You may or may not have heard the shocking news featured on every tabloid and celebrity paper recently but Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt broke up. Something about how they didn't feel compatible anymore--according to one source, Brad's treatment of their children wasn't up to Angelina's expectations. This bewildered the entire world because so many people (including myself) saw Angelina and Brad--Brangelina--as the power couple. They were the couple in Hollywood that everyone swore would be married up to the day they died. I'm sure people thought that they would be holding hands the moment they drew their last breath--together.
When I heard the news about their impending divorce from one of my friends a few days ago, I was, of course, stunned. I don't follow Hollywood events very often but even I knew about the great romance of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. As the day went on, more and more people found out. When my friend Ally learned of the news, I remember how her wide eyes filled with surprise. No one could believe it. It caught us all off guard and for some reason, saddened us.
But why is that? Have you ever wondered why a break up halfway across the country should make us sad? Why do our hearts break when we hear this news and why do we feel slightly disappointed as if the couple has let us down? Why should it matter so much that two people we don't even know are leaving each other?
It got me thinking that ordinary citizens, like you and me, invest so much of ourselves into the lives of celebrities, people we don't know. We see them as perfect stars, something we can never really measure up to. We memorize useless and small facts about them, absentmindedly gathering facts about their lives, habits, and family members. We marvel at what they do--their charity, their generosity--and scramble to know everything about them. They become our role models, our heroes.
What we forget is that they are human. Celebrities are not infallible--they are just like us. They may be prettier, nicer, wiser, or more talented but they are nevertheless human. We, the ordinary citizens, are the ones who make them to be more than they are. By giving them attention and fame, we require celebrities to be paragons of our best beliefs. And in doing so, we forget that they are human. And that humans make mistakes. This forgotten fact is the reason for the constant pouring over tabloid articles and the dismay in our gut when we realize that our favorite couple was not as in love as we thought.
What Brangelina's break up did was crack the belief of celebrities' perfection. It showed us that things may not always be how they look and that it is easy for us to believe in the facade. So is it better to believe in the facade of a happy marriage or the truth? I guess it goes back to the old adage "Ignorance is bliss".
I don't know.
It just seems weird to me that almost every celebrity couple usually ends up getting divorced. Maybe it's because their in that spotlight so often and their personal lives are given to us as entertainment. It is weird though how we idolize people who are, like you said, human like us. Good ponderings :)
ReplyDeleteLizzy makes a good point: It seems like being in the spotlight would put even more strain on a marriage than the usual stuff like life stresses, the way people change over time, the ups and downs of raising kids, etc. I do not envy celebrity couples.
ReplyDeleteThis post reminds me of how Mr. Butler talks about everyone wanting a superhero. I guess we look up to celebrities like this because we want to believe there's someone out there that we can view as perfect, and can base our behaviors off of. It is indeed blissful to ignorantly believe that there is someone perfect out there to look up to.
ReplyDeleteGood post! I like how you say, "By giving them attention and fame, we require celebrities to be paragons of our best beliefs." It's so true - I guess we kind of force these expectations on celebrities just so we can have people to look up to. It's weird to think about it like that.
ReplyDeleteI often find myself feeding into the industry. I love reality tv, tabloids, and celebrity gossip, yet even Brangelina surprised me. I agree that we often lose sight that they are humans, however, sometimes I remind myself when I feel down that people like Beyonce were once just like me. Nice post, very thought provoking! :)
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