Joel Pelsue: Narcissism, Hollywood, and Me

So Hollywood is narcissistic?  Tell me something I don't know, right?   Well, though we live here in Los Angeles, and we see our share of fantastically ridiculous behavior, I was recently surprised and grieved to learn more about the narcissism in this city and how it is effecting our culture at large.

Now, I must confess I love the current reality TV show Celebrity Rehab which is hosted by Dr. Drew Pinsky.  It's a less than glamorous show where cameras capture celebrities in the context of struggling to recover from their addictions and destructive lifestyles.  Now, I don't watch it because of some desire to see people at their worst, but rather because of the honesty.  Recovering addicts are forced be honest about their addictive and pathological struggles the way that God commands us to be honest about our struggles with sin.

Last week, my wife and I sat in a lecture here in Los Angeles listening to Dr. Drew Pinsky and Dr. Mark  Young talk about their new book for which they are co-authors, The Mirror Effect: How celebrity narcissism is seducing america. We went to this lecture to better understand some of the people we minister to here in L.A., as well as to better understand how to protect our children.  The title was intriguing, of course.  The lecture was entertaining.  The content was both surprising and heart-breaking.  At several points during the lecture, my heart was overwhelmed with grief over the dangerous situation our culture is in, and the tremendous brokenness of celebrities and their fans. 

The core shift in thinking about Hollywood and narcissism was precipitated by these two men a couple years ago.  After researching celebrities they published something quite contrary to prevalent assumptions:

"Narcissism is not a byproduct of celebrity, but a primary motivating force that drives people to become celebrities."  - Journal of Research in Personality in October 2006.

They explained that it is actually a particular type of brokenness rooted in self-loathing and self-hatred which drives them to pursue public acclaim.  Dr. Drew spoke of how all of the people admitted into his care have experienced serious childhood trauma- without exception. He noted also that childhood trauma has increased algorithmically since the 60's, and this alone is a major contributing factor to where our society and it's celebrities are today.   Pinsky and Young write,

"Celebrity narcissists aren't egomaniacs with high self-esteem.  Rather, they are traumatized individuals who are unable to connect in any real way with other people.  They are driven to attain fame, with its constant stream of attention, flattery, and empowerment, because they need the steady trickle of adoring recognition to take the place of any kind of real self-love or self-respect." 

Leaving the lecture, my wife and I took the elevator to the parking garage - lamenting all that is broken in this city of angels.  And to be honest, I know why the lecture was so moving – I am broken too. 

Christians have been quick in the past to boycott and attack these deeply hurting people- sometimes forgetting that they are people.  It hasn't helped Hollywood's perception of Christians, and has made it harder to share the gospel with them.  Yet, that gospel is what their brokenness yearns for. 

Actually.  Truth be told.  It's the same gospel my brokenness yearns for every day.  To be fully known, and yet to be forgiven, and loved- not just by the faceless fans, or the public press, but by the God who died to make me whole again.

Comments

[Cory]

It is common knowledge in clinical circles that the three professions most likely to attract narcissists are surgeons and actors, yes, but also pastors. Christianity's problem pastors are not so much a problem because of the pastors themselves but the congregations that supply them adulation and influence.

The narcissist has an awful choice. He can live in the desire for adulation that becomes his defense, or he can live in the great sense of insult and despair at the core of his being. It would take quite a supernatural act of healing to enable the narcissist to find another mode of being.

[Gordon Williams]

I agree with Cory. I think one unfortunate example of what he's talking about is the TV evangelism scandals of the 80s.
But it also happens on local church level as well.
Our families, churches, well-meaning friends, and society in general often try to discourage us from going into performing arts because of ego/narsicism issues, acting like performers have a monopoly on these problems (the same holds true for the homosexuality issue.)
But here's another one for you-politicians. And with the emphasis on charisma, as with what we saw in last year's ele-ctions, it's bound to get worse. It just reinforces a long held belief of mine that we, the voters, can be just as much part of the problem as the politicians themselves. Back in the 70s, the wife of one prominent senator sued him for divorce. In one interview, she commented how politicians' egos can be just as fragile as actors!
But I'm also going to add yet another profession that has been afflicted by this disease called narsicism-high finance!
Several articles in the papers recently pointed out that the world of banking suddenly became glamorous starting in the 80s; the MBA suddenly became the "it" degree to have.
But then we saw a cycle of scandals beginning with the "junk bond" antics of Milken & Boesky to the Enron, Fanny Mae, and Stanford scandals of today.
We are in one of the most overglamorized professions in the world. But I think a good argument can be made that when you overglamorize any profession-even the ministry-it inevitably creates the danger of people going into them for all the wrong reasons, tainting even people who are in them for the right ones. And sadly, it can also create an environment for narsicism.