- Sep 22, 2013
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In the fame-paranoia Woody Allen film "Celebrity" [1998], we get a portrait of a wild American movie star named Brandon Darrow, portrayed with method-acting effectively by Leo DiCaprio, who causes young girls to swoon and generally flashes his fame and fortune around and is a symbol of paparazzi gluttony.
After portraying Darrow, DiCaprio was questioned by entertainment journalists about whether or not the character was in fact some re-presentation of himself (since DiCaprio himself is an incredibly wealthy and popular American movie star). DiCaprio denied such claims, nevertheless, movie audiences were curious to see how he would develop his film career following that unusual Woody Allen fame-vignette.
Then, DiCaprio starred in the alienation-exposition film "The Beach" [2000] in which he portrayed a pensive American traveler named Richard who begins to experiment intellectually with the odd aspects of the heart of darkness, invoking themes introduced by iconic writer Joseph Conrad.
We can make statements such as "DiCaprio wanted to make a Danny Boyle isolationist film to detract attention away from his incendiary fame-vignette in the Woody Allen film" or we can make statements such as, "DiCaprio wanted to use film as a medium to creatively experiment with characterization following the Woody Allen film."
In other words, DiCaprio's turn as a pensive (and eerie) prince of darkness in "The Beach" [2000] is the direct opposite of his turn as a rambunctious movie star in "Celebrity" [1998].
Does modern society (complete with thrills and chills) invite us to use the media for self-gratification?
Imagine that a married airline pilot and stewardess working for British Airways become involved in an international narcotics-smuggling operation and their crimes become exposed by society. How much would we expect news reporters to trumpet the traffic-scandal aspects of this crime (rather than the straightforward narcotics criminality)?
It seems that modern media is somehow predisposed to focusing in on humanism goosebumps.
American Psycho (Film)
After portraying Darrow, DiCaprio was questioned by entertainment journalists about whether or not the character was in fact some re-presentation of himself (since DiCaprio himself is an incredibly wealthy and popular American movie star). DiCaprio denied such claims, nevertheless, movie audiences were curious to see how he would develop his film career following that unusual Woody Allen fame-vignette.
Then, DiCaprio starred in the alienation-exposition film "The Beach" [2000] in which he portrayed a pensive American traveler named Richard who begins to experiment intellectually with the odd aspects of the heart of darkness, invoking themes introduced by iconic writer Joseph Conrad.
We can make statements such as "DiCaprio wanted to make a Danny Boyle isolationist film to detract attention away from his incendiary fame-vignette in the Woody Allen film" or we can make statements such as, "DiCaprio wanted to use film as a medium to creatively experiment with characterization following the Woody Allen film."
In other words, DiCaprio's turn as a pensive (and eerie) prince of darkness in "The Beach" [2000] is the direct opposite of his turn as a rambunctious movie star in "Celebrity" [1998].
Does modern society (complete with thrills and chills) invite us to use the media for self-gratification?
Imagine that a married airline pilot and stewardess working for British Airways become involved in an international narcotics-smuggling operation and their crimes become exposed by society. How much would we expect news reporters to trumpet the traffic-scandal aspects of this crime (rather than the straightforward narcotics criminality)?
It seems that modern media is somehow predisposed to focusing in on humanism goosebumps.
American Psycho (Film)
