Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences - This topic has 5 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 19 years, 12 months ago by
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To people with any degree of fame: how do you wish people would treat you in public? Is it more annoying to have strangers talk to you about your work, or for them to pretend not to recognize you?
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Name : A. Reed, Gender : Male, Sexual Orientation : Gay, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 24, City : Salt Lake City, State : UT, Country : United States, Occupation : Writer, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class,I’m not exactly famous, but I was in the Peace Corps, and while I was there I had a fair amount of notoriety as the only white girl in a about two hours’ travel. I couldn’t go out without being recognized and without people wanting to talk to me, people assuming they knew all about me because they gossiped about me regularly, kids daring each other to run up and touch me, etc. So it’s some kind of equivalent of being asked for your autograph all the time and having to duck paparazzi continuously. As to what I would have liked? Honestly, the only thing that really bothered me was when I got the impression that people were interacting with their stereotype of me and were unable to recognize that there might be a “me” under there that went against the stereotype. Pretty much everyone had assumptions about what it was like to be rich and American; I didn’t mind that, if they asked honest questions about me and didn’t mind hearing if they were wrong. I did mind the people who, when I didn’t fit the assumption, told me I was wrong. Or who only wanted to interact with me because of my “fame,” and were uninterested in me for “me.” I could tell pretty well which was which.
To summarize: be yourself. If you recognize the person, don’t try to pretend you don’t – but don’t expect them to be like their character or public persona, either. And don’t assume that they’re going to be ecstatic to interact with you, just because you are with them. Remember: you hardly ever meet famous people, but they probably meet fans all the time.
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Name : Janie, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Lesbian, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 26, City : Boston, State : MA, Country : United States, Occupation : student, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class,I’ve had a modest amount of fame in my life but have witnessed people who were quite famous and how they respond to being talked to, being asked for an autograph, etc. In my opinion, most famous people are quite generous with their time and will speak with you if you express some interest. The only time that is not so is if the famous person is busy or otherwise occupied. Autographs are another matter; it’s a real imposition on a famous person to be asked for a signature all the time. One person used to tell me, ‘I’d rather pay $1,000 than be asked to sign another autograph!’ Another VERY famous person I worked for would avoid his audience completely both before and after his TV show rather than interact in any way. But that’s an extreme case.
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Name : Ellen, Gender : Female, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Unitarian, Age : 65, City : Portland, State : OR, Country : United States, Occupation : Broadcaster - retired, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,I have met quite a handful of famous people and can tell you, it can go either way. I gave them all the same treatment: I am not the least bit star struck, and with that in mind, I acknowledge the fact that just like you and me, they are just people. The reason they are actors/musicians/whatever, and that you and I are not, is simply that they’re obviously better at it than we are. On that note, I never once bothered one for an autograph or photograph, thinking they may already have writers cramp or are halfway blind due to flashes. As I said, with the aforementioned treatment: I treated them simply as people, their reactions can go either way. Very few of them retaliated negatively to the fact that I’m not star struck, the top three examples were Gene Simmons, George Strait and Kelly Osbourne. Even though some of us have never seen him without makeup, Gene can get quite offended if he’s not recognized. Then George Strait decided to get in my relative’s face, who was also not only not star struck, but had a short temper, and George become quite shocked when the same exact thing immediately happened to him in return. And if any of you ever meet Kelly Osbourne, take my advice, do not jump up and down, point a finger and say ‘Oh my God, it’s Jack’s sister!’ Anyway, for the most part, most of the famous people I’ve met seemed to really like and be relieved at the fact that I wasn’t getting overly giddy and/or talking up a storm to them like we had known each other for 10 years, or playing a round of 20 questions about their personal life, or upcoming projects, so what questions are left to ask? Well, you have to be creative. Perhaps they were simply enjoying the fact that I was treating them like I said they were: a person.
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Name : Anonymous23694, Gender : Male, Race : White/Caucasian, City : Big City, State : TX, Country : United States, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I’m not famous but I know several famous people — Raven-Simone, Savannah Bass (daughter of Marty Bass) and several footbal and baseball players. They all just like to be treated like people. You can say hi and if they start a converstaion with you then you can ease in some questions to quench your thirst as a fan but otherwise just being a stalker bothers them. I have a friend who lives around the corner from Cal Ripken and the only reason he feels safe in that neighborhood is because no one is bothering him about what he does. So if you’re respectful and not all hyped-up on ‘Oh my God this guy’s famous,’ then I guess you’re all right.
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Name : Nary, Gender : Female, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Baptist, Age : 14, City : Baltimore, State : MD, Country : United States, Education level : Less than High School Diploma, Social class : Middle class,While I am not famous, I was once doing a play and had someone yell out my character name from a car in a Wendy’s parking lot. I thought it was the wife of another actor, and went over and talked shop about the show the night before: ‘The energy was down, but Mike got us laughing backstage and got us back on track… blah blah.’ I soon realized she was just an audience member because she had the funniest look on her face. I said bye and hurried into the Wendy’s. Most people don’t realize that acting is working. Even a lot of the showy stuff you see is publicity and the actors are working then, too. Talk to them at that time and you are going to get part of the ‘show’. When truly not working, they will be just like any other person you talk to. Some shy, some talkative, and some are workaholics and never really not ‘off set’ because they are looking for work.
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Name : Nathan20143, Gender : M, Race : Black/African American, Age : 40, City : Seattle, State : WA, Country : United States, Occupation : Tech, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class,
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