Post #1

Growing up in an area just south of Hollywood, the capital of entertainment, I have been exposed to fame and celebrity my whole life. Not just in magazines, but in personal sightings and personal relationships. The article "Seeing by Starlight: Celebrity Obsession" examined connections to celebrities via television and tabloid magazines yet my experiences and connections have not always been limited to that. Casually mentioning names in conversation, I forget that people have different reactions towards celebrities than I do. I guess you can say that I take it for granted. That's not to say I don't get over excited when I see someone famous, because I definitely do. I've just grown up around it, so I'm more used to it than other people might be. But seeing more A-list celebrities, I tend not to put much stock into reality stars or reality television. To me they don't deserve all the attention when they haven't put in the work that goes into making a name for yourself. I'm often the last to know about who broke up with who or who just adopted a child from a third world country, because I tend not to pick up magazines in grocery stores. I don't really know a lot of information about random celebrities, rather just a few certain ones that I admire. The article also talks about how we feel that certain celebrities are our friends because we always read about them and I totally agree. We sympathize when they go through heartbreak, and rejoice when they triumph and feel that somehow that connects them to us. We like to read about their drama because it spices up our lives somehow.

One of the most dramatic and controversial celebrities, Lindsay Lohan is portrayed in conflicting ways in the VF article "Adrift...". The author says she looks "raw" and then turns around and says Lohan is an "all-American beauty" who still looked like a movie star despite everything she has been through. The back handed compliments continue throughout the article. There is a sense that the writer admired Lohan once for her work, but has become one of the general public that constantly questions her sincerity and her ability to contribute something meaningful to her craft. The author also seems to paint Lohan as someone who is a bit closed off and who constantly makes excuses for her actions instead of just owning up to what she has done. I think that it makes sense for Lohan to put up walls when being interviewed. After everything she has been through, with constant tabloid stories that confuse the truth and rumor, it is understandable that she spouts the same old lines every interview. The conclusion that the article wants the reader to draw seems to be that Hollywood is a dangerous, out of control place for a young teenager experiencing the world for the first time in this fast paced town. And that is an accurate conclusion. Hollywood for a young teenager is an exciting place to be, but with no one there to help you realize what is wrong or right, reputations can easily be dragged through the mud by manipulative people just pretending to be a friend to get their fifteen minutes of fame. Not knowing who you can trust can be really hard to deal with, so it is easy to see how Lohan fell in with the wrong crowd. The article was an interesting look into a fallen star's life and how she keeps trying, and failing, to get it back on track.