Review: The Other Side of Fame
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 23, 2013
We hear a lot about the lives of celebrities, A-list, B-list, C-list and beyond, but rarely do we get a look at what it's like to live in proximity to celebrity. Anna David explores not only being next to fame, but wanting to acquire it by proxy, whether as a girlfriend or date or even something not quite measuring up to either of those. She names one name, Matt Damon, who she briefly dated before he hit the big time, but the other men who orbit her world are left unnamed, all the better to guess who she means. Her encounters take place in LA, and are most fascinating because celebrities seem to pop up at random moments, but their appearance isn't remarked upon or fawned over, except internally. David contrasts her external cool calmness with her internal fantasies about what being seen with and known as a celebrity's friend would do for her life. Ultimately, this essay is less about the inner workings of celebrity as it is about David's dreams about what the kind of fame where anyone walking down the street would recognize signify for her. Still, the way the celebrities treat her (for example, assuming she'll sleep with them mere hours after meeting, simply because they're well known) is also interesting. Worth reading whether you devour US Weekly or not, but ultimately leaves it up to you to decide whether stars are just like us, and vice versa.