Brad Pitt Says Power Can Be Trouble

Poor Brad!
Yes, admittedly he has Jennifer Aniston, power and influence, good health and looks. But only the superficial observer would say that Pitt is to be envied. Facts are facts; Hollywood is a stressful place, competitive, relentless, driven in a large part by the ambition of individuals who are never seen, grim 'suits' who make money and demand sweat and toil from actors, their legal employees.

If these are overpriced celebrities it is because the filmgoing public is exceedingly large and demands entertainment, and the corporate strategy is ‘whatever the market will bear!’
Whatever. Bottom lines dominate and individual human beings suffer, as all beings do.


Occupational stress is an easy thing to overlook when you are a ‘hot’ young celebrity. You can afford colonics and facial cleansings, masseuses and personal trainers. The gym? Nothing for the best for our stars. So on the outside we have pictures of of perfect health. It takes an actor-turned-journalist like myself to have some sympathy for a guy most slobs (and a few working H’wood professionals) envy and would gladly trade places with.

Occupational stress happens, it happens in the IT workplace, it happens in the restaurant industry, where thousands of guys with Pitt’s looks but not his talent are slogging away at table after table.

And more than one humorist has made sharp and cutting comments, sarcastically and fakely pitying actors who seem to have it all, and have a career that is just short of living a lie in so many ways.

Actors wear false faces like my grandmother wears false teeth; it is part of life to routinely become someone else.

To play a part is a skill, a craft honed through training. But the repetitive psychological stress of changing masks must be considered, and seriously. We criticize and idolize our stars, but without them our world would be at a loss for a laugh, or cheap thrills, or…go with it.
Brad Pitt is just another of the millions of Americans who go to work for a living, envy him, respect him, whatever, he is a WORKER. Cinema Professionals were making millions per picture long before he entered the scene, so let's judge the art, and have some sympathy for the artist.

"My week consists ... five days out of the seven I've got at least three cars of paparazzi on me that I've got to either lose or whatever,"
--Pitt, Vanity Fair (December)

Immediately the urge to say ‘aww, poor Brad,’ is replaced by the incredible hassle it would be if Joe Blow from the Borough had to put up with three carloads of shutterbugs following him and his girlfriend everywhere, the deli, the liquor store…Joe Blow your average consumer might get a little on edge, a little understandably on edge.

Yet these ‘journalists’ make big, big money. It’s a little sad, the way we vampirize our folk legends.

"That's why we all end up hiding and creating communes or compounds, because it's work when you go out there in public. You can't just go to the doctor, sit in a waiting room, and read a magazine. You can't go to the airport and wait for your flight, because you get mauled. So there are these little shortcuts."
Same article. Same problems, same Brad Pitt.
The pathetically envious stricken with envy might not recognize the honest-to-God sufferings of a modern-day muse, an artisan struggling to maintain human dignity in a profession that blankly replaces the personality of the actor, the artisan, realistically, the employee--with role after psychologically grueling role.
If money bought happiness we could be justified in our harsh judgments of these individuals. It does not and we cannot.
Actors bring us a much-needed escape from the rat race. Thrills and excitement. Of course there is a heady glamour about them; they wear masks for a living!

The idea that Capitalism is the sole cause of mental illnesses like schizophrenia is nothing new.

The basic theory is this: a competitive and market-based society forces individuals to work at that which they interpret must be done to maintain society, appearances and the all-important bank balance.

So; those pastimes which brings us JOY is relegated to hobbies, fantasies and the lost dreams of childish innocence. This creates a seething inner resentment that, if not vented or balanced in time, fragments the personality, and thus manifests as an insanity that functions in society but is still crippling in terms of seeing the positive possiblities of life become the 'norm' as we deny that there is anything wrong with our socioeconomic "System". We grow more and more fragmented in our personalities as we forget that which inspired us as children who only lived for a living, and our openness to the idea of doing something we HATE DOING because money is the driving force becomes more and more a set part of our consciousness. That which we will do to support our money adictions becomes more and more degrading and the denials we need to perpetuate to live the illusions become more and more outrageous...until we become strangers to ourselves, truly fragmented personalities who couldn't buy happiness when we were poor or after we have 'made it', whatever it is we have 'made'.

Pitt:"I've got a couple of friends that might as well be family, and I've caught myself just ordering one of them to do something because you get accustomed to people doing things for you. ... It's the money and the power, it just crushes everything."

Brad Pitt is handsome, and an actor. And about as stupid as green is purple, which is to say not at all. he observes what is happening around him and explains his perspective objectively, in English. It is long past time for us to stop treating our celebrities and sex symbols as earthbound gods and begin to accept that we rely on the services they supply as WORKERS, as employees for a state that only values them for their dollar value as bankable stars. Because they are human, media professionals who work in Radio, Television and Film, but human with real emotions that we on the other side of the medium rarely get glimpses into. So Brad, I feel ya. We all need strength these days.

A reactionary hatred of the rich who have worked in a field that brings them riches is thoughtless and counterproductive to active strategies concerning system change and healing. At this time when the collective subconscious is overwhelmed with fearful statistics we turn to our actors and artisans for escape and fantasy. maybe it is time to tone down the player hating, and spread a little love.

Besides, look at him!