Sunday, January 13, 2008

Perspective

As much fun as it is to watch all the fantastic dresses walking the red carpet of the Golden Globes, I feel a certain amount of satisfaction that this year's press conference award show was representative of the relative unimportance of Hollywood award shows in the grand scheme of things.

I was up at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills this week for a meeting and happened to be waiting for my car alongside former America's Next Top Model judge Janice Dickinson. When it came, she walked around to the passenger side and was getting something out of her purse when a stray papparazo darted onto the driveway and tried to take a picture. Janice looked delighted but the entire doorman/valet force on duty lunged for the guy and started shouting "off the property line! off the property line!". One of them grabbed the camera and put his hand over the lens and the guy ran off. I noticed another one lurking around behind the bushes separating the hotel from the street, waiting for her to pull out. It's not like this was the first time it ever occurred to me that our preoccupation with celebrities is stupid but something about seeing that kind of ridiculous drama over someone getting into a car for crying out loud just made me feel extra creeped out. Isn't is sort of appalling that there is an entire-and incredibly lucrative-industry based completely on following people around and talking photos of every move they make? And it's even dumber that the people they are following around tend to be mostly narcissistic, spoiled, self-important wastes of our collective time and attention.

If you read this blog at all you know that I looooove the enterainment industry. But I would watch 30 Rock even if it never won an Emmy. I would buy CD's and go to movies even if I'd never seen a photo of Reese Witherspoon getting a latte. Can you imagine how absurd it would be if you suddenly started seeing tabloid photos of your dentist or the guy who changes your oil? If mmagazines started running articles about what your hairstylist thought about the war in Iraq? I'm really trying harder lately to keep my intake of celebrity gossip to snacks, not seven course meals. The only way they quit making it is if we stop paying for it right?

That said, I WAS thrilled to see Tina Fey win for being awesome at being a mess on 30 Rock. My heroine. But not the kind you inject.

5 comments:

TUG said...

You make a very valid point.

I also enjoy TV, Movies, and Music but I have never been one to follow the trends.

Thurow talked about how we shouldn't "listen to the monkey's in Paris" try to tell us what to do.

You are very wise!

chloe said...

So, I love this post! And I agree completely. Although, I have to say awards make sense for what they do for a living (like Pulitzer Prizes). But it's kind of sad that we're not obsessed with that, or Nobel Prizes, etc.

Tannertrue said...

I like to think that, were I a celebrity, I would be in US weekly's "Stars: they're just like us!" every week. Pictures of me eating sandwiches and trying to decide which pair of socks to buy. Y'know stuff like that.

Also, awards shows are lame. This is the best they've ever been.

Cristin said...

I was thinking the same thing about the Golden Globes last night. What a joke. It's crazy how much time is wasted discussing them, etc. when it really can be summarized in a 30 minute presentation.

I don't have too much respect for the Golden Globes anyway. They've had problems in the past with people buying awards (the Pia Zadora scandal for example)and I rarely seem to agree with who wins. It'll be interesting to see how the writer's strike affects the Oscars.

Alaska Wanderer said...

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to have a tabloid photo of your glamorous dentist once in a while!