Celebrity does not equal credibility


Some celebrities want respect, but aren't willing to pay their dues to earn that respect
Jason Apuzo has a great review of the 1976 film classic Network at Libertas. But when he talks about Paddy Chayefsky, he has a few things to add.

This, I would suggest, is precisely the speech that someone needed to give George Clooney after his pompous bleating during this year’s Academy Awards - only no one was there to give that speech. “No, Mr. Clooney, you’re winning an Oscar for ‘Syriana’ is not a pivotal moment in history, equivalent to the integration of blacks into the motion picture industry. A simple ‘Thank you’ would have sufficed.” No-one was there to give that speech because people in Hollywood have become so neutered, so de-balled, that they’re afraid to fight back or say anything. It’s a shame.

As Chayefsky said later, “I didn’t ask Vanessa Redgrave to get up and make that stupid, vicious statement. I sat there praying somebody would say something. But they didn’t and I wasn’t going to stand around and let somebody make cracks about Jews without doing anything about it.”

I would submit that today’s Vanessa Redgraves - whether they be Michael Moore, George Clooney, the Wachowskis, etc. - are constantly making such cracks about America, the country that’s made them all milllionaires. And nowadays these people feel free to spread their contempt for America not just on-stage at the Oscars (actually that rarely happens anymore), but more importantly through films. And basically nobody in Hollywood does anything about it. Why? In part because a lot of Hollywood conservatives have been sold a bill of goods about the need to be touchy-feely, non-confrontational and humorless in what they do. Paddy Chayefsky was none of those things.

Incidentally, Chayefsky was swamped after that Oscar ceremony with industry well-wishers at the Governor’s Ball. Redgrave sulked in a corner with her bodyguards, largely ignored.

I know that there are Hollywood people who want desperately to cash in their celebrity into significance. The thing is, few are willing to put in the price. The late Vincent Price, for example, was an internationally known art expert and artist of no small ability. He was recognized as such not because he was Vincent Price the actor, but because he worked hard for decades at being Vincent Price the art collector and artist. Ronald Reagan was a forgettable actor, but an incredibly gifted politician.

Celebrity does not equal credibility.

Starring in a political thriller does not make one an expert in geopolitics.

And we know from experience that holding a seat in Congress doesn't guarantee that someone knows anything about economics.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Thu - May 4, 2006 at 04:26 AM  Tag


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