Musically, I have never been a huge fan of Justin Bieber. I just don't take much pleasure from his songs. They're definitely aimed at early teen girls. Because of his huge superstar status, nearly everyone loves him or hates him. This tends to happen to nearly everyone who is able to reach the level that Bieber has. I think it would be fascinating to take a deeper look into that. Why is it that humans always adopt such strong opinions on people of high popularity without knowing much at all about the person themselves? I, myself, am not entirely sure, but Bieber is surely an example of this occurrence.
As far as the Anne Frank controversy goes, I am not too sure how I feel about it. I can sympathize with the second article on the controversy. However, as Dr. Herron told us, there is a contradiction between the two articles so who knows at this point. We might have to take a field trip to Anne Frank's house to figure out if Anne Frank idolized the biggest stars of her time for ourselves. Honestly, if she did and Bieber was this popular in her time, then I would most likely bet money that a young girl would have his picture on her wall, just as so many do now.
At the same time, however, I can see Bieber's ego within the situation. He didn't really have to make the visit about him. This is where you see the problems that develop with someone getting so much popularity at such a young age. I don't imagine that he always thought of himself so highly, but when the whole world is telling you that you're the best thing since sliced bread then you may start to believe them. At the end of the day though, I believe that personal responsibility is very important so it is his job to be level headed and humble. I do not believe the situation is as crazy as many have made it out to be, however.
The piece on Bieber's early life was very interesting to me. I never knew about his mother and his upbringing. It makes me happy to see that his mother made the best of her situation and turned her life around. God really does work in mysterious ways.
It does seem that Bieber is not just an example of a childhood star but an unusually polarizing one. It does seem unusual that some figures just seem to be a "love them or hate them" type. In the case of Bieber, I think it might be his youth and generally manufactured image that costs him points. It is also no doubt his success. Other teen stars perhaps would have been despised more if they had the same level of success. The formula of "idol of the moment" does seem to generate a good deal of resentment, and not much long term fame. Maybe today we can talk about different types of fame.
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of his "origins" before either, that was somewhat interesting. I still think he could go under the "child stars" category though.
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