Addiction to Fame and Celebrity

Question:

Are Narcissists hooked on being famous?

Answer:

You bet. This, by far, is their predominant drive. Being famous encompasses a few important functions: it endows the narcissist with power, provides him with a continuous supply of Narcissistic Supply (respect, adoration, approval, amazement ), and fulfils important Ego functions.

The image that the narcissist jobs is hurled back at him, reflected by those vulnerable to his celebrity or celebrity. In this manner he feels living, his own existence is supported and that he acquires a sensation of clear boundaries (where the narcissist ends and the world begins).

There is a set of narcissistic behaviours typical into the pursuit of celebrity. There is almost nothing that the narcissist refrains from performing, virtually no borders he hesitates to cross to achieve renown. To him, there is absolutely no such thing as”bad publicity” — what matters is to maintain the public eye.

Since the narcissist equally enjoys all kinds of attention and enjoys as much to be feared as to be adored, for example — he doesn’t mind if what is published about him is incorrect (“as long as they spell my name correctly”). The narcissist’s only poor emotional moves are during periods of lack of focus, publicity, or exposure.

The narcissist then feels empty, hollowed out, slight, humiliated, and wrathful, discriminated against, deprived, neglected, treated unjustly and so forth. At first, he attempts to receive attention from narrowing groups of benchmark (“distribution scale down”). But the feeling which he is endangering gnaws at his anyway fragile self-esteem.

Sooner or later, the spring pops. The narcissist plots, contrives, plans, conspires, believes, analyses, synthesises and does whatever else is necessary to recover the missing exposure in the public eye. The more he fails to secure the attention of the target group (always the biggest ) — the more daring, bizarre and outlandish he becomes. Firm decision to become known is changed into resolute action and then to some panicky routine of attention seeking behaviours.

The narcissist isn’t really interested in publicity per se. Narcissists are misleading. The narcissist appears to love himself — and, really, he abhors himself. Similarly, he appears to be considering becoming a celebrity — and, in reality, he is worried about the REACTIONS to his fame: people watch him, notice him, talk about him, debate his actions — therefore he exists.

The narcissist goes around”hunting and collecting” the way the expressions on people’s faces change when they notice him. He places himself in the centre of focus, or even as a figure of controversy. He constantly and recurrently pesters those nearest and dearest to him in an effort to reassure himself that he isn’t losing his fame, his magic touch, the interest of his social milieu.

Truly, the narcissist isn’t choosy. If he could become famous as a writer — he writes, even if as a freelancer — he conducts business. He switches from 1 field to the other effortlessly and without remorse because in all of them he’s present without certainty, bar the certainty that he needs to (and deserves to) get famous.

He grades activities, hobbies and individuals not based on the pleasure that they provide him but according to their usefulness: can they or can’t they make him known and, if so, to what extent. The narcissist is one-track minded (not to say obsessive). His is a world of black (being unknown and deprived of attention) and white (being famous and celebrated).

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Mistreating Celebrities – An Interview

Granted to Superinteressante Magazine in Brazil

Q. Fame and TV shows about celebrities usually have a huge audience. This is clear: people like to see other powerful men and women. But why folks like to see stars being humiliated?

A. So far as their fans are concerned, celebrities fulfil two emotional functions: they provide a mythical narrative (a story that the fan can follow and identify with) and they serve as blank screens onto which the fans project their dreams, hopes, fears, plans, values, and needs (wish fulfilment). The smallest deviation from those prescribed roles provokes enormous anger and makes us want to punish (humiliate) the”deviant” celebrities.

But why?

When the human foibles, vulnerabilities, and frailties of a celebrity are shown, the enthusiast feels humiliated,”cheated”, despairing, and”empty”. To reassert his self-worth, the enthusiast must prove their moral superiority over the erring and”sinful” celebrity. The fan should”teach the celebrity a lesson” and show the celebrity”who’s boss”. It’s a primitive defense mechanism – narcissistic grandiosity. It places the fan on equal footing with all the exposed and”nude” celebrity.

Q. This preference for seeing someone being humiliated has got something to do with the fascination with catastrophes and tragedies?

A. There’s almost always a sadistic pleasure and a morbid fascination with vicarious suffering. Being spared the pains and tribulations others go through makes the observer feel”selected”, protected, and virtuous. The higher actors increase, the harder they fall. There’s something gratifying in hubris defied and punished.

Q. Can you believe the audience put themselves at the place of the reporter (if he asks something embarrassing to a celebrity) and become in some way revenged?

A. The reporter”represents” the”bloodthirsty” public. Belittling celebrities or viewing their comeuppance is the contemporary equivalent of this gladiator rink. Gossip utilized to fulfil the identical role and the mass media broadcast live the slaughtering of fallen gods. There’s not any question of revenge – just Schadenfreude, the guilty joy of witnessing your superiors penalized and”cut down to size”.

Q. In your state, who would be the actors people love to hate?

A. Israelis like to see politicians and wealthy businessmen reduced, demeaned, and slighted. In Macedonia, where I live, all famous men and women, irrespective of their vocation, are subject to extreme, proactive, and destructive envy. This love-hate relationship with their idols, this ambivalence, is attributed by psychodynamic theories of personal development to the child’s emotions towards his parents. Indeed, we move and displace many negative emotions we haven onto actors.

Q. I would not dare asking some questions that the terrorists from Panico ask the actors. Which are the features of individuals like these reporters?

A. Sadistic, ambitious, narcissistic, lacking empathy, self-righteous, pathologically and destructively envious, using a varying sense of self-worth (maybe an inferiority complex).

6. Can you think the actors and colleagues want themselves to become as famous as the celebrities they tease? Because I feel this is almost occurring…

A. The line is quite thin. Newsmakers and newsmen and women are celebrities simply because they’re public figures and no matter their true accomplishments. A celebrity is known for being famous. Obviously, such journalists will likely to fall prey to up and coming coworkers in an infinite and self-perpetuating food chain…

7. I think that the fan-celebrity connection gratifies either side. What are the benefits the fans get and what would be the benefits the celebrities get?

A. There’s an implied contract between a celebrity and his fans. The celebrity is obliged to”act the part”, to match the expectations of his admirers, not to deviate in the functions that they inflict and he or she accepts. In return the fans shower the celebrity with adulation. They idolize him or her and make her or him sense omnipotent, immortal,”bigger than life”, omniscient, superior, and sui generis (unique).

Which are the fans getting for their trouble?

Above all, the ability to vicariously share the celebrity’s fabulous (and, typically, partially confabulated) existence. The celebrity becomes their”representative” in fantasyland, their expansion and proxy, the reification and embodiment of their deepest desires and most secret and accountable dreams. Many celebrities are also role models or father/mother figures. Stars are proof that there’s more to life than drab and routine. This beautiful – nay, perfect – people do exist and they do lead charmed lives. There’s hope yet – that is actually the celebrity’s message to his supporters.

The celebrity’s inevitable corruption and downfall is the modern-day equal of the medieval morality play. This trajectory – from rags to fame and riches and back to rags or worse – demonstrates that order and justice do prevail, that hubris always gets punished, which the celebrity isn’t any better, neither is he superior, to his fans.

8. Why are actors narcissists? How can this disorder born?

No one knows if pathological narcissism is the outcome of inherited traits, the sad result of abusive and traumatizing upbringing, or the confluence of both. Many times, in the exact same household, with the same group of parents and an identical emotional environment – some siblings grow to be malignant narcissists, while others are perfectly”normal”. Surely, this indicates a hereditary predisposition of some people to come up with narcissism.

It would appear reasonable to assume – though, at this phase, there is not a shred of evidence that the narcissist is born with a propensity to develop narcissistic defenses. These are triggered by abuse or trauma during the formative years in infancy or during early adolescence. By”abuse” I am referring to a range of behaviours that objectify the child and treat it as a extension of the caregiver (parent) or as a mere instrument of gratification. Dotting and smothering are as abusive as beating and starving. And abuse can be dished out by peers in addition to by parents, or by adult role models.

Not all celebrities are narcissists. Still, a number of them surely are.

All of us look for positive cues from people around us. These cues reinforce in us certain behaviour patterns. There’s nothing special in the fact that the narcissist-celebrity does exactly the exact same. However there are two major differences between the narcissistic and the normal character.

The first is qualitative. The normal person is likely to welcome a moderate quantity of focus — nonverbal and verbal — in the shape of affirmation, approval, or admiration. Too much focus, however, is perceived as onerous and is avoided. Destructive and negative criticism is prevented entirely.

The narcissist, in contrast, is the psychological equivalent of an alcoholic. He is insatiable. He directs his whole behaviour, in fact his life, to obtain these pleasurable titbits of attention. He embeds them in a coherent, completely biased, picture of himself. He uses them to regulates his labile (fluctuating) feeling of self-worth and self-esteem.

To elicit constant interest, the narcissist projects to others a confabulated, fictitious version of himself, called the False Self. The False Self is everything the narcissist isn’t: omniscient, omnipotent, charming, intelligent, rich, or well-connected.

The narcissist then proceeds to harvest reactions to this projected image from family members, friends, co-workers, acquaintances, business partners and from coworkers. If these — the adulation, admiration, attention, fear, respect, applause, affirmation — are not forthcoming, the narcissist demands them, or extorts them. Money, compliments, a favourable critique, an appearance in the media, a sexual conquest are all converted into precisely the exact same currency in the narcissist’s mind, into”narcissistic supply”.

So, the narcissist isn’t really interested in publicity per se or in being famous. Truly he is concerned with the REACTIONS to his fame: how folks view him, notice him, talk about him, debate his actions. It”proves” to him that he exists.

The narcissist goes around”hunting and collecting” the way the expressions on people’s faces change when they notice him. He places himself at the centre of focus, or even as a figure of controversy. He constantly and recurrently pesters those nearest and dearest to him in an effort to reassure himself that he isn’t losing his fame, his magic touch, the interest of his social milieu.