As 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 function as blank screens onto which
the fans project their dreams, hopes, fears, plans, values, and desires
(wish fulfilment).
Question:
Are Narcissists addicted to 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 constant Source of Narcissistic Supply
(admiration, adoration, approval, awe), and fulfils important Ego
functions.
The image that the narcissist projects is hurled back at him, reflected
by those exposed to his celebrity or fame. This way he feels alive, his
very existence is affirmed and he acquires a sensation of clear
boundaries (where the narcissist ends and the world begins).
There is a set of narcissistic behaviours typical to the pursuit of
celebrity. There is almost nothing that the narcissist refrains from
doing, almost no borders that he hesitates to cross to achieve renown.
To him, there is no such thing as "bad publicity" – what matters is to
be in the public eye.
Because the narcissist equally enjoys all types of attention and likes
as much to be feared as to be loved, for instance – he doesn't mind if
what is published about him is wrong ("as long as they spell my name
correctly"). The narcissist's only bad emotional stretches are during
periods of lack of attention, publicity, or exposure.
The narcissist then feels empty, hollowed out, negligible, humiliated,
wrathful, discriminated against, deprived, neglected, treated unjustly
and so on. At first, he tries to obtain attention from ever narrowing
groups of reference ("supply scale down"). But the feeling that he is
compromising gnaws at his anyhow fragile self-esteem.
Sooner or later, the spring bursts. The narcissist plots, contrives,
plans, conspires, thinks, analyses, synthesises and does whatever else
is necessary to regain the lost exposure in the public eye. The more he
fails to secure the attention of the target group (always the largest)
– the more daring, eccentric and outlandish he becomes. Firm decision
to become known is transformed into resolute action and then to a
panicky pattern of attention seeking behaviours.
The narcissist is not 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 interested
in becoming a celebrity – and, in reality, he is concerned with 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 at the centre of attention, or even as a figure of controversy.
He constantly and recurrently pesters those nearest and dearest to him
in a bid to reassure himself that he is not losing his fame, his magic
touch, the attention of his social milieu.
Truly, the narcissist is not choosy. If he can become famous as a
writer – he writes, if as a businessman – he conducts business. He
switches from one field to the other with ease and without remorse
because in all of them he is present without conviction, bar the
conviction that he must (and deserves to) get famous.
He grades activities, hobbies and people not according to the pleasure
that they give him – but according to their utility: 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 understandable: people like to see other successful people. But
why people like to see celebrities being humiliated?
A. As 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 function as blank screens onto which
the fans project their dreams, hopes, fears, plans, values, and desires
(wish fulfilment). The slightest deviation from these prescribed roles
provokes enormous rage and makes us want to punish (humiliate) the
"deviant" celebrities.
But why?
When the human foibles, vulnerabilities, and frailties of a celebrity
are revealed, the fan feels humiliated, "cheated", hopeless, and
"empty". To reassert his self-worth, the fan must establish his or her
moral superiority over the erring and "sinful" celebrity. The fan must
"teach the celebrity a lesson" and show the celebrity "who's boss". It
is a primitive defense mechanism - narcissistic grandiosity. It puts
the fan on equal footing with the exposed and "naked" celebrity.
Q. This taste for watching a person being humiliated has something to do with the attraction to catastrophes and tragedies?
A. There is always a sadistic pleasure and a morbid fascination in
vicarious suffering. Being spared the pains and tribulations others go
through makes the observer feel "chosen", secure, and virtuous. The
higher celebrities rise, the harder they fall. There is something
gratifying in hubris defied and punished.
Q. Do you believe the audience put themselves in the place of the
reporter (when he asks something embarrassing to a celebrity) and
become in some way revenged?
A. The reporter "represents" the "bloodthirsty" public. Belittling
celebrities or watching their comeuppance is the modern equivalent of
the gladiator rink. Gossip used to fulfil the same function and now the
mass media broadcast live the slaughtering of fallen gods. There is no
question of revenge here - just Schadenfreude, the guilty joy of
witnessing your superiors penalized and "cut down to size".
Q. In your country, who are the celebrities people love to hate?
A. Israelis like to watch politicians and wealthy businessmen reduced,
demeaned, and slighted. In Macedonia, where I live, all famous people,
regardless of their vocation, are subject to intense, 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
transfer and displace many negative emotions we harbor onto celebrities.
Q. I would never dare asking some questions the reporters from Panico
ask the celebrities. What are the characteristics of people like these
reporters?
A. Sadistic, ambitious, narcissistic, lacking empathy, self-righteous,
pathologically and destructively envious, with a fluctuating sense of
self-worth (possibly an inferiority complex).
6. Do you believe the actors and reporters want themselves to be as
famous as the celebrities they tease? Because I think this is almost
happening...
A. The line is very thin. Newsmakers and newsmen and women are
celebrities merely because they are public figures and regardless of
their true accomplishments. A celebrity is famous for being famous. Of
course, such journalists will likely to fall prey to up and coming
colleagues in an endless and self-perpetuating food chain...
7. I think that the fan-celebrity relationship gratifies both sides.
What are the advantages the fans get and what are the advantages the
celebrities get?
A. There is an implicit contract between a celebrity and his fans. The
celebrity is obliged to "act the part", to fulfil the expectations of
his admirers, not to deviate from the roles that they impose and he or
she accepts. In return the fans shower the celebrity with adulation.
They idolize him or her and make him or her feel omnipotent, immortal,
"larger than life", omniscient, superior, and sui generis (unique).
What are the fans getting for their trouble?
Above all, the ability to vicariously share the celebrity's fabulous
(and, usually, partly confabulated) existence. The celebrity becomes
their "representative" in fantasyland, their extension and proxy, the
reification and embodiment of their deepest desires and most secret and
guilty dreams. Many celebrities are also role models or father/mother
figures. Celebrities are proof that there is more to life than drab and
routine. That beautiful - nay, perfect - people do exist and that they
do lead charmed lives. There's hope yet - this is the celebrity's
message to his fans.
The celebrity's inevitable downfall and corruption is the modern-day
equivalent of the medieval morality play. This trajectory - from rags
to riches and fame and back to rags or worse - proves that order and
justice do prevail, that hubris invariably gets punished, and that the
celebrity is no better, neither is he superior, to his fans.
8. Why are celebrities narcissists? How is 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. Often, in the same family, with the same set of
parents and an identical emotional environment - some siblings grow to
be malignant narcissists, while others are perfectly "normal". Surely,
this indicates a genetic predisposition of some people to develop
narcissism.
It would seem reasonable to assume - though, at this stage, there is
not a shred of proof - 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 spectrum of behaviors which objectify the
child and treat it as an 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 as well
as by parents, or by adult role models.
Not all celebrities are narcissists. Still, some of them surely are.
We all search for positive cues from people around us. These cues
reinforce in us certain behaviour patterns. There is nothing special in
the fact that the narcissist-celebrity does the same. However there are
two major differences between the narcissistic and the normal
personality.
The first is quantitative. The normal person is likely to welcome a
moderate amount of attention – verbal and non-verbal – in the form of
affirmation, approval, or admiration. Too much attention, though, is
perceived as onerous and is avoided. Destructive and negative criticism
is avoided altogether.
The narcissist, in contrast, is the mental 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) sense of self-worth and self-esteem.
To elicit constant interest, the narcissist projects on to others a
confabulated, fictitious version of himself, known as the False Self.
The False Self is everything the narcissist is not: 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, neighbours, business
partners and from colleagues. 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 the same currency in the narcissist's mind, into
"narcissistic supply".
So, the narcissist is not really interested in publicity per se or in
being famous. Truly he is concerned with the REACTIONS to his fame: how
people watch 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 attention, or even as a figure of controversy.
He constantly and recurrently pesters those nearest and dearest to him
in a bid to reassure himself that he is not losing his fame, his magic
touch, the attention of his social milieu.
