That feeling of having seen someone before

[aesmael]

Still, for the first time in our lives, we would have been through exactly the same experience, from exactly the same point of view -- even if the experience was only spending eight hours locked in separate rooms, and the point of view was that of a genderless robot with an identity crisis.
    - Closer, Greg Egan

    In Stephen Fry's latest post (that would be his second) he talks about fame. Here, have some quotes to persuade you it is worth reading:

Fame has this unusual property. It exists only in the mind of others. It is not an intrinsic characteristic, feature or achievement. Fame is wholly an exterior construct and yet, for all that it is defined by other people’s knowledge of a given person, they cannot dismantle or deactivate the fame that their knowledge engenders.

It is no good everyone repeating that tiresome cliché about x, y and z ‘only being famous for being famous’ – their fame exists in our heads and it is therefore our fault, not theirs, if fault there is. I can’t blame Jade Goody for the fact that I know her name.

    Go on, it is quite long and this is just a small repetitive sample I happened to especially like. He does illustrate among other things that fame is an even more dreadful experience than I imagined.
    Potentially I am left in the uncomfortable position of not knowing what to wish for. Ideally I mean to make my living as a writer and if I am good at that, some level of fame naturally attaches (on the assumption that fame and quality of work go together, where the post in question illustrates they do not). Quite frankly I want neither the problems nor the benefits, whatever they are that fame brings (although closer inspection may reveal that statement to be not entirely true) but the only way to be assured of avoiding that is to cut out the heart from my life.
    The truth is, though, that wishing does nothing and what happens, happens. Certainly I need not fear attaining the level of fame Stephen Fry has and of course my writing may never attract any notice at all. It is not up to me (see above) but the mere fact of having such worries may be a demonstration of what The Road to Mars' has to say about the insidious nature of fame.
    Indeed, why read Stephen Fry's blog at all, otherwise? The articles, all two of 'em so far, are quite good, but why take interest long enough to discover this without the pull of fame in the first place?
    I could try to talk about glamour here, but as I so often say, that is beyond my expertise. Besides, better than me have gone ahead.

Comments

[syntaxia.livejournal.com]

Thanks for linking to Stephen Fry's blog. I didn't know he was blogging. This is going to be an interesting read :)

I don't think writers have to "suffer" from the same level of famousness as other celebrities. One of the reasons being that the public at large seems to read less and less, and those who do still read tend to be probably a bit more sophisticated than your average TV viewer, therefore understanding the concept of privacy and good manners a bit better :)

[lost-angelwings.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

That quote from First Contact is good :) "Don't try to be a great man, just be a man, and let history do the rest".

So whether you want to be famous or dun, dun try to seek or avoid it, just live your life and do what makes YOU happy and if other ppl like it, then good for them :)

*HUGS*

[chaoticset.livejournal.com]

I firmly believe that the phenomenon of famousness is the result of long-standing instinctual programming -- people you see, hear the name of, hear the voice of, etc. being "village colleagues", if you will, it would only make sense for you to pick them out, remember them more.

In a modern society, one can become exposed to hundreds of people in a casual manner, completely unlike the tribal instinctual exposure that lower brains are used to -- but then you can come home and, right on the picture box, you can see the familiar people you see at least once a week on a regular basis...your tribal contacts.

Come to think of it...that's what television can be sometimes -- a replacement for tribal-level social interaction. Television can support drone-style living for human beings by providing a replacement for auditory "chatter" and visual exposure. Hm. :D

[janeanej.livejournal.com]

Typically, famous people tend to make a pretty comfortable living. Not all famous people, as in the case of criminals. But, for the most part they make good money. That'll be important when you get older.

[aesmael.livejournal.com]

Fortunately. Unless someone is as successful as Terry Pratchett or J. K. Rowling or Stephen King they probably do not have to worry about being mobbed. Which is just as well really.

He just started blogging too. That was his second post.

[aesmael.livejournal.com]

True. Writers tend not to make very much money though.