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Increasingly referred to as the Internet’s new boyfriend, Oscar Isaac succeeds many of the most well beloved male stars before him. He joins the ranks of the magnificent Idris Elba, the gentleman of the decade Tom Hiddleston and perhaps the fairest of them all, Benedict Cumberbatch, whose ascent to fame was fuelled by his breakout role as everyone’s favourite sociopathic detective Sherlock Holmes.
Most of us were introduced to Oscar Isaac through his own lucrative role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The publicity from Isaac’s involvement with Star Wars has, in turn, shed light on some of his other talents. An old YouTube video titled “The Measure of Things,” published circa 2010, shows he can sing and play the guitar, maybe even well enough to give John Mayer a run for his money. Anyone who has seen the iconic dance scene in Alex Garland’s Ex Machina knows exactly how well he can “tear up the dance floor.”
He even took an adorable Star Wars themed picture with the charming child actor Jacob Tremblay of Room fame. And as a champion of bringing more representation to Hollywood films, it seems safe to say that Oscar Isaac is, for all intents and purposes, flawless. Or so the media would have us believe.
Celebrity crushes are not a new concept. We are all familiar with the trope of the shameless teenager who tapes posters of stars to their bedroom wall, and I’ll even admit that, to a certain extent, I embody the trope myself: there’s nothing quite like waking up every morning to Dane DeHaan’s smiling, autographed face in all its perfection.
However, as long as we can recognize and distance ourselves from society’s unrealistic expectations of the human ideal, then fangirling about someone every now and then is relatively harmless.
Nowadays, if you’re obsessed with someone or something, it’s become common to refer to yourself as their “trash.” But while there has been a great deal of talk about reclaiming the word “trash” for modern use, we cannot simply disregard its classist and racist historical context in regards to the less privileged, or the way it suggests our guilty pleasures demean us. Oscar Isaac may be the Internet’s new boyfriend, but that does not make all of us “Oscar Isaac’s trash.”
Feeding into our celebrity crushes allows us to temporarily evade the aspects of relationships that make them so painfully real: the possible rejection, the doubts of self-worth, the disappointment when others let us down and most of all, the heartbreak. We shouldn’t feel ashamed to fantasize about the celebrities we love, but we should be able to do so without compromising our own integrity. Let’s leave the trash talk where it belongs.
Photo Credits: Nathaniel Goldberg, Mario Testino
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With the Oscars fast approaching, we are closing in on the one-year anniversary of Patricia Arquette’s controversial comments on wage equality for women when she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. For the uninitiated, Arquette basically made the mistake of sounding like she was unaware of what intersectionality meant. As you can imagine, the Internet tore her apart, tweet by tweet, thinkpiece by thinkpiece. While the discussion that spurred from this snafu was mostly beneficial, it also brought up the question of why we were so critical of the actress.
Patricia Arquette was a relatively unknown actress prior to her Boyhood fame, and not particularly associated with the feminist movement. Yet the Internet was quick to tear her down for being anti-intersectional. Overnight she lost a lot of favour with the public, but was this justified? Nowadays, celebrities have to select their words carefully, even in overwhelming moments such as when you win the most prestigious award in your industry. There is no room for human error. Just ask Meryl Streep, who recently made headlines when she responded “we’re all Africans, really” to a question about her ability to judge films about a culture that she didn’t have a lot of experience with. In her full response you can tell she meant well, but undoubtedly made a mistake. Not even one of the most adored actresses in America could rebound from that.
With one slip of the tongue, these actresses joined a list of “problematic faves,” which includes mainstay staples such as Chris Brown and Kanye West. They become guilty pleasures, and we feel the need to justify why we like them and their work.
The issue here isn’t whether the celebrity’s comments that make you go, “Uh oh,” are valid or not, but rather why we expect them to be consistently politically correct. Some make the argument that celebrities wield an influence over the public and are seen as role models, which in turn means they should be held to this high standard, but frankly that’s not their job. An actor’s job is to make great movies. A singer’s job is to entertain the masses with their music. They are not politicians or people well-versed in all social issues. They should not be expected to be shining examples of political correctness and social advocacy.
https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/697199554807099394?lang=en
When Kanye West tweets, “BILL COSBY INNOCENT” we don’t need to tear him down and boycott his music. We don’t need to feel bad listening to The Life of Pablo. He’s an imperfect person, but so is pretty much everyone else, and you are friends with a fair share of these imperfect people in your daily life.
Don’t get me wrong, it’d be nice if they were, but it’s almost impossible. The A-lister who has come the closest is Beyoncé, and that feat is as much a product of her character as it is her management team. Even in a progressive institution such as McMaster, it’s easy to find someone who unintentionally said something stupid.
[Celebrities] should not be expected to be shining examples of political correctness and social advocacy.
There is a purpose and place to be politely critical, and the thinkpieces that arise from poorly worded statements are important in highlighting the subtle ways oppression operates in our society. Making a meme or sending out a mean tweet, however, is not the right thing to do. Think of it this way: if your friend made a problematic comment, you wouldn’t put them on blast on social media.
In the world of celebrities, we often forget that they’re real imperfect people. Just because they’re famous and successful doesn’t mean we can be assholes when they say something that can be interpreted as offensive. While the impact of problematic comments is undeniable, the intent behind them is what determines whether we write a polite thinkpiece about it as opposed to boycotting their work. It seems silly that in the twenty-first century, there is still a need for articles where the take home message is to be nice, but seriously, just be nice.
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