Almost everyone I know has a Facebook/Tumblr/Twitter account to connect with others in a public space. With public comments, pictures, statuses, and blogs a picture of the real “you” begins to come out making your profile as authentic as you choose it to be. But, what happens when your profile is made by someone other than you?
I first encountered this phenomenon by the hilarious Twitter account @LeBronJamesEgo. This Twitter account is not run by LeBron James himself, but rather, someone pretending to be LeBron James. The author (@ChrisJOShea) tweeted as if he was the real thoughts and feelings of LeBron James’ ego. I’m from Cleveland, so naturally, I find jokes made on LeBron’s expense quite funny. Here’s a good example from April 4, 2011: “DON'T CARE WHO WE PLAY IN THE PLAYOFFS CAUSE I JUST MADE A RINGTONE OF ME SINGIN BOOTYLICIOUS SO REALLY I ALREADY WON.” (ha ha ha)
Though this account is long gone, I have recently discovered a similar situation. Suri’s Burn Book (surisburnbook.tumblr.com) is a Tumblr account written by someone pretending to be celebrity child Suri Cruise of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes – a child popular for her ability to pull off heels as a six-year-old, and The Daily Beast’s Number 1 Most Influential Celebrity Kid. The author (or genius behind) Suri’s Burn Book takes images of other celebrity children and critiques their fashion, pacifiers, and parents celebrity status. The Tumblr “Suri” is also known for disliking her mother immensely.
Here’s a great example from March 21, 2012:
“Everything about Katie Holmes makes me physically cringe.”
Or how about this one critiquing Kourtney Kardashian’s child Mason Disick on March 13, 2012:
“Here’s Mason Disick wearing pajamas and Uggs in public – and in need of a barrette or a haircut or something. Next time you try to tell me this child has style, I will refer you to this photograph and we will move on.
No, really, let’s move on from these people.”
To be honest, I think this is hilarious.
Though this Tumblr account could not possibly be written by the real Suri Cruise, the account gives readers the idea that the real Suri Cruise is, indeed, as judgmental, self-righteous, posh, and The-Devil-Wears-Prada-editor-esque as the account makes her out to be. The fact that she wears heels and dresses well for a six-year-old says more about her class and her parents Katie and Tom than it does about her own personality. Though some celebrities have to battle the media for giving them false personalities – it is rare that the celebrity would be six years old with no other claim to fame than her own parents. I often wonder how Suri Cruise will feel when she finally comes across this column. Will she laugh along with the Tumblr followers? Will she feel bitter that someone construed her childhood as such? Because of immense popularity and use of social media, the viewers of this blog are truly unlimited. Anyone who visits this site – whether they mistakenly believe that it is the real Suri Cruise or not – leaves the site with an image of who they thinks Suri Cruise truly is, giving the real Suri Cruise a false identity. If considering how this might hurt Suri’s feelings – should blogs pretending to be someone they are not even exist?
Finding fake accounts for celebrities like these make me wonder what would happen if someone created an account for me. It’s like that interview question that asks “If your friends were to describe you, what word would they use?” How would people critique my views or looks? Would I be a joke or would I be admired? When social media creates an infinite amount of ways to represent oneself to the public, most people really hope that the image shown it’s the right image they want to present.
A similar situation to the interview question "If your friends were to describe you, what word would they use?” came up in my life last couple months. Receiving a promotion in the National Park Service required me to get a more rigorous background check. This involved interviewing many of my friends, young and old, and created a nerve-racking situation for me.
ReplyDeleteI don't usually judge celebrities based on their facebooks or twitters because I automatically assume that they aren't who they claim to be.
ReplyDelete