You know, I know we’re not supposed to make things political here these days, but I wanted to explore the reasons for why so many people seem to share a dislike for Hollywood, aka “Hollyweird.” To me, as a person who doesn’t pay much attention to what actors are doing or saying, I have found that people of a certain political mindset seem to have a bigger problem with actors than the other side. Why? I can only assume it’s due to the fact that most actors have openly stated opinions that are misaligned with those of that certain political leaning.
I started to wonder why it appears that most of the Hollywood folks, or “elites” as some would call them, have a certain political leaning? Let’s explore what it means to be an actor:
Contrary to popular belief, the job of acting is actually very difficult for most people. The “struggling” or “starving” actor are terms we often hear. Most come from blue-collar backgrounds, from all parts of this country and outside of it, and all end up in these pockets of industry (most commonly and historically Los Angeles and New York). They are typically passionate about their career choice because it is very difficult to pursue a passion that for the vast majority doesn’t pay very well. I have heard that something like 1 in a thousand auditions gets picked up. So if 1000 people audition for the same role, only 1 of them will get it. Most actors work multiple jobs, at odd hours, that afford them to spend their time auditioning and practicing their craft. Some lucky few are very talented and get lucky early on, though even these ones usually struggled for years before they ever received any recognition.
During these countless auditions and within the world of struggling actors, there are people from all cultures and races. Hollywood is a mirror/conglomeration of society in some ways, so it’s understandable that there will be a concentration of everyone into a relatively small space, ie the pockets of industry.
What is the job of acting? Acting means to literally pretend to be someone else. What do good actors do? They become someone else. To become someone else is to understand the character and their situation, to put yourself in their shoes, to empathize with the character, to adopt their belief system, etc. To be a good, dynamic actor, one must be open-minded to the different types of personalities and walks of life that exist.
Now besides actors being diverse and concentrated, the good ones also get to go to a lot of cool and interesting places. They often film in various parts of the country and internationally. To be an actor means to travel and see the world, more or less. To see the world means to open your eyes to its cultures, people, and realities.
It is my belief that the combination of innate curiosity into the human psychology that is required to be a good actor, the “walking in someone else’s shoes” so to speak, the empathy to understand and feel what someone else is feeling, leads to a certain type of individual that leans in a certain political way. No, not all of them do. In fact, some may be afraid to speak out politically because of public perception within their ranks. I’m sure this is true on both sides of the political spectrum, but we can still assume that the majority lean in a certain direction.
Now, through my research, I have found that not only actors appear to favor certain political beliefs. In fact, most musicians and most writers seem to share the same belief system. We can remember how many of theses musicians asked (some more politely than others) to not be used in certain political demonstrations during our last two elections. What do most of these professions have in common? They are anti-establishment, they often portray the underdog, give a voice to the struggling and to the oppressed, and give comfort to the afflicted. Remember, most actors were once poor and struggling. The opposing political belief system tries to limit power to most and conserve it for just the few, quite the opposite of what it means to be an actor/musician/writer.
In our current political state we have developed and polarized into two belief systems. One is inclusive, and the other, more-or-less exclusive. One seems to support social programs, young struggling families, the blue collar worker, minority causes, labor laws, gender equality, etc, while the other seems less socially inclusive, favors mostly the richest in terms of economic benefits and laws to deregulate corporations, eliminates or reduces social programs, and effectuates a trickle down economy with the top 1% benefiting the greatest monetary benefits with hopes that the profits will trickle down to remaining 99% (which has yet to happen, historically speaking). Two examples of this are Medicare and social security. Can you guess which political party created these?
There was a time when most of Hollywood had the opposite political leanings. This was the time before the 1950’s when acting, once again, was a mirror of society at that time - which, let’s face it, was a lot more black and white. Over time, with things such as the “Actor’s Studio,” the craft of acting became less homogenized and more inclusive to people from all walks of life.
Now with the cards stacked so firmly against the establishment, and those with certain less inclusive political leanings, how can those certain few at the top gain the acceptance of the masses that of which it does not benefit? Enter falsehoods, conspiracy theories, etc. Notice how conspiracy theories tend to come from one side and are directed unilaterally. When there are no real arguments against a belief system, one must invent reasons to oppose and create fear in the minds of the gullible. One of these belief is that Hollywood are some kind of evil devil worshippers, that they hate America, that they are attention and money hungry (let’s not confuse social media “stars” with actors). I disagree. I believe that in order to become a good actor you must be a perceptive person who understands people and their beliefs. I believe it is the news and gossip media that puts the emphasis on constantly displaying the lives of these people on TV and the internet, ad nauseam, and usually in a bad light. But what drives this behavior? People. Bored, lonely, sad people are consumers of inflated, conflated, and downright inflammatory gossip and news media. We are the cause and we are the victims. Imagine constantly hearing about what your neighbors said, what they did at work, who they’re hanging out with, etc? It would get pretty annoying, rather quickly. No, not all of us participate in this behavior of devouring this trashy type of information, but we are not the intended targets anyhow. But, let’s face it, we all click on the catchy and inflammatory headlines which often end up being falsely portrayed stories/bait and switch for ad views.
Just like not all people of certain political leanings are what the media portrays them to be, not all actors and actresses are self-absorbed, attention seeking, assholes. I would bet that the majority of serious actors are sick of the attention and would just like to have a normal life where people do not inquire into their lives and to expose them or invent stories about them. Actors, like musicians, writers, and other performing arts practitioners are just people. They just happen to have a microscope and a magnifying glass pointed at them constantly. Anyway, fuck it, I’m gonna try to go back to sleep now.
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Originally Posted by lovbyts
Gives a guy an idea how rock stars live.
