The Written Thought: Article 12
The painting of Angelina Jolie and Wal-mart
There is an obsession going on in our world today with the lives of celebrities. Our television stations, once bastions of what was serious and important, now fill their telecasts with the latest going ons of Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie. Why just the other day my ten-year-old daughter looked up to me while we were in line to go to a movie to tell me that Angelina Jolie had changed her name and was know known by Angelina Jolie-Pitt.
I hope the look that I gave her conveyed what I felt inside. Why the hell should I care?
While online, I came across an article that spelled out what I was thinking in artistic terms, so I have decided to share this morsel of information with my readers to see what you think. There is an artist by the name of Kate Kretz in North Carolina has been so intrigued with the public obsession with Angelina Jolie that she has painted a picture of her. The painting -- acrylic and oil on linen -- depicts an angelic Jolie in the clouds, holding her newborn daughter, Shiloh, with children Maddox and Zahara at her legs. Below them is a Wal-Mart checkout line. The painting is for sale for $50,000 through Chelsea Galleria in Miami, which represents Kretz. Inspired is the only word that I can come up with about what the painting represents, and hope is another. It seems I am not alone in my thinking of the media blitz celebrities receive that is becoming even more common.
Nevertheless, you see today’s world has degenerated to that point. Instead of discussing what is going on in Dafur or the effect our actions in Iraq are having on the rest of the world-we are filling our minds with useless trivia that changes faster than a Hollywood wedding.
Will media one day ever separate what is important in life and what is unimportant. In my own line of thinking, I like to go back to something my mother always said to me. In life, you have wants and you have needs. You need food, clothing, and a place to stay. Wants might be represented by the pretty girl down the street or that limited edition Michael Jordan card that you are sure no one else has.
In my sorrow, I think the answer has already been answered because it continues on to this day. Most people need to see what these celebrities are doing. Not because they care so much about their politics or because they believe the fodder their publicists crap out everyday, but because in our complex world where things are difficult and complicated we sometimes need to look at other people’s life and say ‘they are so screwed up.’
