| In the midst of the fresh Hollywood arrests of Mischa Barton and Rebecca De Mornay, writer Phillip Bloch poses some issues of religion and Hollywood on the ABC News site. The headline says it’s now normal for religion to pop up on screen. I’m not so sure. At least I’m not so sure that the content that’s presented on screen is in any way representative of what religion actually is. And I’m not so sure that religion is discussed any more frequently nowadays than it was 10 years ago, 20 years ago, or several more decades ago.
Bloch raises a very good point, though, in how our Hollywood idols truly are our idols. I’ve touched on that in previous blog posts. We love beauty and status. We worship it, unfortunately.
And yes, I can’t avoid noting the irony of a Hollywood that includes religious beliefs as subject matter when the actors who play the parts are falling apart right and left. Beyond the above arrests, there are the erratic behavior patterns of stars like Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan along with an assortment of rappers since the ‘90s and the occasional Hugh Grant or Kiefer Sutherland.
In a related column, Bloch explores the pressures of stardom. When you’re on the set, you have to work long and hard. Bloch even goes so far as to call celebrities people pleasers. So the pressure of pleasing all of us is what makes them rebellious and unruly?
But back to the religion thing. Religion – or a belief system – is all about recognizing and respecting a higher authority than yourself. I’m not so sure that’s part of the package for the typical Hollywood star.
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