Over my very eventful spring break (most of my blog posts took place then), my family visited my cousins who live by Hollywood, and we were all bored, so we looked up stuff to do nearby and stumbled upon Madame Tussauds Hollywood wax museum. None of us have ever been there, much more heard of it, so we all decided to check it out. Little did we know what we would be seeing.
Just walking in we didn’t expect to see a giant Shrek. Although that was a bit surprising, it was the biggest one in the museum, so the others ones further inside didn’t throw us off as much. My personal favorites included Robin Williams, Kobe Bryant, and George Lopez, all of whom I’ve met in real life. Honestly, of the three stories of 115 famous people, these were the ones that stuck out to me personally, but there were definitely a lot more interesting ones, with informational cards for each, which were super helpful for the few I had never heard of.
As entertaining as this place was, you may be wondering what possible significance I could get from it to analyze in this blog. Well, this place reminded me of something we talked about in class: the significance (or lack thereof) that celebrities have in their “home” (acting) town a.k.a Los Angeles/Hollywood. To illustrate, most of the people there appeared to be tourists, excited to take pictures with every single figure, which wasn’t even real in the first place (although some looked scarily close). I’m not sure how it is in the Tussauds in London, Beijing, and other places throughout the world, but most locals, like my cousins, didn’t even know this place existed. They’ll see celebrities almost weekly and by now they’re used to it. Sure they might ask for an autograph if they really like their acting, but they won’t freak out about seeing them and almost die to get a picture with them. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not discrediting this very artful museum, nor the actors they illustrate, but I’m just stating a general difference (regarding their attitude towards famous people) that tends to show between Hollywood locals and “outsiders.” In reality, though I, like most locals see celebrities as people just doing their jobs, rather than “Gods Among Us,” the museums, along with the actors they depict, are still pretty cool.
I always found the mentality of not getting excited over celebrities because they live around here strange because I’ve actually never met a celebrity. However, having said that, I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to do any of the touristy things like visiting a wax museum. It is pretty interesting how many hole in the wall places are made strictly as a tourist attraction.
I agree with Ryan. I have not ever seen a celebrity in person in my life. Maybe it’s just because of the fact that the celebrities live near them that people don’t get excited to see them? I’m not entirely sure. I also feel like I wouldn’t do any tourist attractions either. This is because I don’t feel like a tourist and can’t get into that mindset if I live here.