April 24, 2020

"Now celebrities think: 'The general public needs to see my face. They can’t get to the cinema — I need to do something.'"

"And it’s when you look into their eyes, you know that, even if they’re doing something good, they’re sort of thinking, 'I could weep at what a good person I am.' Oh dear."

Said Ricky Gervais, quoted in the NYT.

39 comments:

Nonapod said...

Their very livelyhood is about pleasing strangers with performance. Their brains have been wired for performace for decades. It's a difficult mindset to understand for regular people.

But wealthy celebrities should try to keep in mind that during a crisis such as this, with millions of people who have lost their jobs, people probably aren't going to get sastifaction or reassurance by watching wealthy and entitled people living their wealthy and entitled lives and behaving in wealthy and entitled ways. We're not ready to see them now and it might be a while before we'll be willing to see them again.

rcocean said...

Celebrities are so turn of the century. Very cornball.

Caligula said...

The News: Celebrities think!

Addendum: They think, but only about themselves (and how they might look to others).

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

I dunno Nonapod; Althouse seems to enjoy “the music of the quarantine.” Maybe there are more like her.

Wince said...
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MD Greene said...

Good for Mr. Gervais.

We're getting told what to do for our own good by "27-year-olds who literally know nothing" and who accept without question Joe Biden's laughable claim to be a tough guy on China. We're getting told, repeatedly, What You Need to Know Now when there is nothing to "know." We're being presented with the considered opinions of puffed-up influencers and bureaucratic chuckleheads who pooh-pooh question the parameters of every single attempt to quantify the reach of this disease. We are not getting even estimates of how much this will cost -- including taxes uncollected on top of $2.5 trillion in stimulus on top of our usual trillion-dollar deficits in years of full employment and robust economic growth.

Now, more than ever, we need cynics. Seriously.

Wince said...

I get the feeling Gervais was thinking of Seinfeld and Babhu Bat when he said that.

"I am such a great guy."

Kovacs said...

Trump, of course, is the ultimate celebrity.

"The public needs to hear my thoughts, no matter how half-baked or hazardous to their health. They can't get to the rallies--I need to do something."

His whole political livelihood is about pleasing people with his performance. His brain has been wired for performance for decades. It's a difficult mind-set to understand for regular people.

He thinks, but only about himself (and how he might look to others).

Lurker21 said...

I wanted to say "Bah Humbug" to the video yesterday of the "Tears for Fears" guy and his daughter, but I didn't want to wreck anyone's mood. I don't know about other people but nothing a celeb says or does is going to improve my mood. Not Steve Martin playing his banjo, either. It might have been different in the forties when Vera Lynn or Bob Hope or Betty Grable had to hack their way through the jungle to entertain the troops, but times have changed and the situation is very different now.

narciso said...

good news everyone

J. Farmer said...

I'm a fan of Gervais but at some point isn't his lampooning of celebrities and their self-importance and need for attention and validation going to become self-defeating. He's giving them attention and saying that they are at least important enough to mock. Granted, the celebrity Imagine sing along was one of the most tone deaf (literally and figuratively) things I've seen in a while. Nothing cheers up furloughed shut-ins more than rich people isolating in their mansions letting you know we're all in this together. But like the assault on the Twin Towers, it did briefly unite us all in our hatred and contempt.

PM said...

It'd be awesome if the Covid antidote is developed by Greta Thunberg.

Kevin said...

I agree, but I'm watching the Met Opera At Home Gala tomorrow at 1pm eastern anyway.

I hope they don't do the treacly speeches and videos like the sad Lady Gaga thing. I suspect they will have the good taste not to.

Nonapod said...

Disney seems to be determined to drive away Star Wars fans for some reason. It's almost like they hate money.

Yancey Ward said...

What is the story with the tag "celebritneys"? I went back to the earliest post with this tag, and it was unexplained. Can I assume it has something to do with Britney Spears?

jerpod said...

I like the tag "celebritneys", but for this post it should be "celebrickys".

traditionalguy said...

Play actors all. Hollywood ones are better looking and resent the ugly ones in Government getting more praises. War time puts both acting troops in perspective as phonies. We want sports back because it is mostly real plays , or less rigged.

But World Governance guys desperately want a World Epidemic to make their authority total. And Trump laughs.

Temujin said...

Kovacs, you are partially correct. Trump, on the other hand, is known for also spending time with the 'little people' everywhere. Not only acknowledging them, but having real conversations with them, helping them, and standing up for them- when the cameras are not around. He's so much like the other celebrities, except for the ways he's not. Trump is Trump. To compare him with others is like working a Chinese Finger Trap. If I can say that. Jeez, probably need to change the name on those things, too.

Anyway- talking of celebrities, it was good to hear from the Stones today. Very good to hear. Living in a Ghost Town

Kevin said...

Ricky is the Trump of Hollywood.

He points them out from the stage and tells them, "You're fake news!"

Gahrie said...

I don't like Ricky Gervais. I think he's a semi-talented asshole. Sort of a British version of Patton Oswalt.

But I do respect his courage to attack the PC/celebrity culture, and do it to their faces.

J. Farmer said...

@Nonapod:

Disney seems to be determined to drive away Star Wars fans for some reason. It's almost like they hate money.

Seems they assume the old fan base will wither away, and they are going for the newer, woker crowd. Nowadays, with big name franchises, the movies are little more than two-hour trailer for the next movie. After George Lucas disappointed everyone with the prequels, he was probably smart to cash out.

Freeman Hunt said...

I thought this stuntman collaboration was good. Also, Patrick Stewart reading Shakespeare. Robe Lowe's comedic photo shoot. Steve Martin's banjo playing. Nice for actors with particular skills to use them during this time. People who entertain for a living should try to be especially entertaining when their audience is going through a hard time.

It's the look-at-me-doing-nothimg-worth-looking-at posts, like that awful Imagine collaboration, that are lame.

Freeman Hunt said...

And Gervais is doing that here, being funny and entertaining.

Paddy O said...

"Nowadays, with big name franchises, the movies are little more than two-hour trailer for the next movie."

But there's also The Mandalorian. Jon Favreau set up the success of the MCU and might be a savior for Star Wars.

Nonapod said...

J. Farmer said...they are going for the newer, woker crowd.

I'm unconvinced that there's honestly that much long term money in such a crowd. Maybe there is? How big really is the "woke" audience? It doesn't seem to have been big enough to save the old comic book industry. And how big is the audience for irreverent big budget space operas that don't have overt political messaging?

Yancey Ward said...

I am 54 in July. I saw "Star Wars" in the theater the year after its release, and saw the two subsequent movies on their weekend release dates. I was a huge fan. My demographic was surely the revenue for the prequels, but I no longer want to see anything new from the franchise. I don't know who it is that goes to the movies made in the last 5 years, but will they be there for whatever follows in the next two decades? I get the feeling they won't. I can't think of a single person anywhere that is enthralled with the recently finished trilogy the way my generation was with the original three movies. Disney may well have killed it.

tim maguire said...
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tim maguire said...

I didn't much care for the British Office. In fact, there is very little of Gervais' TV work that I like. But I like him. And the more I'm exposed to him and his thinking, the more I like him. There aren't many people in entertainment you can say that about.

tim maguire said...

Freeman Hunt: +1

Thanks for the link.

whitney said...

Maybe they think that but the fact is they're dying from the lack of attention. These narcissists don't exist unless people are looking at them. I hope everyone stops looking. The bright spot of all this is the destruction of Hollywood, pro Sports, the universities and newspapers. Here's hoping the rest of the media gets destroyed as well

Michael K said...

Drive-in movie theaters are full in Florida. I've been predicting a comeback for them post virus. Malls are dying. Why not replace them with drive-ins?

William said...

I think Lifetime and Hallmark should produce a few movies with car chases. A few boob scenes wouldn't hurt either, but full frontal nudity would probably hurt the brand. They should try to be inclusive and sensitive to the concerns of the male demographic.

JPS said...

William,

Puts me in mind of Dave Barry:

"Women...can be fascinated by a four-hour movie with subtitles wherein the entire plot consists of a man and a woman yearning to have, but never actually having, a relationship. Men hate that. Men can take maybe forty-five seconds of yearning, and then they want everybody to get naked. Followed by a car chase. A movie called Naked People in Car Chases would do really well among men."

William said...

I'm not knocking celebs. Many of them have great talents. They have attractive features and can emulate wisdom, courage, kindness--all the desirable human characteristics--in a photogenic way. It's a rare knack, and I suppose they deserve all their money and fame. I wish though they had a certain amount of humility and realized that their ability to emulate these admirable features does not mean that they actually possess them......The ability to carry a tune does not mean you have found harmony in your personal or political life. Rather the opposite. Most of the top singers have chaotic personal lives, and their judgment on things other than music is not to be trusted.

William said...
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ALP said...

Dunno, Flula has been doing his best work in quarantine...just sayin'

William said...

I like Gervais, but I'm bound to say that he never achieved the hilarity of Jim Carrey during his peak years. I don't think there's a bigger idiot in Hollywood than Jim Carrey, but he made some very, very funny movies....I don't know what to make of this. I guess comedic talent doesn't translate into political wisdom.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Turns out - there are machines that can shine UV into the lungs.

Known Unknown said...

"Turns out - there are machines that can shine UV into the lungs."

I was waiting for this. Trump says something 'obviously stupid' and then 2 weeks later there's some sort of breakthrough treatment like the one you've mentioned.