This article is compiled by Li Xiaotian
After the death of Game of Thrones Season 6, King Joffrey's character Jack Gleeson has not acted in a long time. Now the Irish actor has finally decided to return to the screen to star in the BBC comedy series Out of Her Mind.
It is reported that this series will subvert the traditional sitcom form, adding quirky characters and containing animation elements and scientific elements.
Jack Gleason began acting as an actor at the age of 8, and Game of Thrones is his most famous character, and perhaps the most "annoying" character. So that after the death of this character in the play, many viewers clapped their hands and applauded.
But in 2014, after bidding farewell to the role of Joffrey, Jack Gleason, then 21, announced that he would be out of the film for a while.
Remember the scene of Joffrey being poisoned in public in Game of Thrones, when the global audience was shouting and cheering, I didn't expect that we would wait 6 years later to usher in a new theatrical performance by actor Jack Gleason. Many netizens have given positive comments about Jack Gleason's comeback: "I hated Joffrey when I watched Game of Thrones, which means he was a good actor", "Looking back, maybe no one can play Joffrey better than him", "It will be funny to see the character you once hated appear in a new comedy".
Jack Gleason received a lot of attention for his role as Joe the Great, a likable character that can be recorded in screen history, reflecting the talented acting skills of the young actor behind him.
Jack Gleason was born on 20 May 1992 in Cork, Ireland. At the age of 7, he began to study acting.
In 2002, Jack Gleason made it to the big screen, playing a kid who walked by in the movie Dragon Empire.
In 2005, he played a child rescued by Batman in the film "Batman: The Mystery of the Shadow" starring Christian Bell, which successfully attracted attention. He then played roles in the films Grim Reaper Mushroom and Rainbow Shine.
In 2010, Jack Gleason played the male lead in the film Angel Innocence.
In 2011, he became a resident character in HBO's American drama Game of Thrones, which was featured in a film based on the role of George W. Bush. R· R. Martin's novel adaptation plays Joffrey Baratheon in the television series.
In 2014, with the character he played after being poisoned at the Purple Wedding, he officially quit filming the TV series. In the same year, he was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Young Actor in a Television Series. As soon as he appeared in the play, he won a lot of applause, which not only caused the audience to vomit, but also got a handwritten letter from the author, Mr. Martin: Thank you for annoying all the audiences at once!
From 2004 to 2010, he studied at the Gonzaga Private College. Subsequently, he became a student of philosophy and theology at Trinity College Dublin.
Acting was fully affirmed and the acting prospects were bright, but Jack Gleason decided not to act again, and the root cause was the resistance to "celebrity culture".
"I used to want to be an actor, but in recent years I've changed my mind."
Jack Gleason said in an interview: "It's hard to explain. I think this way whenever I envision the prospect of becoming a professional actor, and now I've fulfilled my dream of being an actor. In the past, being an actor was just a pastime, but since I started shooting "Game of Thrones", although there is not much pressure, the reality is still too cruel. ”
Jack Gleason went on to say: "I feel a little ungrateful, some 'full of people don't know hungry people are hungry' because there are a lot of people who want to get into this circle, but I think that when the time is right, I have to be 'ungrateful' to leave show business. ”
Gleason also said he's never seen Game of Thrones: "I don't want to watch it, and when you see these edited videos, you feel amazing, and later when you shoot again, you try to abstract yourself." So when I see my role on TV, I can't help but shiver. ”
Extremely sober understanding of their own status and situation, especially for a young actor who is growing up, it is not easy to resist various temptations from the outside world.
In fact, regarding his values, we can see clearly from the lectures he once gave at Oxford University in the United Kingdom.
For this speech, it is strongly recommended that you read it and read the full speech, not only can you have a deeper understanding of "celebrity culture", but also have great admiration for Jack Gleason: this young boy with the coolest mind, in the most impetuous entertainment circle, with the most dedicated and humble attitude, presents us with the most perfect role.
"It was a great honour for me to be invited to speak at Oxford, and many of my idols have spoken before this society. Thinking of my predecessors, my joy and pride turned to worry and anxiety. What should I say? I have never rebelled against the oppression of power on a global scale, never explored the mysteries of the universe, both on a quantum level and in terms of the feminine psyche. All I did was experiment with a bear kid in a TV series, or for the money. ”
"Since the beginning of Game of Thrones, I have seen an all-pervasive and mysterious social aspect from the perspective of insiders, which is called celebrity culture. Walking down the street, strangers calling out my name, fans and the Internet spreading my photos to thousands of homes, and because of this, I was given the rare opportunity to speak here. On the one hand, I feel like I'm part of celebrity culture, and on the other hand, I find it hard to really fit into that culture. This has led me to reflect a lot on my place in celebrity culture. It is ironic to talk about celebrity culture in such a context, and I hope that you will have reservations about the irony. I am in a special situation, both a student and a celebrity, with books on one side and drugs and prostitutes on the other, so my idea should still be unique. ”
"Ever since my mother sent me to acting school when I was seven years old, I wanted to be a famous film actor, and I wanted to impress the audience with my acting skills, but I wanted my performance to be recognized and applauded by the audience. I made several short films, the most important of which was when I was 8 years old when I played Joseph in the school play "The Birth of Christ", when critics evaluated my performance as "the truth is exposed, and the understanding of this role has reached a level that cannot be surpassed by future generations". Later, in Batman: The Shadow of Man, I largely brought Joseph's experience into it. (In Batman: The Mystery of The Shadow, he plays a child who is rescued by Batman.) ）
"Although I was only a small supporting role in The Mystery of The Shadow, this was my first glimpse into the world of celebrities. After the movie was released, I became "the kid who played Batman." Relatives at home often use me in social situations to cause conversation. I myself am not averse to this kind of labeling, but at the same time I feel very dissatisfied. What I never expected at the time was that five years later, I would encounter this social obstruction more intensely again. At the age of seventeen, I participated in HBO's Game of Thrones, and the second chapter of my life was unveiled. Honestly, while it was a pleasure to hear that I had been invited to play the role of Joffrey, I really didn't expect what was going to happen next. After successfully starring in this TV series, I also anticipated the attention I would receive, the various events I would attend, and naturally the cocaine and prostitutes waiting around the corner. But like the rest of the show's cast, I didn't expect how successful we would be. Anyway, I suddenly realized that I had inadvertently signed an invisible contract to enter some strange social class. People on the street wanted to take a picture with me, and reporters wanted to know what color socks I was wearing. When I'm with my peers, my jokes seem to be more amusing than other people's. Probably because I was tinkering with comedy books at the time. ”
"In short, I've wanted to get out of the way ever since I was exposed to the atmosphere. I hate this superficial uplifting, commoditized self-righteousness. I found it far more comfortable to be a member of the obscure public than to stand precariously at the top of a pillar for people to see. My celebrity status has actually been diluted, but it still subtly isolates me from others. This is very embarrassing to me. It seems strange to me that many people, including myself in the past period of time, see celebrities as the ultimate in success. And there are so many people who hold this view. The social system and the growing fan community approach celebrity culture almost as religiously. Nowadays, the deification of celebrities is no longer limited to movie actors, pop stars, athletes and even reality TV participants, we also have celebrity chefs, celebrity writers, celebrity politicians, celebrity intellectuals, celebrity scientists and even celebrity entrepreneurs. They appear frequently in magazines, talk shows and commercials. But a growing number of members of the public have resigned themselves to or even embraced such intrusions. ”
"It makes me wonder what's behind all this and what kind of harm it might cause — they're just people." The origins of celebrity culture can be traced back to the rise of Romanticism, but celebrity culture really became popular in the twenty-first century. Photography, radio, television and other mass media, in particular, laid the foundation for the success of athletes, film actors and singers. They became public figures with a significant influence on culture. This trend has led to the so-called simulacra culture – simulacra, which refers to images that do not refer to the real world. For the first time ever, the entire public could simultaneously hear and see performances by famous figures of the time, such as Charlie Chaplin and Gloria Swanson, and the public unconsciously equated the actors themselves with their images, and the photogenic actors were irretrievably commercialized. ”
But as has been suggested, the root cause of the rise of celebrity culture is not so much the increase in the breadth and influence of mass media as it is the shift in the Western world from a productive to a consumer society. American capitalism has created a consumer society in which consumption becomes an act of individuality. Tabloids, interview shows, and reality shows have led to a fascination with the commercialized image of a celebrity and the abandonment of it after draining its consumer value. ”
"This kind of cannibalistic celebrity consumption does not seem to cause obvious harm to consumers at first glance, but it can have far-reaching effects on the celebrities themselves who act as cannon fodder." That's why I often avoid interviews. To universalize someone's image and even life is to deprive that person of his humanity and materialize it into an entertainment product. After living for a long time year after year after year under the prying eyes of the public eye, how high can a person's valuation of the self be? I'm afraid there's only one empty skin bag left. ”
Jenny Terrany of Durham University has proposed a somewhat crazy-sounding theory about the origins of celebrity culture, arguing that its roots lie in evolutionary psychology. At the heart of his theory lies prestige, or higher social status, in the anthropological sense. People with special skills, such as particularly skilled hunting skills, also have prestige, and his community acquires his skills by imitating his behavior. But when imitating, community members may also mistakenly imitate the unproductive behavior of prestigious people. But what if this imitation instinct prompts us to emulate the immoral qualities of today's prestigious individuals? We might imitate a drunkard because he had success a long time ago. According to Terrany's theory, a very frightening phenomenon could occur, namely self-actualization of fame. This phenomenon has been particularly pronounced over the past decade or so. Fame no longer needs to be based on any skill, a celebrity can become more famous because of the fame itself, and the prestige can grow steadily. ”
"Fibour's divinely empowering celebrity is as dangerous as The Personal of Trenny's prestige. The tendency to imitate an individual will almost always have a negative effect, especially if the imitated role model does not consider itself responsible or obligated to exhibit a worthwhile behavior that is worth taking. Another thing that fascinates me about celebrities is the so-called celebrity worship syndrome. Researchers at the University of Leicester found that 36 percent of the subjects suffered from the disease to varying degrees. In the most extreme manifestations of symptoms, the patient believes that the object of his worship knows his existence and claims that he is willing to die for his idol. ”
"But I believe that all this is not merely an eccentric social anomaly, but an indication of the complete disintegration of the self in order to marry others, almost another manifestation of religious hysteria." Whether motivated by a conformist mentality or a desire to be controlled by a higher authority, these cases show that Divine empowerment can replace the self. Dostoevsky said in The Brothers Karamazov: "As long as man is free, he will seek the object of worship without him, without him." "There are also those who hold the opposite argument, trying to find the benefits of celebritization. City University Sociology Professor Chris. Rorschach once defended this collective imitation, arguing that celebrities are informal life coaches, and by observing them, people learn how to dress themselves, how to do their hair, how to speak, and what kind of behavior is fashionable. Celebrities play a positive role in uniting society like glue. ”
"So far I have mentioned three theories about celebrities, one that explains economically, psychologically and socially why we admire celebrities. But then I want to talk about the desire to be a celebrity. Naturally, the most immediate motivation is to gain wealth and admiration— even flattery, but it's not all. What are the hidden negatives in this regard? One of the perspectives we look at the desire to fame is our current personality-centric culture, which is very different from the practice of external personality as a criterion for evaluating someone in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Individuality becomes a means of distinguishing ourselves from the masses, and fame becomes a new measure of success. ”
"The second motivation for wanting to be a celebrity is, what better way to feel good than having a fixed audience that thinks what you want and what you're anxious about? In many ways, celebrities' relationships with their audiences resemble those of slave owners, in which slave owners accumulate powerful powers to mobilize slaves. ”
"So what are the dangers of becoming a celebrity? The first is the loss of the self. The reason for this is that celebrities have been oversaturated and loved. Without the guidance of an inner pointer, the ego can easily become obsessed with itself, turning the wheel like a hamster, neither stopping nor connecting anything to the ego. This is also the problem of commodification, which is actually a feast of self-devouring fanaticism, so that the owner ultimately relies entirely on the external ability of being eaten by others to define the self. For example, from a psychological point of view, celebrities are more likely to fall into narcissism, accustomed to the eyes of many others but lazy to look back. Hence the problems of delusion, arrogance, irritability and apathy. We can now see a celebrity having a nervous breakdown every three to five minutes. ”
"And finally there are the recurring privacy issues. Why are we so concerned about the trivialities of celebrity life? Because celebrities are social role models in the context of the current era, representing the ideal model for all aspects of life, whether in terms of career paths, cheese tastes, or drug choices. We always want to place celebrities in two different planes, the everyday and the abstract, perhaps because we want to reclaim a little of the immortality we have given them. By empathizing with celebrities and humanizing them, we briefly shared the glory of celebrities. In short, celebrities become a container that houses the desire to consume on an economic, evolutionary, or social level and the instinct to imitate outstanding members of society. ”
"We also have to temper our impulse to make someone a celebrity, mainly for the protection of celebrities themselves and their self-worth, but also for our own sake. Just as the object of our pursuit may be reduced to an empty shell and at the mercy of excessive worship, the worshipper may sacrifice the individuality and autonomy of the self and surrender it to a higher authority. We are to do our best to overcome the human instinct to deify examples and to suppress ourselves in the process. Starlight is the most profound human act, but perhaps we should always look away from the beautiful and mysterious stars overhead and devote greater energy to examining, admiring, and cultivating inner moral laws. ”
*The above translation is from Poster Fashion Network