ALTER EGO :: I’m addicted. And I don’t want help. I don’t want an intervention. My addiction? TedTalks. In case you haven’t seen a TED by now, you must. It doesn’t matter your area of interest, there is a Ted talk for anyone. The concept is different people giving talks on their subject of expertise. From science to fashion, it’s all fascinating.
I recently watched a 2004 TED talk about the power of glamour, timely given what seems like ever-increasing doses offered up in our day to day. The talk sees cultural critic Virginia Postrel clarifying that glamour is not something you are, but something you project. As Postrel says, glamour is “any calculated, carefully polished image designed to impress and persuade” (watch her TedTalk below).
I think the meaning of glamour is best stated in the musical Chicago:
Give ’em the old razzle dazzle
Razzle Dazzle ’em
Give ’em an act with lots of flash in it
And the reaction will be passionate
Give ’em the old hocus pocus
Bead and feather ’em
How can they see with sequins in their eyes?
As a fantasy buff, I can tell you that vampires also have the ability to ‘glamour’ human victims, by looking into their eyes and hypnotizing them in a certain way to make them bend to their will.
TedTalks make me think. After I watched Postrel’s talk on glamour, I thought of me: What version of me was I trying to project to the world?
The answer was easy. I have been glamouring a glamourous one.
Aren’t we all? Think about it. What are you posting on your Facebook page, your Twitter? I’m traveling here… I’m hanging with these people… I’m eating this… I just bought that… Here’s another pic of me from my good angle and with good lighting.
We are all selling a very glamourous version of ourselves to the rest of the world – and to ourselves. And why not? The world does it right back to us. Ads with photo shopped supermodels. Billboards with celebrities holding luxury items.
Coming from the adult film industry, I made a career through glamour in an environment that can often be anything but.
But where do we draw the glamour line? Where do I?
Are we glamourous around our families? Our best friends? Do we feel the need to be?
I have, a lot.
But lately I am coming to understand that the people you feel you can drop the glamour for are the closest, most trusted people in your lives. Those are the people who really count.
In fact, lately I’ve realized this: the more hideously unglamourous you are around those people who truly love you, the closer you become to them.
In the spirit of dropping glamour and being less calculated, GGN blogger Eddie Stone is now contributing as Patrick Marano, his real name.
