By: ABD

ABD — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 01:19:01 +0000

Well said, Michael! The truth is, STORY has always been the star. It just doesn't look good on the cover of People Magazine — and that's a GOOD thing. What goes around comes around.

Celebrity is shallow. Story is deep.

By: Bill_Brandt

Bill_Brandt — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 00:12:49 +0000

It would be an interesting exercise to list all the movie acters on the cusp of "stardom" but didn't/couldn't pick the right scripts. It's the writers and directors who make the "stars".

Of course in the old days before 1960s the studios protected their images and they achieved some cult-like status. But not any more.

Sorry, every time I see a picture of Brittany Spears I think of this bald-headed maniac wielding a hammer at her husband's car. Maybe she isn't a movie star but you know where I am going.

We know too much about them now.

By: Ranba Ral

Ranba Ral — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:47:22 +0000

They hunted down a lot of their bigger (bigger relatively anyway) dangerous predators a long time ago. For example, the Japanese wolves were smaller than our wolves, but one subspecies was hunted to extinction in the late 1880's and the other died out around 1905. I think they still have some black and brown bears though… Their population is more urbanized than a lot of countries too, so they're probably not as up on the whole large mauling animals thing as US and Canada; or even their mainland counterparts.

Combine those factors with the view of everything having some sort of spirit typical of a lot of oriental heritage and I could see the whole Gaia complex forming like it did.

By: Pinbot

Pinbot — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:22:27 +0000

Death Note is pretty good. It's got minimal Gaia lip service and only one outright jab at W., but his actions are far more like those of our current president. It's an entertaining, logic-puzzle mystery that is ultimately satisfying.

What is the deal with the Japanese and Gaia theory? It seems universally accepted and it's absurd. Do they lack any dangerous wild animals in Japan? I challenge anybody to believe in the benevolent forces of nature after they've had to stare down a grizzly in the wild, or spend a long period of time outside in Quebec in the winter. If I could force the whole country to watch Grizzly Man, I would.

By: ScottDS

ScottDS — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:20:43 +0000

I'll throw my two cents into the mix…

I think this can be attirubted to a variety of things, including but not limited to:

-the (I hate this term) celebrity/media industrial complex – by that, I mean your tabloids, your paparazzi, your programs like Access Hollywood and Entertainment Tonight, ad nauseam… there have always been gossip rags but it's gotten completely out of hand in the last few years and will only get worse before it gets better

-the studios are simply small parts of huge international corporations – now that doesn't totally excuse crappy movies but it does mean that the money men are more focused on the bottom line which means more movies based on existing properties (toys, cartoons, comics, etc.)

-actors making way too much money – no one person is worth $20 million unless they've cured cancer… and while I'll give the benefit of the doubt and say some actors might be willing to reduce their fees for certain projects, no agent would allow this to happen… if I were an agent, the last thing I'd want to do is "devalue" my client

-the Internet, Facebook, Netflix, Twitter, video games, shortened turnaround time between theater and home video, etc. – movies are no longer the only source of entertainment these days… while there's nothing like the shared experience of watching something like Star Wars or The Dark Knight in a theater full of people, why spend $10 when I can simply wait three months and invite friends over to my house to watch the rented Blu-Ray disc on my 42" LCD?

-TV – dare I say it, there are way more good shows on TV than movies in the theater, all with great production values, from 24 and the CSI franchise to NCIS, Monk, Burn Notice, Psych, True Blood, Lost, etc.

-a performer's politics won't stop me from watching their films but it is a bit off-putting and it points to a lack of manners… I imagine most people would prefer not to talk politics in mixed company (I sure wouldn't)… on the other hand, they go on talk shows where the hosts feel the need to ask, "So who are you voting for?"… maybe it's the whole "sitting at the cool kids' table" mentality, I don't know…

By: BuckwheatPicard

BuckwheatPicard — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 22:40:46 +0000

Down with celebrity!
In the average person's quest for being famous, we have moved into an "indecent exposure" phase. We lay everything out for public consumption. the minutae becomes the focus.
It seems to me that when film stars remained inaccessable, a mistique was maintained. Now? if i want to i can see some one's mug shot, or crotch shot or see their will or read their diary. and in some cases these folks put it out there on purpose.
it is sad in so many ways.