This article immediately caught my eyes because I just fininshed watching the Academy Awards.
It talks about how watching such grand and major television event would made the audience started to compare themselves to the wealth, talent or glmor to celebrities on screen. So called social comparison theory, suggests that we can't help but compare ourselves and our life circumstances to those around us. It also explains why we are so into reading about the trouble lives of Hollywood stars such as Lindsay Lohan, Charlie Sheen, Tiger Woods and many others. It helps us to confirm that our lives aren't so bad compare to theirs. The article did not mention about it but I think it is also related to how we love to critic the red carpet look, and enjoyed reading aweful words on bad dressers on the internets or paper.
Personally, what the article suggests is partially accurate. Even before I read about the article, a few hours ago when I was watching the Oscar, I wonder, "how are these people so great and talented, producing these touching screenplay/ music/ costume/ cinematography....." As a visual artist, I found myself comparing more to the talent and extordinary mind behind films than their beauty and wealth. However, I don't really think about much of their glamor and beauty, because I believe that they are just ordinary people living their own lives like the rest of the world.
We are all just normal people, somethings we need to watch other people fail (especially famous ones
), just to comfort us a little how our lives are not that bad after all.
1 comment:
I thought this was interesting, as i just watched the oscars for the first time last night. The article warns against comparing your own life to that of the "glamorous celebrities."
Does anyone actually compare their own life with that of celebrities? I found this article: http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200407/seeing-starlight-celebrity-obsession
that digs a little deeper into why people become obsessed with celebrities.
It points out that we aren't sold an entirely glamourous version of these people's lives, as tabloids show unflattering candids, and stars' drug problems and marital issues are discussed with enthusiasm and mockery. Our minds must be confused about what to make of celebrities, because they are presented to us as idols, we see them everywhere (their image, that is) and come to think of them as acquaintances, so they seem to be living lives that are parallel, but take place in another dimension. It seems like the harm in celebrity obsessions doesn't come from comparing yourself with stars and feeling inferior, the problem is paying too much attention to their lives because your mind has misinterpreted seeing their image all of the time as them being people you know. one should be cautioned not against making comparisons, but just about caring in general. in reality, the stars are just as much of strangers as anyone who's name you dont know.
Post a Comment