Tortured artist or Tortured by fame?

[emmelinemay]

Last week I mentioned my pondering on the paths of destruction so many artists seem to go down, and wondered whether they were damaged because they were famous and, or famous because they were damaged.

Synchronicity calling. Why rock and roll stars die young.

It's been proved by SCIENCE, people. And Science is neva rong. Rite?

Comments

[emmelinemay.livejournal.com]

Drugs, suicide, it's all part of the same self-destructive streak. They've also focussed very much on those that died, where as those that lived through it are just as interesting - David Bowie's doing pretty well for himself still, despite excesses at the height of his fame.

I think there are two groups of self-destruction to fame routes - there's the one you mention, people who are damaged enough to create art (be it literature, music, whatever) whose inner demons ultimately rip them apart. How many unknown artists destroyed themselves without the benefit of tabloid journalists hanging outside their house, and entourages only too happy to give them free drink and drugs?

I think there is also the less talented people that crave fame. Craving 'fame' as an end in itself is pretty weird, really, when you think about it. Why would someone crave fame? SO many of these people, craving fame, when they get it, it damages them so much more (see Britney, Robbie Williams, most of the Spice Girls most winners of any reality TV show, - not saying they *aren't* talented - but they're certianly not 'great talents' compared to others). Perhaps when they get it, they find, suddenly and unexpectedly, they still aren't happy. And their world falls apart.

[emmelinemay.livejournal.com]

I speak here as someone that did once crave fame, and wanted nothing more out of life than to 'be famous'...

[mark13.livejournal.com]

IIRC, you did actually try to become so through talent and hard work rather than just because you felt you should be. :)

[emmelinemay.livejournal.com]

I did seriously consider auditioning for Big Brother though.

Now, the thought fills me with utter dread.

[mark13.livejournal.com]

Hm, I'm not sure drugs and suicide are always part of the same streak - you can be down self-destructive, i.e. Cobain, Ian Curtis, which often involves drugs, and you can be up self-destructive, where you're not depressed or trying to get away from yourself, you just don't know when to stop.

I'd say plenty of unknown artists destroyed themselves without media help - the self-awareness that leads to great art often leads to self-loathing.

I'm not so sure exactly how much fame affects fame seekers as opposed to the genuinely talented. Cobain despised his fame, and that contributed to his suicide as much as anything else did, but I'm a lot less convinced by the meltdowns that Robbie, Britney, et al have.

Yes, they are self-destructive behaviours, but they strike me as somewhat calculatedly attention-seeking behaviours - people desperate to keep in the public eye, and prepared to go to any lengths to do so.

As far as I know, the list of famous-for-being-famous people who have actually killed themselves young through drugs and/or suicide is miniscule in comparison to the number of genuinely talented people who have done so. I just don't think they have the imagination or ability to reach the same depths of despair that would drive them to do so.

[emmelinemay.livejournal.com]

Drugs and suicide aren't always, not, but in Kurt's case they were, and they are often linked.

In terms of fame-seeking, i look at it more from that angle that anyone that seeks 'fame' for no other reason than to be 'famous' must be missing something. To get what you want, and then find out it hasn't 'fixed' whatever it was that was missing can totally destroy you. I think that's a different thing entirely from the tortured artist, but they both ultimately are damaged *before* they are famous.

I think the whole 'killing themselves' thing is not really part of the point - as you say, you can be self destructive without dying from it (again, speaking from experience), so just lookign atth enumber of famous people who 'killed themselves' wasn't really my point.

Apart from various semantics issues here, i think we probably agree on most of it :)