Friday, January 05, 2007

Talk dirty to me



Did anybody else watch Dirt? I had been anticipating this show for quite some time. I was curious how Hollywood would portray the paparazzi. I have to admit that I was sort of disappointed. WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!

First of all, I expected Courtney Cox's character to be downright evil, even worse than Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada. But she wasn't and that just didn't ring true to me. I didn't want to feel bad for her when she used a stun gun on her latest conquest because she thought he was just using her to get publicity for his band. Wouldn't the woman, that this show is supposedly modeled after, who invades the lives of celebrities for profit, have to be pretty coldhearted? I would think so.

I thought that the photographer did an excellent job. It was fun to watch him lose it and see words jumping out of people's mouths. I nearly cried when he lost his cat because you knew it was the only thing in the world that he cared about. I have a feeling he might be the reason this show stays on a little longer.

Don't get me wrong, I like to peruse the rags at the checkout counter just as much as the next girl, but I do think that it is getting out of control. I don't like seeing the pictures of the celebrity's children splashed all over the place. I know a lot of people feel that celebrities have chosen this way of life so they just have to deal with it. That doesn't seem fair to me. I love to write. I hope that I can continue to do so for the rest of my life. Writers are lucky, they are semi-famous, but can still go grocery shopping without getting mauled. But what if things got flipped around and best selling authors were thrust into the spotlight. What if you had to choose between being famous and exposing your family's every move or giving up something you love to do? What would you do?

I would keep writing. I would don the dark glasses, costumes, and wigs and try my best to dodge the paparazzi until my latest release was coming out and I needed them. I'd do exactly what most of the famous people do. Complain when they were bothering me and use them when I needed them. I think just about anybody would. How about you?

So tell me what you think, should they impose boundaries on the paparazzi or do you get what you deserve being famous?

Happy Friday!

xo,

Steph

www.stephaniehale.com

3 comments:

TinaFerraro said...

Interesting post, Steph, and some things I have thought about myself...

Some years back, I had a family restaurant dinner with a big name celeb. One of his fans spotted us and followed me and my 4 year-old to the bathroom, pretended to know me, wanted to come back to my table, etc. It was my own glimpse into what some celebrities deal with on a daily basis--and I HATED IT and felt oddly violated. I can't imagine living like that.

That said, I figure I am past the point where the camera would ever love me, so I'm free to be the Next Big Thing in Publishing while retaining a private life. :)

I didn't see the TV show you mentioned, but it sounds interesting...I'm going to check it out. There's clearly a lot of subject matter there.

Tina

www.tinaferraro.com

Simone Elkeles said...

I heard about Courtney Cox's new debut, but I didn't watch it. I'm a reality junkie. If I want fiction, I either read it or write it.

I'm on the fence about the paparazzi thing. Yes, the celebs like to have their faces splahed all over because it brings attention to them. But I absolutely think it goes overboard and would love it to stop with laws to protect not the privacy, but the intrusion.

~Simone Elkeles
www.simoneelkeles.com

Anonymous said...

I agree with Simone. We all saw what happened when Princess Di was killed. Talk about tragic! And the car accident with Lindsay Lohan and that guy chasing her down. I realize it's their job, and if you're famous, this is what's going to happen, but geez...there's something called "personal space". If you're right up on me, in my face, with a f****ing camera, you'd best believe I'm gonna do something about it. Mainly knee you in the balls.

A while back, there was a movie called "Paparazzi". It had Cole Hauser and Robin Tunney in it. I wanted to see it in the theater, and only managed to catch the last, maybe, 20 mins of it when it came on cable. But it was basically about this guy who became a big name action star--freshly discovered. These two Pap guys (one of them being actor Tom Sizemore)hounded him and his family. They chased him down, caused him to crash his car and his son ended up in the hospital. I don't know what he did before he became a star, but he turned things around on these guys and got a little payback.

If it comes on again, I plan to watch it from the beginning because it looked really good. Can you just imagine that? A movie star getting so pissed that instead of suing the paper, he just went after the photographer? I mean, they have the means to do it, y'know. If they got it in their heads, those movie stars could really make your life a living hell if you got on their bad side too many times.