The Difference Between a Do-Good Celebrity and a Do-Bad Celebrity
I was watching Spike Lee's HOB documentary on Post-Katrina New Orleans and was struck by the unintended compare and contrast of Brad Pitt and Sean Penn. Here was Brad Pitt, completely side-stepping government and using private sector investment and private ownership to actually build homes that are reasonably priced, built above flood level, rely on solar generated electricity, and are architecturally significant.
Meanwhile Sean was seen rushing into Nola for a photo op of lifting very big black people out of boats, which he did badly and then yelling for more government intervention...by which he means total government intervention such as in Cuba or Venezuela. (This, in a city where the greatest government intervention caused the catastrophe in the first place...poorly built federal levies ignored by corrupt parish politicians.)
Somehow I don't think Spike intended me to walk away with this impression of these celebs.
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May '10
Re: The Difference Between a Do-Good Celebrity and a Do-Bad Celebrity
Thanks for your analysis from one who missed Spike Lee's HBO Post-Katrina New Orleans documentary. Katrina and Spike Lee on the bill is always a must miss for me, so you've provided me information I would have totally missed, but for you and Ricochet!
Hopefully, the nugget you uncovered will spur another documentary maker to compare and contrast the results to people's lives and the NO economy for the ten (10) years after Katrina yielded by the Pitt and Penn approach.
Don't know, if a fair evaluation is provided which approach will favor, but let the chips fall as they may.
Jul '10
Re: The Difference Between a Do-Good Celebrity and a Do-Bad Celebrity
Penn is a grandstanding buffoon who happens to be a very talented actor. I believe that one of the problems with some actors is that their own personality is so poorly developed that they are unable to play a character in a play without totally immersing themselves into that character, in essence, becoming that person. It gives for a terrific performance, but it leaves the actor reeling in the fictional world he is playing in. Once stabilized he has a hard time believing that he wasn't the person he played. That role becomes one more aspect of his growing personality. Penn needs to have a systems dump, similar to reformatting your hard drive and reloading the OS. He has simply played too many fruitcakes, and he no longer knows up from down.
May '10
Re: The Difference Between a Do-Good Celebrity and a Do-Bad Celebrity
I wonder if the difference might stem largely from the fact that Sean Penn was born and raised in Los Angeles County while Brad Pitt was born in Shawnee, Oklahoma and raised in Springfield, Missouri.
Having been to Shawnee, I've long been disappointed that Pitt was corrupted by his Hollywood pals, but I'm glad he's retained some of his Midwest character.
May '10
Re: The Difference Between a Do-Good Celebrity and a Do-Bad Celebrity
I take your point, Denise, but isn't even Pitt's message, at heart, a condescending one, in that it too plays to the wait-for-help mindset? The reflexively "thanks but no thanks" segment of the New Orleans population rebuilt their homes and lives a lot quicker, I bet.
Sep '10
Re: The Difference Between a Do-Good Celebrity and a Do-Bad Celebrity
The main problem is that your typical celebrity is grossly undereducated (not necessarily stupid), and believes that "feeling" trumps "thinking." Hollywood is an intellectual wasteland populated by moral & ethical [word redacted by editor] who think Roman Polanski is a wonderful human being.
Incredibly, Hollywood conservatives do exist: Stallone, Voight, Willis and a precious few others. I was always amazed by the fact that the late Dennis Hopper, of all people, was a conservative.
But Penn is unquestionably the most obnoxious of the celebrity nitwits.
Edited on Sep 12, 2010 at 9:52amAug '10
Re: The Difference Between a Do-Good Celebrity and a Do-Bad Celebrity
Yes, I'm wondering, too: how much difference is there in practice between do-gooding and do-badding?
So much do-gooding in the world ends up having disastrous unintended consequences...
Still, of all the Hollywood do-good schemes I've heard of, Brat Pitt's sounds like one of the more reasonable -- and I say this even though I've been sick of the guy since I was a pre-teen (Brad Pitt... name always reminded me of "armpit").
Jul '10
Re: The Difference Between a Do-Good Celebrity and a Do-Bad Celebrity
Celebrity culture has always given me the creeps.
Years ago, I managed retail shops at JFK airport. A very famous actor, who wanted to buy a copy of Time magazine, was throwing a major diva fit because the only copy left had a crumpled cover. He was stomping back and forth, shouting at my clerks when I happened by.
I told him to lower his voice and apologize to the ladies.
He responded with the "Do you know who I am?" thing.
I replied, "Yes, you're an (expletive). Now apologize to the ladies and go get on your plane."
Guy was stunned. Speechless.
Of course, he didn't apologize.
But he did go get on his plane.
Edited on Sep 12, 2010 at 9:32amSep '10
Re: The Difference Between a Do-Good Celebrity and a Do-Bad Celebrity
That's a mighty fine line, Midge. I recall an old adage: "Behind every act of charity is a failure in good judgement." I'm not quite that hardnosed. To my way of thinking, the best advice on charity comes from the Gurbani – the sacred literature of the Sikhs. They believe that charity must be performed very carefully, with "discerning intelligence." Otherwise, charity almost inevitably becomes an exercise in selfish ego-boosting. It inflates the vanity of the giver, and deflates the dignity of the receiver.
Edited on Sep 12, 2010 at 9:00amJul '10
Re: The Difference Between a Do-Good Celebrity and a Do-Bad Celebrity
My favorite recent example of clueless celebrity charity is Susan Sarandon.
She did some tear-jerking public service announcements for an organization that buys books for kids.
Fair enough.
But she was practically weeping, telling us that there are millions of American households that own no books. Zero.
Susan, sweetheart: I bet every one of those homes has at least one television. And a cell phone or two. I bet those kids don't want for Nike's and Happy Meals.
They don't lack books because they can't afford them.
They lack them because those parents have screwed-up priorities.
Sep '10
Re: The Difference Between a Do-Good Celebrity and a Do-Bad Celebrity
Kenneth: He responded with the "Do you know who I am?" thing.
I replied, "Yes, you're an (expletive)."
By now celebrities should be wise to the fact that bellowing out, "Do you know who I am?" is just begging for a nasty put-down.
John Lennon once got himself ejected from a nightclub for being drunk and wearing a tampon on his head, but not before confronting a hostess with the inevitable, "Do you know who I am???" She replied, "Yes, you're an [expletive] with a tampon on his head."
Priceless.
Jul '10
Re: The Difference Between a Do-Good Celebrity and a Do-Bad Celebrity
David Parsons
Kenneth: He responded with the "Do you know who I am?" thing.
I replied, "Yes, you're an (expletive)."
By now celebrities should be wise to the fact that bellowing out, "Do you know who I am?" is just begging for a nasty put-down.
John Lennon once got himself ejected from a nightclub for being drunk and wearing a tampon on his head, but not before confronting a hostess with the inevitable, "Do you know who I am???" She replied, "Yes, you're an [expletive] with a tampon on his head."
Priceless. · Sep 12 at 9:19am
Tip that waitress!
Re: The Difference Between a Do-Good Celebrity and a Do-Bad Celebrity
For a while there was talk of Pitt and Jolie making a movie based on "The Fountainhead." Both actors were reportedly Rand enthusiasts. That might explain the difference between Pitt and Penn. That, and the fact that Penn appears to be the emotional equivalent of a downed powerline, thrashing and sparking all over the place.
Re: The Difference Between a Do-Good Celebrity and a Do-Bad Celebrity
There is some talk in the Hollywood community (whispered, as if it were leprosy) that the Pitts are conservatives. Being of the work-a-day world of a television writer, I don't have access to confirm such malicious rumors.
As far as I can discern from the documentary, there is some subsidizing of the homes, but the people who live in them own them and pay mortgages. So while charitable, I wouldn't call it out right charity. But lets go back in five more years and see how the neighborhood stands up as a whole.
And you're right, Eugene. Penn is a talented buffoon.
May '10
Re: The Difference Between a Do-Good Celebrity and a Do-Bad Celebrity
What we need are more celebrities like these.
Jul '10
Re: The Difference Between a Do-Good Celebrity and a Do-Bad Celebrity
I'm not sure what became of that but Atlas Shrugged is in fact in production. Recent Big Hollywood item here.
BTW, James, my first exposure to you was through Hugh Hewitt's show and for some reason I always pictured your countenance as that of James Pinkerton (just like I picture Bill Handel's face to be that of Bill O'Reilly's.) I had no idea how close I was!