Hollywood & The Toxic Culture of Divorce
Celebrity Couple caged by the glare of publicity
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31 July 2023
Caged by the glare of publicity
The Weight of Cultural Expectation
"The question is – how much do you need to weigh or how much do you need to lose before you give yourself permission to accept yourself? "
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7 June 2023
Mental vs physical weight
Being Elvis: Not all it’s Cracked up to Be
There are not many people who can stake a claim of being more famous than Elvis Presley. His fame has grown even beyond the grave. He is popularly known and recognised as just Elvis. Elvis has spawned countless lookalikes and tribute acts, not to mention books, documentaries and biopic films.…
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27 June 2022
'King of Rock 'n' Roll'
Celebrity Spotlight: the Ugly Side of Abuse
Unlike the O.J. Simpson trial (1995) or Oscar Pistorius trial (2014), the Depp vs. Heard defamation trial is not about proving whether the accused is guilty of a crime. However, very much like these famous trials which preceded it, this televised civil hearing is captivating audiences and sparking debate worldwide.…
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27 April 2022
"shattered dreams"
Female Empowerment: the power of a positive role model
International Women's Day poses a wonderful opportunity for women to reflect on their journeys of living in the female body and determine how they want to forge ahead into the future. There may be numerous external inequalities and injustices yet to be remedied, but the truth remains that we can…
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8 March 2022
Why Valentine’s Day May Smell of Roses but is Full of Thorns
The Valentine’s Day tradition forces us to look at love whether we like it or not, and whether we’re in an amorous relationship or not. The Greeks identified seven different types of love – philia, storge, eros, ludus, philautia, pragma and agape. Yet there is a modern pre-occupation with eros…
14 February 2022
Film Review – The Timely Takeaway from ‘Groundhog Day’
Rita: "Sometimes I wish I had a thousand lifetimes. I don't know, Phil. Maybe it's not a curse. Just depends on how you look at it."
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1 February 2022
"the sands of time"
Fixating on Fairytales
"For a celebrity to be alone seems a grave injustice to the fans because we want their lives to be a fairytale - scripted like a hallmark romance. ..For actors and performers in general, we forget that they only play fictional roles but that most of their lives are lived off camera where they too must wrestle with demons, overcome heartache and heartbreak and deal with all the challenges of being a human being."[Culture Detox 2: Celebrating Self Not Celebrity, p. 52]
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16 October 2021
"the look of love"
Why Certain Celebrity Couples Captivate our hearts
Everybody goes weak at the knees for a heart-warming romance. At the very least stories of a genuine romance can warm the coldest and most cynical of hearts. We all yearn for a 'hapy ever after' ending. We seem to think we can will into existence a real connection from…
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11 February 2021
When Icons Die
We live in a strange world where we form strong emotional connections with people we have never met in person. These notables are tagged with the label of ‘celebrities’ and the media puts them on pedestals. They become part of the cultural ‘furniture' such that when they are gone, the…
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4 February 2021
"icons are idols"