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.
 |
| 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.
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.
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.
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.'
No comments:
Post a Comment