Last weekend my parents were in town and we were driving through Beverly Hills killing time before their flight home. We passed someone selling star maps and spontaneously decided to pick one up. None of us had done this before and figured it might be an entertaining way to kill an hour. This unusual practice got me thinking about stars and our relationships to them. The whole experience felt sort of bizarre and uncomfortable. The streets were largely deserted aside from the rare ridiculously expensive car and I felt like an outsider and an intruder. While the houses in these neighborhoods were as lavish and polished as the stars’ personas, it felt odd to look out at the places where these celebrities live out their private lives. It felt too intimate and invasive. I didn’t need to know that Nicholas Cage was hosting a children’s birthday party on Sunday afternoon. It reminded me that behind these star personas are real people and perhaps the public isn’t meant to see beyond this image. I think a degree of distance is essential between fans and the stars they admire.
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