Analysis on careers in the arts

Pointe shoes!! First time putting on in years. 15th October, 2024. Added on 17th January, 2025.

Hello,

Recently I've realized some things about careers in the arts. Or actually, one of them isn't even a career. I was just thinking about the concept of celebrities, and what their life must be like. Or how I imagine it to be like. Have you ever thought about what it would be like to be a celebrity? I think a lot of people instantly want that fame, or that money, but honestly, even before and especially now, the more that I think about it the more I think I would NEVER want to be anything like that at all. Also, if you know me at all, you know I love ballet and have a long history of it. I kind of wanted to be a professional dancer, but I always wanted to be a medical professional MORE. That was always the big goal. As the goal of what exactly I wanted to be got even bigger, I knew there was no way I would ever have enough time to be a dancer. But, in this blog post, I'll actually analyze other reasons why I would never ever want to be a professional dancer. It does not suit me, as much as I even maybe wish it did. (Eh...we'll see about that). I think what I actually always wanted instead was to be AS GOOD as a professional dancer, but not actually be one, for reasons that will be listed below.

Celebrities (famous actors, singers, influencers...)

So now I will just start listing all the things I don't like about the life I believe celebrities lead. Could I be wrong? Absolutely. Also, this is all just for fun conversation's sake. Don't take this too seriously. *CLARIFICATION: I AM NOT ATTACKING THESE PEOPLE, I AM SIMPLY EXPLAINING WHY I WOULDN'T REALLY WANT TO BE IN THEIR PLACE.

1. The expectation of always having to post on social media (Instagram more specifically). I have actually heard and seen influencers say "I need to take some pictures for the gram." Wait...rewind...you're taking pictures...JUST so that you can post them on social media? Isn't the whole point of social media to be able to catch up with other people's lives and also give them a window to see into your own? But, if you're creating moments, that's not really sharing. I mean...you should be sharing actual things that happened...naturally. Not because you made them happen. It just seems inorganic and weird. It's also really fake. All celebrities post is some photos of their fancy events (I swear they have one like every day) in some fancy expensive designer gown. Who cares? How is this sharing your life? Is this really the most important thing about you/from your life/that you will look back on? A bunch of events is as deep as it gets? All it's showing is: you're rich. Not anything about you that's valuable...sure maybe some fashion inspo. This applies to singers, too. If you think "Oh I'll follow my favorite singer because then I can get updates on their new music." That's what I thought too. But first of all, they post barely anything about new music, and you can more easily just find the song once it's published, without even opening a social media app to find out that way. Maybe I just don't care about their personal life? That could be it too. If I know you, then I *might* care. Second of all though, there's this really weird balance between celebrities mixing their businesses and personal lives. It's in the same account. You're getting promos of whatever it is about them (their music, their movies/shows that they're in, their YouTube channel) but you're also getting a bunch of personal life detail and lot of those ^fake memories I mentioned earlier.

2. Fans. Fame. Comments. Lots of all of those. So you'd think they feel really...surrounded by people all the time? The opposite of lonely? I don't know...I feel like ironically that makes it even more lonely. Because it's like...yes they have all these people constantly viewing, watching, liking, and commenting on things about their *supposedly really cool life* but, do they ever interact with their fans? No, they never reply to comments. It's like no one even should comment anything. They have opportunities...so many...but they don't use it. Part of the reason is because they got absolutely bombarded with comments, and I understand that. I'm not saying they should reply to every single comment (lol...that sounds absolutely...no). But they don't interact with their fans at all. The fans are kept at a distance (in general). In their captions they may seem like they are all warmed up to their fans, and they're very thankful, blah, blah, but you'd think the comments would be a way to prove that it's an actual community. (And not every celebrity does this too). Also, they probably think they can only interact with people on the same tier as them, and that's a whole other mindset issue.

LET'S TALK ABOUT SHOWS

This section includes dancers and shows that actors act on. Basically drama and dance. Theatre. I'm going to talk about this section in the context of dancers specifically because I am more detail on that, but everything I say applies to shows (therefore celebrities) as well.

Dancers

1. I would absolutely hate all the events (celebrities), all the shows (dancers, celebrities), requirements of a constant change of makeup, hairstyles, and costumes.

a. Costumes/being forced to wear specific clothes: Apply to dancers, actors, and models, I would hate this (and it might just be because of preference) very simply because of insecurities. I mean, imagine having to constantly wear things you are NOT comfortable wearing? And you have no choice. This is your job. To be uncomfortable, but of course you can't act like it (a common theme in ballet in general). What if it's way too immodest for your nature? Too bad!

b. Makeup: I have mixed feelings about makeup. I have a blog post about it...just kind of the unnaturalness of it. It's only okay if you don't start feeling like an imposter when you take it off. Meaning, very natural probably? What is makeup like in modeling, acting, dancing, haha ! Definitely not natural.

c. Hairstyles: Not much to explain here, just overall want to make the point that all three of these things constantly rob you of actually who you are and who you want to be. You guys already know the struggle with self image is so real, how much worse would it become with all of this?! I can't imagine. In other words, it's already hard enough to figure out who you are, how much harder is it when you're not even allowed to be yourself. You're told what to do, therefore you're basically told who to be. Because we always express ourselves in different ways. We develop patterns. We have likes and dislikes. All of that goes away. And what if you simply hate the costume, hate the makeup, hate the hairstyles? You don't even recognize yourself? I mean when you're acting, you *literally* are not yourself. How do you make that separation when you have to get back to being yourself? Does your development of your true self suffer? Can you get more insecure from playing a part? I bet you can.

That's it. That's the end. I'm sure I will think of more points and add them. But you, can add your own questions. 😉