Stop the tall poppy rot - finding ways to support our famous artists

There are some Australians for whom work is play and play is work. They develop their craft,  audiences respond positively, so they attract attention. Sometimes that attention brings notoriety sometimes wealth. But as history keeps reinforcing, talent, notoriety and wealth don't automatically make a person stronger.

We complain about histrionics from celebrities who are just out of teenage hood or criticise some flaw  in a highly patronised act or some seasoned professional caught on security cameras speaking tersely to service personnel. It sells newspapers, generates conversation and makes us all feel connected, but at what price?

Two Australians I would love to see being rude or performing badly are two who are no longer with us. Two men whose daughters are growing up without their Dads. INXS founder, lyricist and lead singer, Michael Hutchence and posthumously awarded Oscar winner, Heath Ledger.

Geographically their home is so remote. Lengthy flight times, expensive fares and a small

Michael Hutchence 
(22 January 1960 – 22 November 1997)
Deva Kaneva / Last.fm

domestic market deter industry specialists from basing themselves in Australia. Our elites - be they artists, sportsmen, winemakers or whatever,  eventually need to travel.  

The film Shine tells the story of David Helfgott, A talented young Australian whose skill and dedication took him to the United Kingdom where he had few support networks, struggled financially and threw himself into study to the detriment of his health.  

Michael Hutchence fell in love with a British woman and for a protracted period was separated from her when he came home. This didn't happen by chance. It was not random.  His work, his dedication to his field and his desire to grow, took him away from Australia.

While they are away working, young people fall in love, life goes on for them. They hook up professionally and personally with people from all over the world and try to make everything work.

I'm not going to analyse the psychology behind the tall poppy syndrome that exists here in Australia, but I will say it's time we all tried to rein it in. The metaphor describes a desire to chop down the tall poppy to level the entire field. It manifests in a tendency for Australians to criticise our prominent practitioners even avoiding investing in them. 

More Australians than ever are successful in Hollywood and yet Australian films still struggle at the box office.

Heath Ledger
(4 April 1979 – 22 January 2008)

Not many of us can claim to have personally known Michael Hutchence or Heath Ledger, but if we did, would it have changed the way we responded to them? After all, they were rewarded financially. They moved into a different league from most Australians in where they travelled, who they worked with and what they could spend.   

Perhaps with their new-found-wealth they were supposed to buy intangibles like familiarity and trust - things we at home take for granted. Things money can't buy. 

As fellow Australians, that was our job. Once they came home we were meant to let them feel like it. Not scrutinizing their private lives by discussing it everywhere from newspapers to panel shows and talkback. Not taking cameras to their private residence and pressing the doorbell to see if they drop everything and come out for a prying interview (Robb 2008).

And when their pictures are no longer in front of us we forget about them. All entertainment, no input. 

Even at the box office we err before investing in their work without first hearing a critic's opinion. We don't want to get ripped off. We want our money to be spent only on the best acts when a financial investment can say so much about a performer's intrinsic worth. For an artist, operating at peak capacity in front of strangers is a vulnerable place, but our finance, either at the box office or through industry investment is a channel for communication. We can affirm them this way. 

When it comes to their private lives, however, I believe there should be an agreed code between performing artists and their audience, going something like this: 'You get to watch me perform and you pay. When I go home you stay away.'

Money and guns in movieland, the not-so-subtle connection

Movie Actor Li Bing Bing. Actors are rewarded with money, power and glamour.

Gun toting stars are important to the USA's economy. Moviegoers pay to watch films where conflict is resolved using guns and violence within storylines that seem to justify it. 

Repeatedly modelling this type of problem-solving squanders the opportunity to role play other methods for conflict resolution in front of massive audiences. Nonetheless the movie industry rewards the stars of these films with glamour, power and money.  

To what extent? Power enough to be elected Governor? Or even President? And just how much can one earn in the action genres?

Using net worth* as a guide, some comparisons can be made. The following are a few gun slinging actors. Starting with those whose estimated net worth hovers below $100 million then working through the triple figure stars with longstanding careers in the genre.   

40th American President Ronald Wilson Reagan, 1981-89 Net Worth $13 million. Reagan was a movie and television actor for over two decades.

Colin Farrell is a Golden Globe-winning Irish actor whose net worth is estimated to be $30 million.

Milla Jovovich is an actress, model, musical performer, and fashion designer with the net worth of $36 million.

The daughter of actor John Voight and actress Marcheline Bertrand, Angelina Jolie’s net worth is estimated at $120 million.

Julia Roberts is a highly-acclaimed American actress who was born in Atlanta, Georgia. She is one of the world’s highest-paid female performers, often earning as much as $25 million per film. Her current estimated net worth stands at $140 million. 

Samuel L Jackson is a well-known and highly-respected film and TV actor and producer with an estimated net worth of $150 million. Born in Washington, D.C. on December 21, 1948 Jackson’s early years were spent in the Civil Rights Movement.

Brad Pitt is an award-winning film actor and producer with a net worth of $180 million. Raised in Springfield Missouri, Pitt left the University of Missouri for Los Angeles two weeks prior to his graduation in order to pursue his dreams of a career in acting.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's perceived influence is so broad Time magazine twice listed him amongst their top 100 most influential people in the world (2004 and 2007) The Austrian-American bodybuilder, model, actor and businessman served as the 38th governor of California between 2003 and 2011. He has a net worth of $300 million.

Clint Eastwood is an American actor, director, and producer with an estimated net worth of $375 million. Eastwood was born in San Francisco. He was elected Mayor of his hometown Carmel, California, on 8 April 1986 with a whopping 72.5% of the vote. He drew twice the usual voter turnout for the election. 

Amongst the complex issues surrounding gun culture, where many people feel powerless, surely the Film and Television industry can change something. They can choose which content they fund. Cinemagoers and consumers of movies everywhere should also consider themselves part of this network and not without influence. Next time you buy, rent or subscribe, consider what kind of problem solving you want to fund?

* The net worth of an individual is the value of a person's assets, including cash, minus all liabilities. The amount by which the individual's assets exceed their liabilities is considered the net worth of that person.

Source: http://www.celebritynetworth.com/

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/21/the-net-worth-of-the-amer_n_825939.html

Source: http://www.investorwords.com/3267/net_worth.html