Two weeks ago, we witnessed the unexpected dethroning of Queen Jennifer Lawrence when she called out a reporter at the Golden Globes for looking at his phone. Though neither the reporter nor Lawrence have commented on the events, pretty much everyone else has. Some claim that it was just a dry joke that fell flat, while others claim that she just had too much alcohol. However, the dominant “theory” remains that the reporter was not a native English-speaker and was looking at his phone to relay his questions better. No matter what you believe, it would not be hard to admit that she was rude by interrupting his question about how she feels about the Oscars by condescendingly stating, “We’re at the Golden Globes. If you put your phone down, you’d know that.”
Everyone fell in love with Lawrence when she was new to the scene. She was Mystique. She was Katniss. She was cute and quirky and didn’t seem to be like the others. Her flaws were lovable. Lawrence has always been the girl that seemed down-to-earth, the type to talk about how she loves to eat or goof up or do things “normal people” do. She always had a screw-you personality, which made her endearing to everyone. “At last, an actress like me!” people exclaimed. Her shtick turned very cookie-cutter, after a while. Her once down-to-earth character appeared to be disingenuous.
The first time that it started to get a bit tedious was when the media reported like gospel that she had eaten Doritos in the white dress that she wore in “American Hustle.” Everyone screamed, “Ah! How quirky and just-like-you-and-me she is! She is so random, LOL!” All she did was eat Doritos. In fact, though the dress was cheap to make, it’s kind of rude to continuously doing his job and she interrupted him twice. It’s not quirky to be obnoxious, whether you meant it as a joke or not, Jennifer.
So many people become obsessed with celebrities they know nothing about and assume that what they do or say in public appearances reflect who they are in reality. Every A-list celebrity has a horde of crazed fans who follow their every move. The population’s need to know every move a celebrity makes has fueled paparazzi’s paychecks. The result is that celebrities are put under an intense limelight exposing every flaw and every misstep. This results in the ebb and flow of public opinion. When things don’t go according to plan–when the actor or actress isn’t acting the exact way that the public wants them to, you get what happened here.
It’s no secret that Hollywood is a fickle thing. Many actresses have attracted intense hatred over trivial matters, like Anne Hathaway. You could argue that what Lawrence did was a little more serious, and that she was therefore a little more deserving of her “dethroning.” You could also argue that she was just feeling the effects of a little too much alcohol at dinner and didn’t filter her words. Either way, it’s a great example of how no one is safe from the changing tides of the industry.
People don’t realize—or try to aggressively ignore—that the persona these A-listers put out on camera are carefully crafted by a group of people to control how the public reacts. Celebs are told extensively how to behave, and if something doesn’t go as planned, they jump on damage control faster than you can say “scandal.” The celebrity couple you swoon over and hope will live forever after may just be together to promote a new movie. The star you see that loves to brag and Instagram how they eat pizza and cheeseburgers has a team of dieticians, cooks, and personal trainers to make sure they don’t put on a pound past what’s deemed acceptable. So much of the ugly happens behind the scenes so that you only see the beauty.
