Being Famous

[MrBenSampson]

I enjoy having privacy. I like being able to walk around cities, having nobody look twice in my direction. If I were to ever be pursued by paparazzi, I would never want to leave my house.

Sure, the world will most likely forget I ever existed in a few centuries, but being able to live my life in peace will be worth it.

 

[Zack Alklazaris]

I want to be rich, but never ever famous. I don't want the entire world knowing every little fuck up I did and how I got out of it by paying people off. (which I would) We all have dirty little secrets and THEY WILL be unearthed if you become famous. I don't need that. In addition, I want to be able to put on Walmart clothes and look "normal" when I want to.

 

[HardkorSB]

What is your opinion on celebrities/being famous? I don't mean all of the garbage and drama that celebrities create, but do you seek to be famous or to have followers? I was talking about this with a friend of mine and was wondering what you think.

Yes, I would like that. Maybe not a Star Wars Kid kind of fame but, for example, I could use some of DiCaprio's popularity.
I have a lot of ideas that I would like to share with the world. When you're famous, you can do that quickly and on a large scale.
More importantly, it's tiring to go through so much hassle and play so many dumb social games, just to have a girl notice you. With fame, that wouldn't be a problem. A lot of girls go out of their way to get noticed by famous men.
Does that make me shallow? Maybe, but I don't care. Fame would just make my life so much easier.

 

[Sandytimeman]

snip

My favorite quote (paraphrased of course) from my favorite author:

"I never wanted power for powers sake. It struck me as wanting to be an author rather then wanting to write. Or wanting to be an engineer without wanting to build. Power should be a bi-product of the act of pursing what you want to do, otherwise it's just a power trip.

- Merle "Merlin" Cory in The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny

Personally I've struggled with this myself. Their are a lot of things I want, and attention is one of them. But where I can the closest to fame was when I was working hard on a website I had a lot of love and passion for, and the fame was not intentionally sought for.

 

[Jedoro]

I'd want to be famous, because I'd have the money to shoot more, go to schools to learn how to shoot better, buy unarmed military vehicles and learn how to drive them, and then get the adequate licenses to arm said vehicles. Every now and then I'd have a drawing where I choose a fan of mine to go out with me and blow shit up.

Other than that, I'd try to just stay who I am. Just, you know, rich.

 

[ThreeWords]

I desire internet fame: to be known, listened to and influential, while at the same time remaining anonymous. This is because I fear the destructive influence of media frenzy, and am fond of my privacy.

Anonymous fame. Yeah.

[sup]Perhaps I'm just attracted to oxymorons...[/sup]

 

[Erttheking]

Not really, I wouldn't mind be famous per say, but I'd like to do it under a pen name and over the internet to give myself some breathing space.

 

[runnernda]

I sometimes think about being a famous actress would be fantastic. You know, having enough money to survive and still help people. Being able to bring causes I care about to the forefront and have people listen to what I have to say.

But then I realize that I like to do things that would be really hard if I was famous, like go to the movies and the mall and everything. I'm not sure I'd like my life under a microscope. I'm human and I make mistakes, and I don't think I'd like those mistakes on Page Six.

 

[ChaoticKraus]

I'm one of those people that kind of thrive when given attention so yeah. But i don't think i would want to be superstar-level famous since that kind of pressure would drive anyone absolutely insane, something that wouldn't be helped by my hot temper.

That being said, i firmly believe that everyone should have to earn their fame. It doesn't matter if it's music, movies, internet videos or sports, the hard work is necessary or we'll just end up with a bunch of entitled assholes.

 

[Philol]

I don't want to be famous, but I would love money, a lot of it.

 

[The Funslinger]

There's this girl in my class. She's a singer and covers a couple of songs, has about 10000 views per video.
Jesus H Christ, she is so fucking full of herself. I do NOT want to be famous, I don't want to take the risk of becoming such an annoying little shit.

How full of herself is she? Examples?

Personally, I'd just use people like that as a basis of how not to act. Personally, I'd love to further my writing career to a level I could call "successful". If I amassed some kind of following in the process, I'd do my best to entertain them and interact with them. I'd probably enjoy that to a degree, but I certainly don't lust after it, and I'm under no delusions that those of "celebrity" status are any better than the rest of us. In fact there are certain well known people I feel you'd have the high ground over in every way by default...

I really don't see how that girl could be full of herself when I'd class an internet personality like John Green as something like an E list celebrity, and she sounds like a fraction of what he is. Then again, some people just aren't made for fame. Ironically, those tend to be the people who seek it out.

Edit: I get the feeling if I reached super-star level fame, I'd end up being infamous as the guy who shot that one really intrusive paparazzi guy. Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with some "journalists"?

 

[The Funslinger]

What is your opinion on celebrities/being famous? I don't mean all of the garbage and drama that celebrities create, but do you seek to be famous or to have followers? I was talking about this with a friend of mine and was wondering what you think.

Yes, I would like that. Maybe not a Star Wars Kid kind of fame but, for example, I could use some of DiCaprio's popularity.
I have a lot of ideas that I would like to share with the world. When you're famous, you can do that quickly and on a large scale.
More importantly, it's tiring to go through so much hassle and play so many dumb social games, just to have a girl notice you. With fame, that wouldn't be a problem. A lot of girls go out of their way to get noticed by famous men.
Does that make me shallow? Maybe, but I don't care. Fame would just make my life so much easier.

Meh, I just plan on avoiding the struggles of being noticed by women by moving to America.

I have the quintessential British accent, and I feel like I'm at least moderately attractive. So, it's an easy game for me!

That's not why I'm moving to America. It's just a happy coincidence I noticed.

 

[Agayek]

I have absolutely no desire to be famous in any way, shape or form. If it happens as a side-effect of something I do, alright cool, but the opinions of random strangers mean nothing to me, accolades as well as scorn. The very few benefits of fame (specifically easy money, and that's about it) is just not worth the complete lack of privacy and annoyances one would have to put up with.

 

[The Funslinger]

Fame should be earned.

The vast majority of people who crave fame are not talented enough in any area of their lives to ever be famous.

Then we have reality TV rejects, who are the same as the people in the paragraph above, but show enough sociopathic tendencies that banging them all in the same room for a prolonged period of time creates enough 'tension' to be considered 'good TV'.

The world needs more people like

Spoiler: This

And

Spoiler: This

And

Spoiler: This

And less people like

Spoiler: This

And

Spoiler: This

And

Spoiler: This

You forgot minor guys who use fame they happen upon to help people. Like these guys:

I would probably hug these guys if I met them, potential restraining order be damned. They're just such epic people.

I'm not even bad around celebrities (Patrick Stewart is a local, and Daniel Radcliffe filmed something here), that's how awesome they are.

 

[tahrey]

Hmm ... why do you think I hide behind this avatar-less pseudonym?

The one time I turned up somewhere in person using it, things got a bit ... weird. It's probably for the best that I was never able to get hold of a matching custom numberplate.

Also, what Daystar and Binnys said.
(And one of the reasons I like to remain out of sight is because I know I can't ever catch up to the awesomeness - of creativity, or of generocity and positive influence - of the few famous people whose notoriety I do appreciate)

 

[TheEndlessSleep]

I don't think being famous should be your goal in life. In my experience, people who want to get famous tend to be at best mediocre at the thing which they think they'll get famous for.

Essentially what we normally see is this kind of thought process;

1: Talent
2: Time
3:....
4: Profit!

Now, it would be great if the world worked like that, but the fact is that there are thousands of people all trying to get into the public eye who will be as good if not better than you.

For an even half decent chance of sucess, you should be thinking like this;

1: Exceptional Talent
2: Time
3: Luck
4: Profit!

Don't aim for fame - simply do something with your life which you enjoy and if you're good enough at it then you might well get recognition for it.

And if you don't... Who cares? Keep doing the thing you love and keep enjoying it

 

[Nouw]

"Yes. I think people understand what we are doing. I know many people who maybe like the way we are handling things. People understand that you don't need to be on the covers of magazines with your face to make good music. Painters or other artists, you don't know them but you know what they are doing. We are very happy that the concept in itself is becoming famous. In France, you speak of Daft Punk and I'm sure millions of people have heard it, but less than a few thousand people know our face?which is the thing we're into. We control it, but it's not us physically, our persons. We don't want to run into people who are the same age as us, shaking our hand and saying, 'Can I have your autograph?' because we think we're exactly like them. Even girls, they can fall in love with your music, but not with you. You don't always have to compromise yourself to be successful. The playing with masks is just to make it funnier. Pictures can be boring. We don't want all the rock n' roll poses and attitudes?they are completely stupid and ridiculous today."-Presumably Thomas Bangalter since Guy never really talks xD.

If I was a musician, that would be how I roll.

 

[Berithil]

I think this song is relevant.

Spoiler: I'm sorry. I just had to.

Anyways, I would hate to be famous. Way to much attention. And way to much intrusion into my personal life. In my opinion, people who put fame first are usually talentless, shallow hacks

 

[cambamuniverse]

Well I'm not arguing with how you achieve the fame, a few of you seemed to think that I just want people to love me "just because" but that's not the case, it's more like love me for the ideas that I bring to the table. I want to become an actor (going to college for an acting major whoooooo) and so I'd want to be loved for my portrayal of characters and perhaps involvement in script writing or directing.

It seems to me OP that your post kind of contradicts itself. On one hand you want people to hold you up to relatively high standards while acquiring money and power, but on the other you want to help people. Now don't get me wrong, there are famous people who have a lot of money and who help people, however, how you described it, you only seem to want to be famous for your own personal gains, and not really to help others.

As for this, that's not what I meant at all. I meant aquiring the money and power IN ORDER to help people, not just for personal gains. Sure money and power is great, but I think that the rich need to "share the wealth" I guess.

As for negatives, yeah the paparazzi would suck, but I've learned to have tough skin so I can deal with the haters. Personally I'd like the challenge haha