Olivia's Blog

Blog # 7: Hollywood’s Not America

In a world that is consumed by television, Internet, and cell phones, radio is often a forgotten medium. The other day, I was in the mood for new music and ITunes was not satisying my desire, so I turned on my radio. The first song that came on was a new one by Ferras, titled “Hollywood’s Not America”. I was intrigued and immediately dowloaded the song and looked up the lyrics. This song draws attention to the fact that Hollywood is often what we consider to represent America. The fame and fortune is something we all desire and throughout time wealth and recognition have been an element of the American dream.

Hollywood creates not just actors and actresses but role models, icons, and inspriations. The media creates the stars and often contributes to what ruins them as well. We do not know the star personally, but rather we know the media’s replication of them. We know the lies, rumors, and failures that the media puts out there. We have come to identify ourselves with these celebrities but sometimes, in the process, the celebrities tend to loose themselves. They become intertwined with drugs, alcohol, sex, and money. Unfortunately, they have come to represent everything that our materialistic society craves. As the song says, you may have all the money in the world but no happines and self-respect: “Now she hardly recognizes herslef at all…And everybody heres, from somewhere else; You could make a million dollars, but you might lose yourself; And you can take the heat will your heart go cold; They say acting’s just pretending, even that gets old”. The stars are manifestations of the media and it is important for us (and more importantly, for them) to remember that society does not create the person, you create the person, and only you can make yourself happy (money and fame will not do it). This song is a reality check and a reminder that “Hollywood is not America”. So we should stop thinking that it is.