Personality Exhaustion
Imagine you are an alcoholic and you walk into a meeting because you want to get sober. You are surrounded by fellow alcoholics that are excited to help you live a new way of life just like they now do. No matter how many times you relapse, you are always welcomed back. Many of the people at the meetings themselves were in and out like you are. After enough time and work, you have a year clean. People excitedly help ring in your miracle year.
Now imagine a parallel universe where you are an alcoholic. There are no meetings. Instead, you are publicly shamed on social media. You deny you are an alcoholic because no one can admit to being an alcoholic or they will forever be shunned. All the people who accuse you of alcoholism not only deny any alcoholism they currently have or had in the past. They also become public figures courageously calling out the scourge of public drunkenness in Hollywood and other high-profile businesses. Alcoholics would probably all secretly drink themselves to an early grave.
Obviously, the parallel universe is a thinly veiled metaphor for how the Internet, had, up until recently, handled racism. The difference between the two scenarios is the first one is about 12 step meetings that are, by definition, anonymous. The latter ecosystem was fueled by constant attention, now matter how damaging. Or, to use language directly from every 12 step recovery program, the former works with principles, not personalities. The latter may have purported to espouse principles but was far more focused on personalities.
I use the past tense because I recently read a very good analysis of TikTok on The Trend Report that says TikTok, unlike YouTube and Instagram, seems to, especially lately, be more focused on ideas, conversations, themes, movements, than it does on influencers or stars of any sort. As of the writing of that post, the biggest Main Character was the lady who ordered a lot of oysters. She will not have an influencer deal; heck, she probably doesn’t even want any of the attention she is getting. But she is a type of person that everyone recognizes. There is something innately human about her.
Though the Trend Report piece is great on its own, I do feel the need to add that people are the focus of TikTok. But not celebrities or personalities; instead, anonymous victims of great misfortune. Currently, the focus is on the victims of the Israel-Gaza War. A few weeks ago, it was New Yorkers struggling with the flash flood. Next week it may be earthquake survivors in Java. The motives certainly are mixed. Many watch because they are empathetic for their fellow struggling humans. We cannot, however, deny that there are a few who are titillated by all this as well. Like they are peering into a gallows nickelodeon.
Regardless of the motives, there does seem to be a general personality exhaustion that is spreading globally. Speaking from an objective standpoint, there has not been one celebrity hot take on the Israel-Gaza war that has gone viral in a flattering way. For the first time in decades, the unwritten rule that celebrities should stay out of politics seems to have returned. Why does there seem to be a preference now to see anonymous victims of war instead of attractive celebrities and influencers? The loneliness economy certainly seems to be benefiting TikTok. Ever since the lockdown culture of 2020, people (myself included) have been struggling to reestablish IRL friendships and bonds. With isolation being a common state of people – especially those who are extremely online – it makes sense that they may be more moved by somebody miserable that lost their home and family as opposed to, say, watching a fresh-faced influencer’s GRWM routine. Loneliness can make you feel like you have no family or home even when you do.
Another factor leading to personality exhaustion: movie stars are obsolete. Since the ‘90s, movie stars do not carry the same weight they once had. This decade has been even less kind to them. During COVID, social media helped expose many of them as spoiled and out-of-touch. One of the few arrows they had left in their quiver was the celebrity hot take. Now, even those who are not pro-Palestinian, but are skeptical of both sides in the Israel-Gaza war, are alienated by celebrities that unequivocally stand with Israel without mentioning the losses on the other side. In another era, their opinion may have had more weight. But now, not since the ‘60s have Hollywood celebrities seemed so out of step with the youth.
Typically, the “death of the star” news dish is served with a side of “the rise of the franchise.” But even those seem to be struggling lately. One factor, anecdotally, would be the lame Marvel humor that gets repeatedly mocked on TikTok. Must every hero be charming, self-effacing and clever? Too much marzipan, Marvel!
But wait, what’s this? There are applications where you can chat with AI versions of celebrities or comic book characters? What does that say? Doesn’t that undermine everything that I just wrote? For as long as there have been celebrities and fictional characters, the relationship between them and the audience was parasocial. There was never an expectation to interact with either Gal Godot or Wonder Woman. With the loneliness economy booming though, watching a celebrity or superhero spread a center-left mainstream media approved message is less appealing than asking them whether your bad haircut is the end of the world.
Personality exhaustion is not only spreading to celebrities and franchises. Commercials are infested with too many try-hard jokes. And what are these brands trying hard at, exactly? Why, fooling you into thinking that they are young hip Gen Z personalities of course! How these wacky commercials with spicy attitude play during live war footage on YouTube remains to be seen. Probably not well, especially with the falling stock price of actual hip Gen Z personalities.
Speaking of live war footage, younger people are more likely to trust Israeli and Palestinian citizen journalists who are detailing their day-to-day lives during the war on TikTok than they are seasoned news anchors. The day to day lives of people living in wartime have nothing to do with personality. Influencers take videos of themselves in their rooms and talk about how they look so good. Celebrities use the trust they have built with their fan base through their charm, charisma and talent to influence public opinion on a war on the other side of the world. These citizen journalists are the diametrical opposite. There is none of the vicarious, aspirational thrill we get from the personalitysphere. These are people whose lives we hope we will never have to live. But if we do we hope to have their courage and grace.
And that’s just the thing about these non-personalities. They outshine the influencers and movie stars in ways I do not think we will fully understand for some time. There was a precedent for this. Horrifying, eye-opening war reporting during the Vietnam War was done by professional journalists. This coverage helped expand the anti-war movement. But imagine if Vietnam had citizen journalists? North Vietnam teens showing atrocities from American soldiers? South Vietnamese villagers documenting how Ho Chi Minh’s thugs are wreaking havoc?
Yet again I see parallels between our current time and the ‘60s. From a previous post of mine:
Sixties television is terrible when we look at the shows that were officially broadcast as entertainment back then. But the stock news footage of the free spirits of the time is hypnotizing.
The ‘60s itself was full of personality exhaustion. The hoary grand dames and crusty vaudevillians of old Hollywood seemed like wax museum sculptures that were melting in the new climate. A new wave of colorful personalities came in that reflected the spirit of the times. And that’s what most people don’t get about the ‘60s. It was less about any one artist or band than it was about a galaxy of them, all seized by the zeitgeist.1 That’s why to this day you can still find an obscure ‘60s band no one has heard about and feel like the universe is splitting open all over again. The new crop of personalities2 will have to somehow not seem out of touch, will have to not pale in comparison to the quiet, stoic grace of Israeli and Palestinian families that have had their homes turned to debris.
Until then, I guess we’ll have to settle for everyday people anonymously living life the best they can for one more day.
The Beatles were the biggest stars but to say that the ‘60s were only about the Beatles of Bob Dylan is like reducing a rainbow to red and orange because they are the brightest colors.
I am not contradicting previous posts or this one; a world without stars would be ideal but as long as capitalism is around we will have stars.