(I think they have been unfree for so long they no longer would have any clue what they would use freedom for.)
A Danish friend of mine, unaware that it was An Expression, back in the eighties was very impressed that Margareth Thatcher "had made the trains run on time". He thought it was a literal statement.
Talking about Expressions, is "it gets you a table in restaurants" one?
David Bowie said it in an interview, about fame of course. (He added that this was about the only thing to be said for it.)Even if it is an expression, I am sure it is literally true also.
And so my question is: if a restaurant is actually full, and David Bowie or George Stephanopoulos comes around, what does the manager do? Does he go up to one of his loyal customers and say "sorry, but you're out of here"? Does he say "This meal and your next ten are free if you'll leave right away"? What does he do?
Celebrity is such a strange thing. Why are people so deeply interested in somebody's private life just because they are famous? (And I notice they are only interested in their private life, not in what these people actually do that may actually be important.)
7 comments:
Restaurants that occasionally get celebrity visitors keep one or two tables "reserved" for this purpose. They will tell their non-celebrity customers that they are full when in fact they are not. The publicity benefit of getting the occasional celebrity visit more than makes up for the lost earnings from the one or two continuously underused tables.
I am not a celebrity and have no problem with this. Restaurant owners have every right to run their business as they please.
Re the restaurants: I did not mean to imply that I give a rat's ass. I was just curious how it worked.
If it is as you say, then I guess that it means that this advantage to being famous only works if you only frequent that kind of restaurant... Seems rather limited.
In back alley joints, or even "middle class" places, things work differently. For them, celebrity visits are so rare that the above mentioned strategy would be pointless. But in the odd occasion when celebs do visit those places their motivation usually is to act as ordinary people anyway, and try to blend in. The restaurant probably still tries its best but the clebs don't necessarily expect anything special—or might even prefer NOT to be treated special.
Of course, then there's the Soup Nazi approach.
Yeah! The private life of the Hilton clients in Paris is their own damn business! ;-)
I think the trend to fixate on celebrities may sum up to two very simple factors :
- The obvious : attraction of fame, power, attention, as in dreaming upon a star. (A show-biz star.) Basic envy. Starring Sharon Stone.
- The meaningful : people like to see and double-check that fame, money, power, etc... doesn't give those envied, "privileged" big shots any more guarantee of happiness, and therefore, it feels comforting not to be able to become like them, although we really wish we could. Basic spite of self-presumed mediocrity.
Kind of simplistic, I know, but probably very relevant when applied to some. (By the way, Eolake, where's that romantic date with Juliet you promised me months ago? Bah, see if I care!)
Oh, and, in case you FINALLY decide to keep up to your word, I'd rather you got us a restaurant where they serve something else besides rat's ass. I'm not too fond of rodent meat. Or nazi soup...
"Perhaps we should start a campagn to actively ignore them? Do you think if enough of us did that they would go away?"
Sure.
Problem is the only people who'd listen to you are those who give a dead dingo's dong about the future of civilization.
Actually, thinking about it, the P Hilton type celebrities serve a function: they take the pressure of celebrity a bit away from people who actually have a job to do.
Paris who?
Oh yeah, that average-looking internet porn star. Never felt like buying her video... ;-p
Post a Comment