celebrity.

I will be interested to see what sort of staying power the celebrity of movie and tv actors have. I will be surprised if it is much. In one hundred years will anyone remember people like Julia Roberts? When our parents die will people remember the names of Clark Gabel and Lucille Ball? I dunno. Maybe if their shows are being re-runned and their movies still watched. But maybe by then all movies will be in virtual reality 3D smellovision, and 2D drama will only be watched by the counter culture kids. On laser discs. While listening to music on those old cylinders...what were they made of? wax or something?

Not until recently has it been practical for actors to be celebrities in the way they are now. Or even for there to be celebrities the way we have them now. So the past is not a great guide to predict the future status of current celebrities.

But it is hard for me to imagine the future having any reason to remember our actors of today. For the most part, people only love them because they are attractive and well known. There will always be more people who are just as attractive and even more well known. It is not as if actor celebrities are doing anything that significantly alters our lives in a way that will deserve our future selves remembering admirably. The way scientists, artists or writers do.

It is interesting that what may be the most famous people of the present, are those most likely to fade away in the future. All those people who desperately want to feel as if they have value by getting the admiration of a legion of strangers would better serve their misplaced desires by doing something that has an actual effect on the quality of our lives and will be well thought of by infinitely more people growing exponentially into the future.

It is funny and strange actors are so admired and fawned over. They are so boring. Their lives aren't boring per se, because they are rich and do wacky things, but they as people are not particularly interesting. I can understand that when we know someone, even if only from a distance, we like to hear information and news about them, and actors are in a position to be easily known by many people, leading to many people having some interest in what happens to them. But aside from that, actors seem like some of the least newsworthy people of all. All they do is give voice and face to the genius of writers and directors.(of course some are better at this than others but generally the quality of one's acting isn't what creates super-stardom).

When I think of all the people I admire, I can't think of a single actor. Even the actors I really love, like Philip Seymore Hoffman, I am almost totally indifferent to him as a person. Nothing I have learned about him has caused me to think he is interesting or admirable (not that I think negatively about him, but he seems like nothing special, aside from his great acting). Even if there were an actor I happened to admire as a person, it would likely have very little to do with their role as an actor, but rather, other things unrelated to acting, like they are a smart or funny or exceptionally kind or gentle person. (speaking of funny, funny actors are a slight exception to what I am saying. Because I do admire some actors for their ability to be very funny while acting lines they did not write, like Norm Macdonald. I love that guy! And just being funny in general is something I admire. And of course, people like Larry David or Ricky Gervais are total exceptions because they help write the funny stuff they say, and help alter the landscape of comedy in general.)

Here is a photo of a laser disk, in honor of its being mentioned above: