Hello everyone,
This post is inspired by and a loose reply to this blog
by Justin Marr I just read. In it, Justin talks about the concept of
fame and how people look at celebrities. This is actually something I've
thought about quite a lot before and considering he ended his blog with
"What is your concept of fame?", I figured I might as well take this
opportunity and tell you about my own views regarding this topic.
The 'Why'
For one I am a firm believer of "you always want what you don't or can't have". I believe it is a desire innate in people and impossible to ignore. Now don't get me wrong, that's a good thing! Wanting things that you don't already have makes you raise the bar, set goals and pursue them. It forms the basis of many a motivation and without it life would be a dull place.
This goes for materialistic goods (wanting the new Playstation 4), personal development (wanting to be more assertive), professional/ artistic development and skillsets (wanting to be as good an animator as the Lead Animator at Pixar) and, the point of this paragraph, relationships.
So imagine you're at school or work and you spot a new guy. He seems nice and fun to hang with, so you walk up to him, have a chat, find out he's a cat person so you exchange some litter-box grains tips and get back to work. That was nice. Maybe you'll have lunch with him sometime. -The end-
Now imagine you're watching TV and see a new actor or actress. You IMDB that person, watch a couple of videos or vlogs of them and think: "He seems nice and fun to hang with". So far so good, except this time there's a catch: you can't walk up to him and make a chat. Knowing this (and going by my "you want what you can't have" rule), it only intensifies your desire to do so! You want to meet them, but you can't. Shoot. You watch some more of their videos or listen to some more of their songs. Already knowing you won't be able to talk to them, you start looking for all of the good things you're missing out on. "Oh man, he's so funny! That's exactly my kind of humor! We'd be total BFFs if we had the chance...".
This positive filtering in turn leads to a form of admiration
and glorification, at which point I can have the pleasure of calling
you a 'fan' of that person.
On top of that, knowing that you won't be able to approach them like any other person creates this sense of elitism, of them being 'out of your league' or 'in a different range than you', yielding the same result as and amplifying the previous.
Now of course there are many other factors at play as well, such as you only seeing celebrities at their best or in their element; they know they're being filmed so they act differently than they normally would. Real life doesn't have this luxury of selective exposure. However, I believe the "not being able to meet them" weighs heaviest of all in this.
Conclusion
So what do I make of all this? Like I mentioned before, I think it's definitely a good thing to have these kind of wants, reachable or otherwise. Even if your goals are impossible to reach you still gain a lot from trying to get there regardless.
In the case of celebrities, you probably won't be getting anything tangible out of it, thought it's still great and harmless fun to be a fan of someone. Especially through the use of social media like Twitter celebrities are more accessible than ever, and that moment you get @replied by your idol is pretty great. Also being able reply to a famous person's Tweets (and subsequently to other fans' Tweets) can give you a sense of involvement, which is only positive. Lastly, because the person you're a fan of has this important status to you, they may inspire you, or help you feel motivated to reach your goals. Again, only good things.
To answer the original question posed by Justin: My concept of fame is that it's the result of a necessity inherent in all of us. It is something that, while not the most rational thing on this planet, is something that can connect people and entice people to pursue their dreams.
Final Thoughts
I've only mentioned celebrities and fans in this post, but this can happen on any scale. People you can't reach for whatever reason, people from your workfield, etc.
I'd also like to stress that I am not basing any of this on scientific works or proven theories, but rather solely on my own ideas and experiences. Anything proclaimed as a fact should be read as "I think that ..." or "In my opinion ...".
Hope you enjoyed this read and catch you later!
-Patrick
