In this modern era of media, one in which the consumer has so drastically lowered their expectations of quality, it seems we care more about the characters that actors play in their everyday lives than the roles they embody on screen. We give more notice to the sex lives of political figures than the legislation they shape or the bills they write.
As a loyal fan who is choosing to remember “Wild Thing” at the top of his game, retaining some sense of nostalgia in the memory of “Major League,” it has been getting increasingly difficult to ignore the 24/7 barrage of Charlie Sheen’s impending self-destruction.
If the content being put out on news sites, blogs or television broadcasts is any indicator of what we’re really interested in as a nation, maybe we’re all in the same boat as Charlie. Maybe we’ve hit rock bottom. Now let us see how far we have fallen.
1. Inappropriate texting and mistresses abroad.
As if competing to see who can do it better, nobody has perfected the art of the inappropriate text message or the love of the call-girl like politicians and professional athletes. The list of names, dating back to Thomas Jefferson, threatens to exceed my 500-word limit on its own.
It’s safe to say that the political careers of former President Bill Clinton, former New York Gov. Elliot Spitzer, former Sen. John Edwards, and, most recently, former Rep. Chris Lee, R-NY, have been transformed into media spectacles, if serving no other purpose than to fill time slots and provide enough banter to get political journalists and talk-show hosts from commercial to commercial.
2. "Celebrity Rehab."
It’s likely that the sole reason celebrity drug addiction garners so much of our attention is because it might actually make us feel better about our own dull lives. As Chuck Palahniuk once wrote, “Life's greatest comfort is being able to look over your shoulder and see people worse off, waiting in line behind you.” The show “Celebrity Rehab” is a perfect example of our infatuation with this particular subject. The program highlights B-List celebs being treated for abusing various drugs that normal people would face years in prison for.
3. The sex tape.
For the most part, Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian really hadn’t gained any notoriety until after their respective sex tapes were released. These days it seems if you’re an actor or musician — or in Paris’s case, just famous for being famous — and your career is on the decline, just let the paparazzi sneak a photo of you stumbling drunk out of the club and into the driver’s seat of the car or spend a weekend with Lindsay Lohan. However, if you really want to make a splash, put out a sex tape!
In the end, columns like this are part of the problem too. It’s a vicious cycle of bad press in every sense of the phrase. I’d like to think that my hyperbolic dismissal of any interest in the lives of out-of-control celebs puts me higher on the proverbial totem pole, but I’m just as bad. I think the only appropriate way to end this is with some words of wisdom from Charlie Sheen: “Fame is empowering. My mistake is that I thought I would instinctively know how to handle it. But there’s no manual, there’s no training course.”
Reach Ben at bkarris@asu.edu
