According to Andy Warhol, everybody gets their 15 minutes of fame. With fame comes the possibility of:
If you dream of stardom and fame, that is a good thing. As has been said many times before, everybody needs dreams and aspirations. The purpose of this article is to discuss some of the issues which surround fame and the image of celebrity that is built up in the media. It is important that we have a clear understanding of what it is we are striving for and the pitfalls to watch out for along the way!
Many people think of fame and success as one and the same. The media projects this image to us all the time. Our culture places more emphasis on celebrity than ever before. However, in reality, only a tiny number of us actually will achieve substantial fame. It is important, therefore, that we put fame in perspective. We need to realise that, although we are exposed to celebrity life everyday on TV, it is not in itself a mark of success and is certainly not an expected norm.
It is also worth remembering that celebrity life is often not everything that it is cracked up to be. It is, after all, quite easy to think of a number of famous names whose celebrity contributed to their downfall. Take Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, and Tony Hancock for starters.
These examples suggest that being a celebrity mustn’t be all beer and skittles. It also suggests that being a star requires great strength of character in order to get through the bad times as well as the good.
Lex – he wears his sunglasses at night
In Tribe IV, Lex certainly enjoys his time in the spotlight, revelling in the stardom, signing autographs and getting loads of attention. Lex wears dark sunglasses absolutely everywhere and becomes extremely big headed. He claims that he is the best fighter in Reality Space and yet he is unaware that his results and entire involvement in the game are being manipulated by the Technos.
Can you think of certain celebrities who act in a similar way to Lex?
It must be very easy to become egotistical when the media and your friends are telling you how fantastic you are, all the time.
However, some celebrities are able to step back and not believe all of the hype. They may even refuse interviews or not read reviews, preferring to confide and listen to the opinions of somebody they really trust. They may even decide to use their fame to further a good cause.
Can you think of some prominent stars that have done this?
Other celebrities love the hype and the attention. However, they are prime targets for a fall if their fame diminishes.
Where do they turn when the people who supposedly were their friends don’t see them as important enough to talk to any more?
In celebrity circles, it would be hard to know which people to trust. After all everybody seems to love a winner. You would have to try to gauge which of your burgeoning group of acquaintances were true friends and which ones would drop you once the accolades stopped coming in.
Lex’s moment in the sun comes to an abrupt end when he loses a fight to Siva. His fame disappears overnight and he is reduced to going back to his day job!
This fall from fame happens to a lot of people. Think of all the one hit wonders bands, singers, actors who have made it big for one hit song or movie and have then disappeared without trace from public view.
If you were a musician who had that one hit song and the success never repeated, (e.g. Tommy Love in “Revelations”- Grieving Las Vegas), how would you feel never being able to reach that level of success again? The hardest thing to accept is that a lot of fame comes down to luck or lack of it. That same musician may have written 100 songs that were just as good as that hit, but for one reason or another, they just didn’t sell as well.
I suppose that is why there are so many casualties of fame. People who are used to great success often find it doubly hard to deal with failure.
Sometimes the position of celebrity can bring on envy and jealousy in other people. In some countries this is known as the Œtall poppy’ syndrome if somebody sees somebody else achieving they feel jealous and think that the person needs to be cut down to size.
The media
We all know the power that the media welds. The media can help to create stars but can also have a negative affect on those same people.
If you are famous, your life becomes everybody else’s business. Your privacy will often be invaded. In some instances, stars are followed by cameras almost everywhere they go. The case of Princess Diana’s death while she was being chased by the paparazzi shows how easily this scenario can get out of hand.
With your life such public knowledge, many people regard you as public property and you can be exposed to stalkers and other undesirable elements.
There are also other temptations that come with living the life of a star. Drugs and alcohol are certainly a part of lifestyle. These are not, of course, restricted to the rich and famous, but they are nonetheless prevalent in this environment.
Go for it!
Many of the rich and famous avoid many of these pitfalls and live relatively normal and fulfilling lives. Like I hinted at before, I suppose it all comes down to issues such as strength of character, resisting vanity and avoiding temptation.
So there it is. We often get a very one-sided look at celebrity life. We see the glamour and the glitz without stopping to consider both sides of the equation.
So go for those dreams but be aware of the issues you might come across along the way.