Celebrity

It seems that every single person who has visited me in NYC has had a celebrity sighting – except me! This due in part to the fact that the moment I leave my 5 story walk up, I go into New York tunnel vision. I avoid eye contact with every single person on the street asking for money or handing out fliers. In fact, I’m SO good at it that I avoid people that I even know (unintentionally!). On more than one occasion, I’ve walked right past my own roommate on the street. I think this is why I never notice celebrities – but I often wonder what I’d do if I did. After having gone to see Inception at the wonderful Kaufman theater out here in Queens last night, I began looking up some of the cast online. I can across a quote from Joseph Gordon-Levitt saying that he hates ‘celebrity’ and hates being recognized in public. I often wonder how or if I would approach someone like that. I greatly admire his work – particularly in Brick and Inception. I think he’s a talented actor. How would it be any different than coming across one of the well known researcher’s in my field at a conference? If I wasn’t clingy or weird but just emphasized that I really like his work, how would that come across? I have to say, in some sense I can relate to celebrities and why they feel this way about being approached in public. Though the circumstances were different, in Hokkaido I got so sick of being followed, stared at, having my photo taken, or being asked the stupidest questions about America/white people/gaijin, whatever. The sort of voyeurism people acted out around me made me feel self conscious and uncomfortable. Sometimes I wouldn’t leave my house to buy groceries until I absolutely HAD TO because I was so tired of being treated as the gaijin oddity in rural Japan. I wanted so badly to be anonymous – to walk into a coffee shop, order a latte, and leave without having to answer anyone’s stupid questions (which were always the same) or be stared at. I imagine this must be how celebrities feel, too. In that way, I would like to believe that if I ever had a celebrity run-in in New York I’d be able to handle it appropriately. If it was just a well known celebrity that I’m not a big fan of, I’d probably take notice and nothing more. I’d try not to stare. And I certainly wouldn’t take photos. If it was someone I greatly admired, I think I would consider approaching them, unless they were out with their kids or family – I think that’s too intrusive. If I did approach the person, I definitely wouldn’t treat them as a larger than life unhuman figure. I’d try to talk to them the same way I would someone at a conference, “I just wanted to say that I really admire your work..” and from there, depending on how they react, decide whether to talk more or less or to leave.  Overall, the concept of celebrity is so strange.

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