Friday, April 11, 2008

Time to Visit Greece

Jen is traveling to Greece to check out her roots!  Her father was born on the island of Crete and Jen has expressed her passion for learning about her cultural heritage.  Apparently her passion is real and intense....she has recently bought a DVD teaching her the Greek language.  She hopes to master this language or at least speak most of it, in 30 days.  I hope she does it!  That would be really cool and impressive.  Aniston is proud of her roots, insisting that it keeps her grounded.  Although she expressed that earlier in her career she struggled with these genes. It posed as a difficulty when trying to  conform to Hollywood's expectations.  
According to Gamson, this is a common issue that many individuals experience when they enter the "celebrity machine".  They are "raw materials" that need serious work.  They re-vamp their entire lives, from fashion sense to personality to overall look.  Everything about them seems to change and they are asked to become new people.  They are asked to let their old identity go, which includes their family lifestyles at times, their heritage, etc.  This seems apparent in every new star but once they make a name for themselves and become famous, they are able to rekindle those lost "identities".  I'm sure Jen had to suppress her Greek genes, why I don't really know or understand why, but it happened.  Now that she's a big deal in the celebrity world, she can bring her Greek pride back.  She can express her willingness to show her love for her heritage and culture.  It's a shame she had to drop it in the first place.  Individual identity is what makes you, you but as we have learned, the celebrity machine exists to manufacture what the public desires...

Source: http://entertainment.oneindia.in/hollywood/top-stories/scoop/2008/aniston-visiting-greek-roots-010408.html

2 comments:

alisha said...

I think one important thing to note about this is that her father is also a celebrity! So I'm sure he has served as a good role model for her as she's developed into the celebrity she is today. I may be wrong, but I think I saw a segment involving Jen and her dad cooking Greek food from her early years as an actress on THS.

My only contradiction to the idea that she is a good role model for other Greek Americans and celebrities is that she has had plastic surgery on her face. She embraces her culture's food, but not her Greek looks??? I don't know, maybe it's just me, but that seems a little off to me!

Caitlyn Kennedy said...

I also think it is pretty cool when celebrities use their roots to form their identity. I feel like singer Christina Aguilera tried to suppress her Hispanic roots when her first album came out, but she really capitalized on that in later albums and formed her own style of music through it.

Good insight about the plastic surgery, though.