Slap! After Oscars, Reflecting on Celebrity Standards

    First of all, I don’t think celebrities should be held to a higher standard than others because there are various kinds of standards that are already presented to each celebrity. Opinions from society have already given peer pressure on celebrities, resulting in them to satisfy their audience by fulfilling their setted standard.

   My personal opinion of the Oscar’s situation is that an out-of-hand action performed by some famous individuals can easily be the talk of the town, rather than acknowledging the well deserved celebrities. For this incident from Will Smith and Chris Rock; obviously they have known everything is going to be recorded and spread throughout the media, however, still continued to act this way but Chris handled that slap pretty well, he simply carried on. As they went on with this unintended performance; I wonder, what motivated Chris Rock to say this line along with out of all the jokes he had to say, Will Smith doesn’t tolerate it? It’s sort of intriguing, yet again, we’re all human, we have our rages and setbacks to face consequences. 

    If a celebrity that I admire most performs this act, for instance, Lisa (she has a pet cat) from BlackPink, I would be surprised knowing she has a partner, but all in all, my thoughts of Lisa wouldn’t change at all. She will continue to be my most admired celebrity in my heart. Due to the setted standards for celebrities such as artists, Lisa, people would automatically come to an assumption of judgement over an issue many would possibly encounter, and respond in an angered manner such as Will Smith had.

    An example when a celebrity has behaved other than expected in the public eye is: Andrew Garfield, being chased by the paparazzi instead of the paparazzi chasing him (see fig. 1).

    Figure 1 Andrew Garfield chasing paparazzi in Venice Beach (image from YouTube: WOW MEDIA)

    Another example: Andrew Garfield and Ryan Reynolds kissed (see fig. 2).

    Figure 2 Andrew Garfield and Ryan Reynolds at Golden Globes, kissing (image from YouTube: ABC News) (courtesy Hollywood Foreign Press Association and DCP Rights, LCC)

    Recently, Will Smith was held accountable for his behaviour at the Oscars. And as of today’s society, an apology posted in the media is frequent. Therefore, Will Smith posted his apology on his Instagram (see fig. 3). So, there is some sort of apology post celebrities would have to do after behaving poorly.

    Figure 3 Will Smith's Instagram apology post (image from Instagram: @willsmith)

    My final analysis, it is a tough environment for celebrities to live their way of life as standards possibly weigh them down to go beyond their own limits for the expectations.