Blurred Lines

I’ve been reading up about yesteryear stars on some sketchy websites. Whether it’s that Clark Gable had halitosis and Vivien Leigh kept complaining about working with him while shooting for ‘Gone with the Wind’, or that Marilyn Monroe’s mother had paranoid schizophrenia, I’ve just been reading it all. Sadly, most of the news printed doesn’t seem to portray any of them in good light. After finding out this tidbit about Clark Gable, for example, I don’t feel like re-watching any of the kissing scenes that feature the lead pair of ‘Gone with the Wind’ anymore.

A few years ago, I’d read about Marlon Brando in a book on him. I’d also read about Woody Allen. It gets very hard to separate the art from the artist. Tabloid journalism, gossip rags and yellow journalism has led to the leaking out of scandalous information concerning celebrities that can cause them embarrassment, and, sometimes, destroy their careers. Dishing the dirt on someone after they’ve passed seems like such an indecent thing to do. And yet, it’s done all the time.

There are just no boundaries anymore. Everything seems to be fair game. The Internet allows anyone to publish anything. Privacy is a joke. The age of dignified restraint is over.

Pic from Unsplash