Yes, Will Smith punched Chris Rock at the Oscars.
Do I care? Like The Critical Drinker, I agree we must deny the star status to these people. Stop giving them attention.
Tweens, virgin teens, social media addicts, and unemployed women with delusional disorder (who believe movie and television characters are their friends) are the persons who really give a crap. People with meaningful careers, rewarding family ties, interesting hobbies, and active sex lives give the occasional nod to a movie or program, encouraging our network to “give that one a watch.” But aside from that, we, the sane adult group, could give a flying squirrel fuck if some actor is getting divorced or punched another actor.
The Golden Age of Hollywood died at the end of World War II. Thereafter, Hollywood moved through many unmemorable phases like cremated remains, moving from family member to family member in an awkward attempt of feigned respect. But let’s not mince words or offer academy-award winning, contrived condolences. The glorification of the star fading away is a long time coming.
Early theatre history clearly puts actors in perspective: Actors and performers were the dregs of society, often mistrusted and regularly nomadic. The moniker resulted from religious and class bias, the Christian church’s association of acting with vulgarity and foolishness, or finding a similarity between the nomadic actor and the societal outcast. Acting troupes were nomadic, which rendered them uncontrollable by civil and religious authorities. While the pilgrim has a spiritual purpose, the jester travels only to earn money with his shows. Since he does not produce goods, he could not belong to any social class. Juxtapose that status with that of the craftsperson or guild member: the smith, the potter, the shoemaker, the fine artist. These artisans had direct, creative talent, creating products for which others were willing to pay. The artisan was a trusted member of the community. The actor, a stranger visiting right before grandma’s silverware disappeared.
I explore this history to highlight the point of my article.
Do I agree actors are the spawns of Satan? Criminals? Absolutely not. Can we celebrate a brilliant performance with applause and honor? Absolutely. Talent is talent. But do I support glorifying them in any manner as thought-bastions of society meant to be obeyed? No way. Does the squawking actor have a PhD in economics? A medical degree? A law degree? Many never graduated from high school. How can we even assure ourselves as listeners that the actor shouting his or her opinion is even functionally literate?
Just like I ignore my neighbor’s uninformed opinion on the economy, the law, or my ankle injury, I ignore actor’s pronouncements. Just as I turn away from any social media influencer’s blah, blah on any social, environmental, medical, political, foreign, legal, or economic topic, I turn away from the actor’s blather.
We can persuade humans via two routes: an emotional route and a logical route. For example, you are trying to decide on what car to buy. To decide, you research safety and gas mileage, maintenance requirements, the history of the brand, and price. Or you just buy the sexy red sports car because it promises to get you laid. The first route is decidedly logical, based on facts and evidence. The second route is emotional.
In general, we process both routes to decide between choices or adopt an opinion. Overwhelmingly, however, the super-sensitive snowflake population prefers to be persuaded emotionally. It takes intelligence, commitment, time, and concentration to be persuaded mentally. Therefore, people prefer emotional appeals because thinking is hard!
One of those appeals is the Halo Effect: popular people influence others’ opinions or feelings, even if those proclamations are outside of that popular person’s expertise. Although a thinking person will only accept an opinion if it is from an expert, the common TikTok binge-watching cares about Hollywood dope will accept any opinion tossed about by these actors.
If Meryl Streep wants to give me advice on how to break into acting, you bet I’m going to listen. She’s one of my favorite actors and deserves every award and bit of applause. But when she waxes about politics or the economy, I vomit. Listen, Miss Vassar College with a Degree in Fine Arts, shut the hell up about anything to do with government.
Does she have a right to her opinion? Yes, as every voter does. What she does not have a right to do is use her undue influence as a star to sway others to adopt her uninformed and inexpert opinion. And, of course, the Hollywood machine and the media protect these mouthpieces. The popular ones, the bad-boy/girl ones, whichever the extreme, draw box office dollars.
We often define actors as “storytellers.” I disagree not only because a writer always supports the actor’s performance. That actors are anything more than puppets is offensive. Writers are the storytellers. Actors do no more than play pretend, the court jester to our collective kingdom. We all can–have and do — play pretend. Sure, actors are experienced, practiced, and talented at the game we all played since birth. But the actor only expresses the genius of the writer. And, frankly, raising these people to the level of gods and goddesses, to be worshiped and copied for their innovative plunge dress on the red carpet, is madness. (I also note the amazing dress is created by a designer with the actor serving as no more than a well-proportioned, attention gaining mannequin.)
These glorified puppet scurry about “speaking out” and “tweeting” their often uninformed and grossly uneducated opinions about world events. Sure, I support and will defend to the death the right for everyone to have the freedom to express an opinion–no matter how misguided, cruel, or misleading. What I cannot tolerate is the fact that actors hold sway over the aforementioned sections of the population. A well-timed morning show moron’s comment can shift a candidate’s potential for election.
That being said, as people, as individuals, we have well-meaning, charitable, brilliant actors. Sure. But, I find it interesting that these types hesitate to boast of their good deeds and rarely infuse their social media feeds with rantings about his or her stance in a political debate (Keanu Reeves, for example).
What is not discussed or examined is the undue influence of those who chatter away on morning talk shows, before concerts, and on social media. Could I not hire one of these puppets to use his or her Halo Effect influence to deliver my message? Is it not an actor’s job to be a face and voice for hire? Would it not behoove a politician or lobbyist to befriend one of these charming people?
And: Do we not want to consult thinkers, economists, business experts, even the occasional politician, to glean what we should consider important on the national and world stage? I consult an expert, qualified, opinion when I want an opinion.
Actors are court jesters, players, puppets. We have long credited them with laurels they clearly do not deserve. Be less worried about Russian and Chinese influence and concern yourself with the undue influence the Hollywood elite dump on the unsuspecting and unsophisticated public.
