In what other sport or branch of entertainment is a star required to be a posterboy for middleclass morality? If Tiger were a movie actor or a rock star or a footballer we'd shrug at these revelations.
I've certainly been wondering about that. Sure, Tiger made an ass of himself, but how many other male athletic celebrities have bonked themselves silly without the kind of tongue-clicking Tiger's getting? Probably 90-some percent... It's ridiculous.
Positively correct! Perhaps it is the disappointment. We all thought of him as squeeky-clean, compared to those other groups you mentioned - the violent contact sports and the bohemian/artist lifestyle. However, I do think that the media ought to back out of this, probably should have stayed out of it in the first place. When I was a child, the singer Frank Sinatra and the actress Ava Gardner had a torrid affair while he was still married to first wife Nancy. The media grabbed onto the news and it was in headlines for weeks (or so it seemed to a small child). Parents said on one occasion, "We are sick to death of Frankie and Ava." I remember seeing the news on TV, I think, or maybe it was movie newsreels, Ava hiding behind sunglasses. The media blitz lasted long enough to make a deep impression on a young child.
Yep, that was another one, although by then Liz was famous for being much-married. The one that got people's hackles up was when Liz acted the homewrecker with Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher. When she dumped Eddie for Burton lots of people cheered saying it served Fisher right. Egad! I just read this over, and realized that I'm kind of an "old biddy" myself, who enjoys these bits of hollywood gossip. No, I used to enjoy them a lot more than I do now. You get tired of the same old, same old...
Most of the time all we know is what the PR people want us to know. That's part of our fascination with the Tiger story. It's a rare example of a celebrity scandal that isn't being micro-managed every step of the way.
Just one more aspect of our celebrity-obsessed voyeurism. Tiger's just the flavor du jour. The bigger question to me is why there's a cultural addiction to this sort of escapism - are we really that bored/anxiety-ridden?
The trouble is that if you market yourself as the squeaky clean alternative to all those awful bad boys, people expect you to act like, you know, a squeaky clean alternative...
That said, I wish folks would let all of our fallen stars alone to straighten out their lives. Except Clinton, of course: we really do expect people to keep their hands to themselves when they're ordering tactical strikes.
Information about the stars is so tightly controlled by their PR people that we can be forgiven for going a little bonkers when something gets into the public sphere that hasn't been tightly scripted.
Once a politician has left office I find my animus against him or her largely disappears. I was reading this morning about what George Bush is doing in retirement and found myself chuckling warmly. He seems to have chosen to fade discreetly into the Texan scenery- and good for him.
We're still waiting for the really big scandal involving a top international cricketer. I don't suppose we can count the Hansie Kronje affair- because that was about money and cheating- not girls.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2009-12-14 04:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-14 07:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-15 02:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-14 05:14 pm (UTC)Perhaps it is the disappointment. We all thought of him as squeeky-clean, compared to those other groups you mentioned - the violent contact sports and the bohemian/artist lifestyle.
However, I do think that the media ought to back out of this, probably should have stayed out of it in the first place.
When I was a child, the singer Frank Sinatra and the actress Ava Gardner had a torrid affair while he was still married to first wife Nancy. The media grabbed onto the news and it was in headlines for weeks (or so it seemed to a small child). Parents said on one occasion, "We are sick to death of Frankie and Ava." I remember seeing the news on TV, I think, or maybe it was movie newsreels, Ava hiding behind sunglasses. The media blitz lasted long enough to make a deep impression on a young child.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-14 07:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-14 11:03 pm (UTC)Egad! I just read this over, and realized that I'm kind of an "old biddy" myself, who enjoys these bits of hollywood gossip. No, I used to enjoy them a lot more than I do now. You get tired of the same old, same old...
no subject
Date: 2009-12-15 09:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-14 05:20 pm (UTC)I heard this question in the voice of Alfred P. Doolittle (Wilfrid Lawson if I have a choice, but Stanley Holloway will do).
no subject
Date: 2009-12-14 07:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-14 07:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-14 10:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-14 09:05 pm (UTC)That said, I wish folks would let all of our fallen stars alone to straighten out their lives. Except Clinton, of course: we really do expect people to keep their hands to themselves when they're ordering tactical strikes.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-15 09:59 am (UTC)Once a politician has left office I find my animus against him or her largely disappears. I was reading this morning about what George Bush is doing in retirement and found myself chuckling warmly. He seems to have chosen to fade discreetly into the Texan scenery- and good for him.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-15 04:35 am (UTC)Cricket, too.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-15 10:01 am (UTC)We're still waiting for the really big scandal involving a top international cricketer. I don't suppose we can count the Hansie Kronje affair- because that was about money and cheating- not girls.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-16 04:39 am (UTC)