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Yet still, we as a society are often unwilling to accept our own role in it. We’ve all seen how bad it can get out there in celeb land - Britney Spears’ journey alone should have us all questioning the darker side of fame. Most recently, he appeared in a two episodes of BBC Two’s sitcom, Out of her Mind, which explores themes of sexuality and biology.
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He has opted for several roles in theater productions including Bears in Space, The Water Orchard, and Science Fiction Radio Hour. It’s really no surprise the evil king was dubbed a scholar, now is it? Life After Game of Thrones: Jack Gleeson’s Slow Return to the StageĪlthough Gleeson has, in the last few years, begun a gradual return to the stage, it should hardly be surprising that it’s 100% on his own terms. He uses sociological theories to defend his point that celebrity worship and imitation can be damaging because the “role model does not feel a duty to instantiate, shall we say, suitable values to adopt.”Īnd finally, Gleeson called out the publicity-obsessed character of celebrity culture for what it actually is: advertising for the sake of capitalistic gains.
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Indeed, the apotheosis of celebrity is not just confined to the worship of movie idols, pop stars, sports heroes or even reality TV stars, we have bloody celebrity chefs, authors, comedians, politicians, intellectuals, scientists, business people, cheesemongers, and milliners who can simply stick out their faces at us on advertisements, talk shows, and magazine covers.” “It is revered almost religiously-both the institution and its quickly growing member base. “Celebrities seem by a huge amount of people and, certainly by myself for awhile, as the pinnacle of success,” he said. RELATED: How Christina Ricci Went from Underrated Actor to Outspoken Activist and Back Again It’s worth noting that Gleeson has also been very quick to express gratitude for his success and all that it has afforded him: “opportunities which I see as truly once in a lifetime.” Still, he brilliantly questions the need for how far it goes, asserting that the downside of the artificial elevation inherent to fame far outweighs any benefit derived, by, well, anyone.
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I detested the superficial elevation and commodification of it all, juxtaposed with the grotesque self-involvement it would sometimes draw out in me.” “People suddenly wanted to take pictures of me on the street, and journalists were interested in what sort of socks I preferred. It was an environment from which I instantly wanted to retreat. “Unbeknownst to me, signed an invisible contract which required me to enter into a strange new echelon of society,” he continued. RELATED: Mary Kate & Ashley Olsen: Why the Child Stars Who Became Business Icons DisappearedĪnd while some might accuse Gleeson of complaining from a place of pure privilege, it’s important to ask ourselves: is it really all that fair to expect someone to give up their privacy and autonomy just because we find them compelling or fascinating? Reducing celebrities to their image alone (which is what we tend to do) removes their humanity in a way that desensitizes us to the very real emotions they experience in reaction to the obsessive and even addictive nature of celebrity consumption. Gleeson does not shy away from expressing his thoughts on how messed up the very notion of “celebrity.” He points out that simply by being an actor lucky enough to see some success, he was tossed into a whole new realm rather unsuspectingly (and naively, he admits), and made to feel that how he felt about it was beside the point. Upon hearing the news that I received the role of Joffrey, I really did not expect all of the subsidiary things that come with being an actor on a successful television program.”
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Strangers on the street now call me Jack and my public image is democratized by fans and institutions alike by the Internet. “Since the show has aired,” Jack Gleeson said, “I’ve been given an insider look into an ever-pervasive and yet often mysterious aspect of society, namely, our culture of celebrity.
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