Rihanna Moonwalk Fail

Though she has looks and talent, the basis of Rihanna's career was that she got beat by Chris Brown. That made her a sympathetic victim and Brown and identifiable monster. People like clear cut GvsE stuff because they know who to support, and who needs to be punished. Following through on such judgments makes we the public feel a little more godlike, and a little less like who we really are. "We made you" is the constant taunt hurled at celebrities. Unfortunately we seem to have made them in our own image.

Back to Rihi - in the weeks following her bust up with Brown she became a cause celeb - Oprah, the Grammys, world tours, you name. The public let it be known that they would support her, as ling as she didn't go back to that awful Chris Brown. Chris meanwhile lost endorsement so fast that he may as well have changed his name to Tiger Woods.

As Chris slowly faded from the scene, Rihanna started to become spoilt from over indulgence. We watched as she had guns tattooed on her, posed naked a few times, and generally started to become more childish & obnoxious empowered. If you're one of the folks that find Rihinna starting to wear thing than the following short video clip might confirm much of what you're already thinking. In it Rihi tries to do Michael Jackson's Moonwalk but doesn't quite pull it off.

a not ready for prime time performance

Best wishes Rihi - get well soon!

A stunt might be not ready for prime time, but might be perfect for YouTube. Antics like this might start to finally affect all that unconditional love & support that's been pouring into Rihi's direction. For one thing that Moonwalk stunt is half assed. People don't like to be connected with anything half assed or foolish - it's a matter of pride. Further more her antics reflect poorly on us, the audience. If we, intentionally or otherwise, wind up making celebrities in our own image, then Rihanna is made of fail these days. Now no one wants to confront that. Getting away from the whole fail thing is we we, the audience, wanted to feel more godlike in the first place!

BTW The Greeks first invented drama as a way of working out commonplace psychological conflicts through catharsis and identification. Since the Greeks had no real psych insight or self awareness, and their dramatic style was crude - their teaching went on to be referenced by Sigmund Freud.

Today is much the same. Entertainment plays an important role in our inner functions (much like alcohol & laxatives?), and much self awareness can be gleaned thereby. Simon Cowell for instance is a man who understands a think or 2 about the strong subconscious appeal of entertainment. American Idol's success isn't accidental - in fact Idol is more engineered than the Cosby show ever was, and TCS was micromanaged from the ground up.

American Idol is Interactive Survivor!

Basically the appeal of this time of entertainment is directly to our thwarted god complexes. We might be nothing going nowhere, but on Idol night we get to vote on who goes nowhere next. The ones who finally win couldn't have done it otherwise. AI defenders continually state that Cowell got a lot of somewhat talented people off on mediocre careers through that show. When they say Cowell they really mean "us" since Idol is the "People's Choice" (some of us suspect that Cowell might be the "me" who came up with that whole "team idea"). When some one goes on to become the next Clay Aiken we are gratified because even though they're the ones with the talent - we did that, by giving to them what we have not received our selves - opportunies, breaks, etc., but mostly just attention! That's what makes us feel powerful and important - vicariously through a thoughtfully produced TV talent show. If Simon knows anything it's how to suck you into the process!

"To live is to fight with trolls in the vaults of heart and brain, to write is to sit in judgement of one's self." -Ibsen

Get in touch with your inner celebrity - get EMPOWERED!




Coming too soon to wondertrash: Tiger Woods spotted with German porn actress Xenia Seeberg?