Ranting On...Taking Down Celebrities

This morning, I was listening to Dave Ryan (I wasn't in control of the radio station), and the discussion of Reese Witherspoon and her now infamous dashboard arrest video came up for debate.  Dave Ryan spouted off on how this showed her true colors and that this proves that she's just like every other celebrity, and after hearing it, his opinion of her had changed.

Now, this is Dave Ryan, who makes his living from saying outlandish and occasionally obtuse things, but it did get me thinking about how we, as a culture, persistently and constantly are trying to take down those that we have put up on a pedastal, and how we react in gargantuan manner when they make a mistake or a gaffe.

Yes, Reese Witherspoon made a mistake, and is obviously going through the legal system to pay for her transgressions, and if you watched Good Morning America yesterday, she clearly realizes the errors of her ways.  This is not an Amanda Bynes/Lindsay Lohan situation where she's slipped multiple times and tried to make excuses-she admitted her mistake and is trying to make amends.  And yet, everyone seems willing to jump down her throat, despite the fact that if you've hit adulthood, while you may not have done what Ms. Witherspoon did, you've done things that you wouldn't want to be judged for and that you're very glad you didn't have to have discussed on every talk show and radio program in America.

The problem is that it's such an easy reaction to hate on someone who is famous, and oftentimes, this hatred comes from something even more minute than Reese's infraction.  People like Anne Hathaway, Lena Dunham, Jennifer Aniston, Sarah Jessica Parker, Katherine Heigl, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kristen Stewart, and January Jones all have livid hatebases on the internet, and all for things that we are so quick to forgive other celebrities for doing.  Some of these women have had infidelities (Jones and Stewart, for example, despite us being relatively forgiving of the married Brad Pitt a few years back).  Some have made a couple of bad movies (Heigl and Aniston, though you'd never guess that Mark Wahlberg hadn't made a bad movie based on his reaction from the collective internet).  Some had the audacity to be successful when they didn't conform to a standard beauty type (Dunham and Parker), even though Paul Giamatti and Philip Seymour Hoffman both have gained leading-man status without resembling Rock Hudson.

You see the obvious point I'm making here with the examples; it's quite apparent that women are disproportionately the victims of this random vitriol from the populace.  When men get into the ire of the moviegoing world, it's usually because they have crossed the line in a legal manner or in a completely unacceptable set of behaviors (Mel Gibson and Chris Brown spring to mind).  Even when they become pariahs, they're far more likely to bounce back if they take some time out of the public spotlight (were she to become clean-and-sober tomorrow, I suspect there is no amount of publicity-maneuvering that could get Lindsay Lohan as forgiven by the public as Robert Downey Jr. has become).  To pretend there isn't rampant sexism in a lot of cases is doing us all a disservice-compare the reaction to Sarah Jessica Parker with her fellow HBO star Steve Buscemi and tell me otherwise.

The question becomes why, though, do we want to hate public figures so much, and how much of a disservice are we doing ourselves in the process?  The hatred comes from a thousand different places-jealousy, I would assume, would be a big part of it.  Not understanding why the person is popular in the first place is another contributing factor (those who don't comprehend the appeal of the Twilight franchise may not understand why Kristen Stewart is popular and may berate her, but to once again prove the double-sword point, you rarely hear a peep uttered about Taylor Lautner or Kellan Lutz's lack of acting ability).

The ways that it affects us as a society is huge.  There's a lot of talk about bullying, but what does it teach young people when we toss aside Lena Dunham for being different, despite clear talent and drive and boundary-breaking?  Don't we want our young people to grow up to be someone like Anne Hathaway, someone who wants to succeed, clearly is passionate about what she does, and strives to make her dreams come true?  By putting our public figures into such a small box and constantly tearing them down, it slowly makes it okay for us to do the same to each other, and while that's a bit of a Pollyanna-esque sentiment, there's a lot of truth in it.

For the more cynical amongst us, look at how this focus on mistakes and not on the artist behind the mistake or the imperfection is impeding our political process.  We've gotten to a point where "binders full of women" and "you didn't built that," slips of the tongue or phrases taken out of context have replaced any sort of meaningful discourse in elections.  We oftentimes (rightfully) complain about what the culture in Washington is like, with all of the focus being on fighting and grandstanding, but when we solely focus on those soundbytes and the hatred being spewed from the Rush Limbaughs and Glenn Becks, aren't we telling Washington that's what we want?  If we aren't constantly demanding a more substantive, forgiving society, who can blame Washington, the media, and the tabloids for giving us TMZ-style reporting rather than one of substance?

I will admit, as I close out this article that I am not impervious to the inexplicable celebrity hatred that has targeted many of these women, as I've never claimed to be a fan of Taylor Swift and it's probably entered the "being cruel" territory more than once.  I'm not 100% certain where it comes from-it might be the jealousy aspect (you look at the list of guys she's dated and not have a twinge of envy), it might be that I'm not a huge fan of her music (a couple of songs have snuck into my iPod, admittedly, but I'm not lining up for her concerts), or it might be that I find her a bit staged at awards shows.  However, if I look at it objectively, she's clearly a young woman with a huge fanbase, a strong inner compass, and seems like a genuinely nice person.  So, in the spirit of the message I'm trying to send here, the imaginary ax has been buried Taylor, and I apologize for adding to the collective negativity.  I can't promise that I won't critique your acting or singing occasionally (this is a blog that runs off of film reviews), but you can rest assured that any random negative comments on websites or blogs attacking your person or life choices will not come from me.  You won't need to be asking me "why you gotta be so mean."

But what about you-why do you think that people are so quick to jump on celebrities, particularly female celebrities?  Do you think that Reese is destined to be on this list of celebrities turned puching bags, or do you think she'll rebound?  And what celebrity do you feel the need to admit that your irrational dislike of them is, well, irrational?  Share in the comments.