L.A. – The Culture of Cruelty

It’s not a big newsflash: L.A. is a self absorbed culture that feeds on the insecurities of star-gazed performers who base their entire self worth on the opinions of others. But at what point does vanity cross over into cruelty? In L.A. they seem to be one in the same, since vanity is derived from insecurities that are played out in the degradation of others.

Take auditions for example. Mia walks in, a tall, thin brunette with striking features. And yet, she is told she’s “not pretty enough”. It’s one thing to not be right for the part. And there would be no real harm in a casting director saying so to the one auditioning. But it seems the casting director, who from accounts are often overweight and unattractive (by Hollywood standards anyway) themselves, apparently sooth their own insecurities by being in a position of power that allows them to make others feel worthless. In what other profession can you openly discriminate against people for noses that are too big, breasts that are too small, legs that have too much cellulite, etc.? I understand that casting directors have a certain image they are trying to portray in filling key roles, but what right does that give them to play God in determining the worth of others based on physical attributes. And I only exaggerate slightly when I say they are playing God, because a few short words from a casting director to an insecure aspiring actor can lead to plastic surgery, starvation, and drug use including Clenbuterol, a drug used on horses to control asthma, that has also been found to contribute to weight loss in humans — but at what cost? Not to mention the alcohol and recreational drug use often used to numb the constant feelings of rejection and self loathing they face.

Meanwhile, the rest of us sit back and enjoy the results brought on by casting directors in the form of the idealistic beautiful people that end up gracing the silver screen. We don’t think much of the people that weren’t cast in the film. The people that were rejected because they might have a mole in the wrong place on their face, or their breasts sag too much. We just go to see the Brad Pitts and the Angelina Jolie’s who herself seems to have recently succumbed to the Hollywood Thin Machine. And if we aren’t buying the movie tickets, we sure are picking up the tabloids, feeling relief and disgust at the pictures of this star and that with cellulite. (Egad!) If you do a search on Google for ‘celebrity cellulite’, you will get 150,000 results. One site devotes an entire section to celebrity cellulite. While I think the intent is to make us all realize that everyone, even those we think of as perfect has “flaws”, I think the intent backfires and instead sends the message that since these women, who at a size 2 have cellulite, what hope is there for the rest of us. We love finding the imperfections in our beloved celebrities because it helps us feel better about ourselves in the same way that the casting directors boost their egos through insults.

Periodically, a celebrity lashes out as Jennifer Love Hewitt did last year after pictures of her romping on the beach in a bikini revealed that she had grown out of her 16 year old body and acquired some cellulite. Nevermind that she was still a size 2. All that mattered to the papparazzi was to reveal her “flaws”. When criticism of her body was showing up in the media and in blogs she responded on her web site: “I’ve sat by in silence for a long time now about the way women’s bodies are constantly scrutinized. To set the record straight, I’m not upset for me, but for all of the girls out there that are struggling with their body image.”

And the cruelty doesn’t stop at the studio gates. It’s so ingrained in the culture that even homeless people expect perfection from women. While Sarah dined at a street-side cafe, a drunk homeless man began harassing customers, trying to get someone to buy him alcohol at a nearby liquor store (from which presumably he’d been banned). When he got to Sarah, and she politely declined to “help”, he began his verbal assualt: “You FAT FUCK. You FAT FUCKING PIG! I would rather be ME than you, you fat pig!” And so it went for about 30 seconds, though to Sarah it felt like an eternity. To add insult to injury, all those standing around gaping at the scene, maintained silence and feeling glad it was not them he was after. Sarah, who has cerebral palsy, has had numerous surgeries, takes medications around the clock, some of which contribute to weight gain, and has been virtually immobile for much of the last few years, does struggle with her weight, for obvious and understandable reasons. But to her, the reason no one stepped in to stop this homeless man’s verbal assault is because he was in fact right (to all those around). To everyone standing there, the worst thing in the world is to be fat, and even being drunk and homeless was a better lot in life than that of Sarah.

So where does it all stop? When do we as a culture, finally draw the line and say “enough is enough” with the emotional torture in LA that we encourage, if not actively, then at least passively by not DIScouraging it? It’s great when a celebrity — like Jennifer Love Hewitt — steps out here and there to criticize the media, but one size 2 actress with a little cellulite speaking out every now and then is like trying to tear down the Berlin wall with a chisel. We as a society need to reject what has become a standard — if not for the skeletons that walk the red carpet, then for the rest of us in taking back the idea of real beauty and not defining it by jutting collar bones or the number of ribs you can see.