Emily Olenik December 1, 2017 Ms. Dolan AP Language The Disavowal of Artifice As a society we are guided by false veneers and deceit. Artifice is unfortunately a prominent tactic used in hope of gaining the respect of the public. Politicians and celebrities who we look up to utilize artifice on a daily basis to gain our recognition and approval. Even teenagers are being taught how to use artifice to their advantage. Chris Hedges believes that the use of artifice is a necessary device to achieve success. In his book, The Empire of Illusion, he discusses the appeal of artifice and how individuals become “unreal” and “ignored” if they do not utilize it. His viewpoint is immensely untrue because this “strategy” causes a never-ending cycle of conflict. If we continue to feign our true appearances, we will become unable to fix societal issues we face to today. The celebrities in the media are typically portrayed as people we should look up to and let guide us. They use artifice to make themselves come across and trustworthy and generous, when in reality they are just the opposite. One serious problem has surfaced this year regarding the sexual harassment of actresses in Hollywood. Producers, directors, and other actors have been using artifice to keep their crimes a secret from the public. One of the most noteworthy examples is the accusations made against film executive and producer, Harvey Weinstein. Over eighty women have stepped forward to share their stories about his
How do we as a society play a part in the demise of an actor, athletes, and musical artist? We alienate them when they are a part of any scandal or scandals, companies drop them from their products, magazines, tabloids, and media outlets discuss the scandal non-stop, flooding us with the story non-stop. Whoever is a part of the scandal is often given meaningless interviews or book and movie deals. Any and everything the celebrity has done in the past, as well as the party of the alleged scandal is dredged up. This is often called “skeletons in the closet”. What they don’t want out is often exposed and even if it’s not true or a matter of privacy, we don’t care, all we want is the juicy info.
How would you feel if you used trickery to persuade someone on your argument or ideas? For me it would feel very unpleasing and i would feel a bit of guilt because having to use it for some what an untruthful statement. It's kinda just like soccer say perhaps you dive or pretend to get hurt by a player just to get a penalty, sometimes you just have to do it just so you can win the game. This is a problem because this method is very untruthful or say perhaps very unfair. It is a very cheap way to go through the plan but it gets the job done. If you don't use artifice you are very likely to not succeed in the campaign or process that you are in. Artifice is an essential skill to learn and with the skill you will come out with great results.
The past 20 year, Matt Lauer worked as a news anchor for the “Today” Show, making $20 million a year. Recently, his career on television came to an end after a complaint was reported from another colleague about inappropriate behavior at work. His fame from being in the spotlight for two decades caused him to gain pride and confidence in himself. Although, confidence and pride are indeed two positive qualities to have, he took those qualities too far into thinking sexual actions were acceptable. In an interview with Lauer’s attorney, Carney Shegerian stated, “It doesn't matter how
People have been like sheep under wrongful and deceptive shepherds and it will continue to be like this whether we like it or not. We have been a species of conflicts and war, and it would have only been a matter of time for someone to master the skill of artifice to persuade the masses to favor their agenda. Humanity is more productive when we all agree to something, and the use of artifice can influence the way we all think. This expertise can be wielded by those who are good or bad. This can be frightening when that skill is mastered by those who intend to utilise it for deceptive purposes. Because of the manipulation of artifice, it demonstrates that it is a vital skill to acquire. Its influence on recent history and its continuation in our present day is known by
The first chapter of “Empire of Illusion” by Chris Hedges address the issue of celebrity culture and how media has created an illusion for life. Throughout the chapter, Chris Hedges makes many assumptions about the average person’s ability to read and think deeply about issues.
“An image-based culture communicates through narratives, pictures, and pseudo-drama” In this quote Chris Hedges describes our pop-culture and how our culture prefers narratives, pictures and pseudo-drama over other means of communication and information. This point shows that the that our culture is based on entertainment through popular demand. Artifice is “clever or cunning devices or expedients, especially as used to trick or deceive others.” In the passage from the novel Empire of Illusion by Hedges, The author makes the claim that “Artifice… is the most essential skill.”
“The most essential skill in political theater and a consumer culture is artifice,” said by Chris Hedges. Do we usually get lied to? Or are we really hearing the truth? In most cases, Politicians do lie, but that doesn’t mean that they all do. If a Politician does lie, they usually get caught up in the act. Or in other words they get caught in a scandal.Artifice is a problem because it’s a kind of way of tricking people. Such as involving lies, or “white lies,” which is the truth, but not the whole truth. It is important because we, the people, deserve the right of the truth. No one likes to be played around by lying. People may think artifice is not an essential skill, but it is because without it we wouldn’t listen to any other person's opinion for a right. Or in other words, some people don’t know what they want, and they would rather listen to another
Why are people so fascinated with celebrities? What makes people want to be like them? What are celebrities actually like? Facing these tough questions, Ty Burr in his essay “The Faces in the Mirror” forces readers to question their own answers. By explaining the history of celebrities and the worship of them, he gives readers a wealth of knowledge. Wisely, Burr immediately establishes his credibility so that readers know they can trust his educated point of view. His essay is full of strong logic. However, it lacks a substantial amount of hardcore facts. Furthermore, Burr effortlessly snatches the reader’s attention by using dramatic statements and achieving a sense of pathos. Burr’s authority on the topic, along with his convincing logic, and dramatic statements allow his essay to achieve a remarkable persuasiveness to his essay.
Out of the 7.5 billion people in this world the art of deception is used within every one of them. Any person can talk to you and you would have no idea if they were lying. The majority of people believe it’s okay to twist the truth a little and make up stories that will benefit you in the end and make you look better. Author of Empire Illusions Chris Hedges argues on how in politics the major essential skill is artifice or a faux. How to be acknowledged by voters and potentially get their vote all you need is a hoaxed narrative. Politics now a day is looked down upon because of the constant deceiving they continue. Nobody wants to be lied to, especially by people who are leaders of the country they live in, making promises you can’t keep isn’t the way to get votes. I don’t stand by Hedges’ argument because lying and manipulating citizens for a vote will only make them hate you in the end.
It is a fact that nowadays the media industry has contributed incredibly to promote the ideas of today 's society. Even more has contributed to the effort to eliminate the taboo most of them sexual orientation issues or homophobic issues through various campaigns. A very common combination for projecting an issue through the media and with great appeal in the audience is the promotion and topic view from famous celebrities that they have huge resonance to young people. It is also well known that the projection of a subject in a provocative way has more impact because everything that causes shock to the audience discussed more, and therefore the impact will be greater. The question is whether it is exploitable the content of the topic that is pretending that is promoted and defend, as many celebrities do periodically like the following celebrity which will be discussed below. How many times we see celebrity figures of biz show to promote or participate in a campaign, which is delivered with nude photo-shoots that advocate homosexuality issues? Are we sure that the fact that they want to pass to the audience will not be presented incorrectly? The following issue that is going to be analyzed is a recent photo-shoot of the famous singer and songwriter Miley Cyrus that after all the extreme public appearances in the social media or in public areas and extreme and almost inappropriate photos shots decides to a photo-shoot
There’s a common theme throughout entertainment and politicians, it is filled with drama and it is deceiving many times. “Not everything you see online is true”, many older people will say. However, an author named Chris Hedges wrote in “Empire of Illusion” that “the most essential skill…is artifice”, proving that the media is filled with misleading information. The issue is that being realistic is irrelevant and will make the information seem “unreal” and ignored. Therefore, I believe that it is important to appear with such qualities in propaganda for success and to capture the audience's interest.
America is often called the land of freedom and opportunities, but many Americans argue that there is racial, gender and social bias occurring all the time. Recently, many people have been pointing out the social problems occurring around the country. Some of the issues happening include the Hollywood sexual and economic exploitations. In the article “Why Is Hollywood So Liberal?” Neil Gross discusses the desire for fairness and the public fight against sexism and harassment against women in the entertainment industry and in the USA.
As I read through this verbose chapter I began to pick up on the dominating themes of celebrity culture and their development over time. I consider myself somewhat of a celebrity super fan but as I read I realized I have never dove deeper into the meaning of celebrity but merely skimmed the surface. During my perusal of the chapter many thought-provoking concepts jumped out at me.
Have you ever wondered what influences us to behave the way we do? Look a certain way? Or even looked for an explanation to what causes us to apply a certain perspective regarding personal and controversial issues? One of the answers to these questions may revolve around the influence we absorb from celebrities. A definitive term for celebrity is an iconic figure to a category or group who has achieved success in one or multiple aspects of their lives. As a result, these individuals have drawn in publicity and fame. Over the years with the advances in media and other forms of communication, celebrities have become topics of discussion worldwide, rather if it’s at school, with colleagues or at the dinner table, it is fair to say that
A star’s image is a concept carefully molded by the celebrity himself or herself with the aid of many factors such as audience reception and current ideological trends. Star image, by definition, given by O’Shaughnessy and Stadler, is “the qualities, ideals, and values that a star represents, based on their films and other performances, and on media information circulated about them” (430). A change of star image encompasses the sum of everything we, as in the audience, affiliate with that star. That means changing the star’s body of work, promotion, publicity, and audience practices. These factors put together is also known as star text (Professor Josh Jackson, September 8, 2016, University of California, Berkeley). Jennifer Lawrence had a particular star text before she took on the role of Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games and was instead known for her role of Ree Dolly in Winter’s Bone. This new role launched Lawrence into a different star text she was previously known for. Though it seemed like the change is solely based on her landing an already popular role, the change in her star text is still calculated in order for her to maintain a certain image that landed her at the top of the celebrity social ladder. This careful manipulation of a celebrity’s image as she takes on a role that guaranteed a big impact on her acting career demonstrates how a star’s image is important when it comes to maintaining what the celebrity, and everyone who is working with that