Comments on: More Celebrity Atheism http://caughtinplay.com/celebrity-atheism/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=celebrity-atheism the culture of entertainment Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:46:41 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Brett J http://caughtinplay.com/celebrity-atheism/comment-page-1/#comment-80 Brett J Tue, 01 Sep 2009 20:47:59 +0000 http://caughtinplay.com/?p=220#comment-80 I hadn't encountered Erving Goffman yet -- but i am quite intrigued. Thank you for the suggestion!! In return, I found Keith Johnstone's Impro quite insightful - likely some parallels to Goffman. http://www.amazon.com/Impro-Improvisation-Theatre-Keith-Johnstone/dp/0878301178 I hadn’t encountered Erving Goffman yet — but i am quite intrigued. Thank you for the suggestion!! In return, I found Keith Johnstone’s Impro quite insightful – likely some parallels to Goffman. http://www.amazon.com/Impro-Improvisation-Theatre-Keith-Johnstone/dp/0878301178

]]> By: Peter Stromberg http://caughtinplay.com/celebrity-atheism/comment-page-1/#comment-78 Peter Stromberg Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:45:32 +0000 http://caughtinplay.com/?p=220#comment-78 Again, an interesting observation (my guess is that you are probably familiar with <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Presentation-Self-Everyday-Life/dp/0844670170/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251823333&sr=1-1" rel="nofollow">Erving Goffman's</a> work on the presentation of self. Another book waiting to be written concerns the extent to which, throughout the 20th century, we have been under increasing pressure to present ourselves as images, at least in certain contexts. And alas, we lack Brad's budget. Again, an interesting observation (my guess is that you are probably familiar with Erving Goffman’s work on the presentation of self. Another book waiting to be written concerns the extent to which, throughout the 20th century, we have been under increasing pressure to present ourselves as images, at least in certain contexts. And alas, we lack Brad’s budget.

]]> By: Brett J http://caughtinplay.com/celebrity-atheism/comment-page-1/#comment-73 Brett J Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:48:55 +0000 http://caughtinplay.com/?p=220#comment-73 Agreed, and well put...we need to remain aware of how much of our perception, particularly of the ultra-celebs, is an image presented. The full 3-dimensional impression that should be drawn of someone like them often takes work to attempt to get a full picture of what the person is actually like. -- a thought on this: "However, what we encounter out here in the everyday world is usually not those actual people, rather we encounter highly scripted, airbrushed, and staged images that the actual people help to produce. The images are not the people; the images are, like the fictional characters in a film, symbols rather than physical beings." I'm sure you've thought on this, but the main difference between 'us' and 'they' in the above quoted snippet is not the second sentence, but the first. Their staged images are so much more that - with a whole crew of people who work to stage and airbrush most of their public appearances and persona. What we share with them is that we also present ourselves though symbols in the world, which is all that we can communicate through. We don't live airbrushed lives but we work each moment to keep cohesive our narrative we've built for ourselves. The distance we keep from the Jolie-Pitts is through the airbrushed-distance they keep from us - We all still "keep up appearances" but we don't (and can't) present ourselves as stone-washed as they. 'Buyer beware' indeed when it comes to what one choose to siphon and emulate from celebrities. The traits worth emulating may not be (/are often not) the ones most known or presented. Agreed, and well put…we need to remain aware of how much of our perception, particularly of the ultra-celebs, is an image presented. The full 3-dimensional impression that should be drawn of someone like them often takes work to attempt to get a full picture of what the person is actually like.

– a thought on this:
“However, what we encounter out here in the everyday world is usually not those actual people, rather we encounter highly scripted, airbrushed, and staged images that the actual people help to produce. The images are not the people; the images are, like the fictional characters in a film, symbols rather than physical beings.”

I’m sure you’ve thought on this, but the main difference between ‘us’ and ‘they’ in the above quoted snippet is not the second sentence, but the first. Their staged images are so much more that – with a whole crew of people who work to stage and airbrush most of their public appearances and persona. What we share with them is that we also present ourselves though symbols in the world, which is all that we can communicate through. We don’t live airbrushed lives but we work each moment to keep cohesive our narrative we’ve built for ourselves. The distance we keep from the Jolie-Pitts is through the airbrushed-distance they keep from us – We all still “keep up appearances” but we don’t (and can’t) present ourselves as stone-washed as they.

‘Buyer beware’ indeed when it comes to what one choose to siphon and emulate from celebrities. The traits worth emulating may not be (/are often not) the ones most known or presented.

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