andrewducker | (no subject)

I happened to be flipping through a copy of Star in the checkout line at the grocery store the other day and they had a "Stars with No Makeup" photo spread, which had a bunch of people in it, including Julia Roberts, Brittany and Madonna. And you know what? Without their carefully applied make-up, these people look like us. Which is to say, not that attractive.

quoth someone in a friends only post.

I see at least 5 people a week that are _easily_ as pretty as film stars - they just don't have the airbrushing, lighting, makeup, etc. that stars have.

People fixate on celebrities - they fill in for demi-gods and glorious leaders in a time when actual gods and leaders have fallen into severe disrepute. I remember seeing a photo of Winona Ryder on the fromt of Empire and being repulsed because she didn't look like a woman but like a robotic copy of a woman. I hadn't fallen for a robot demi-god when I saw Beetlejuice - I'd fallen for a personality (and yes, I was young, and it was a long time ago).

I've slowly lost all of my heroes - they all turned out to be human. Part of me misses that, part of me thinks it has to be a good thing.

[Poll #206323]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I have heroes. They just don't tend to be celebrities.

My heroes are not super-human. In fact, the people who are heroes in my eyes are ordinary people who somehow find the strength and commitment to do extraordinary things. The Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, Martin Luther King Jr. ... they are some of my heroes. They all have/had flaws, they're all human beings just like you and me ... and yet they are also something more. Not because of who they are, necessarily, but because of what they do.

I have trouble with the heroes thing too. In my feminist period I was right into Catherine McKinon and Marge Piercy. But now that all seems a bit passe. Currently I'm mildly obsessed with James Marsters and Larry Lessig (an unlikely pairing if ever there was) - but I don't know if I'd say they were my HEROES exactly..

I don't think in this era of relative not absolute ideals we can actually have heroes?? Discuss.

OK, at the moment, maybe Ellen MacArthur, for all the sheer sleep-deprived poverty stricken determination to sail (and the incredibly appealing fact that she looks less at home in a dress and heels than I do!)

All my heroes tend to be ornery old bastards that get the job done. No makeup to come off in the first place, though perhaps my illusions would be shattered to find out they were actually nice people.

Nicely put. :)