Shattering Of An Image
By DONALD DeMARCO
The distinguished historian Daniel J. Boorstin wrote The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America to explain “how we have used our wealth, our literacy, our technology, and our progress, to create a thicket of unreality which stands between us and the facts of life.” This unreal world is an image that conceals a reality that, in the view of many, does not have the luster or attractiveness of a beautifully crafted image.
As journalist George Will explains, “Today we see that we are living in a society that increasingly resembles an echo chamber lined with mirrors. Amid the sensory blitzkrieg contemporary life, much that is spoken is merely audio wallpaper.”
Once in a while, when death occurs or when something totally unexpected happens, the image is shattered and we are rudely thrown back to reality. Trying to keep reality at a distance is hard work. “Keeping up appearances” requires a great deal of effort. Reality, much to our displeasure, keeps breaking through.
Narcissus fell in love with his image, which he saw reflected in a pool. Echo tried in vain to lure him out of his fixation with himself through love. The word “narcissus” is etymologically related to “narcotic.” Narcissus’ fate was to allow an illusion to render him numb to his real identity and ultimately destroy it. The image is what we see, even though it is fabricated.
The inner person is something we must discover, and that requires patience, effort, and time. The illusion is what we prefer to see even though it is unreal; truth is what we do not want to see, even though it is real. Jack Ruby, who was imprisoned for killing Lee Harvey Oswald, begged his portrait artist to give him a little more hair. Then people could say, “He may have been a murderer, but for a man of his age, he had a good crop of hair.”
An admiring friend said, “My, that’s a beautiful baby you have there.”
“Oh, that’s nothing,” said the mother. “You should see his photograph!”
The “photo-op” creates the impression that we are more captivating than we really are in person.
Hollywood has earned the name “Tinsel Town” for its uncompromising dedication to a world of images. Yet, beneath the tinsel, quips Oscar Levant, is “the real tinsel.” Neither glitz, glitter, nor glamour have any depth. Hollywood is a place, according to Groucho Marx, where the bride keeps the flowers and throws away the groom.
Its citizens are predictably beautiful, talented, wealthy, well-dressed, and above all — well-mannered. And then, at the 2022 Academy Awards, something unimaginable, unthinkable, unspeakable, and unprecedented happened. Will Smith rose from his seat, strode to the stage and slapped a defenseless and unprepared Chris Rock across the face while spouting language that is not fit to print. It is one thing for the tabloids to expose the imperfections of movies stars, but it is quite another for a star, himself, to display them for the world to see live.
Had I been a comedy writer and been on stage with Chris Rock, I would have advised him to tell the audience to have sympathy for his assailant because when Will Smith was growing up his favorite comic was Slappy White. Yet, no amount of humor can conceal the enormity of what transpired. Humor may save face, but it cannot erase.
Since this incident took place — “The Slap Heard Round the World” — an enormous amount of attention has been given to Oscar night 2022 which will forever be known as “Slapgate,” an invidious association with the most notorious political scandal in American history. Whatever else happened that night fell below the radar. An irremovable scar had marred the face of the Oscar. The evening unequivocally belonged to Will Smith and his egregious violation of Hollywood rules. The sacred image was shattered.
Academy Awards night could now be seen as a magnificent masquerade party of people pretending to be something other than what they really are. Hollywood is willing to bare anything but its soul.
“Life is a masquerade full of illusions,” wrote the Danish philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard. “Do you not know,” he warned, “that there comes a midnight hour when everyone has to throw off his mask? Do you believe that life will always let itself be mocked?”
The mask is poor insulation against reality. The truth of one’s personality will ultimately be revealed, for good or for ill. The illusions of Hollywood are fodder for the delusions of its fandom.
Will Smith made the obligatory apology. Such apologies are customarily drawn up by lawyers and have the ring of insincerity. But an apology is not a “confession,” in the true sense of that term. To confess one’s sins to a priest requires setting aside any image of oneself and laying bare one’s soul. A person cannot bring a lawyer with him into the confessional box and ask for a lighter penance. We are all stained by original sin. This simple fact exposes the futility of images. The confession is a meeting between man and God in which pretentions are strictly forbidden. It is a moment of truth. But also of reconciliation.
Christ made it only too clear that the pretentious Pharisees were not good role models. He requires us to be true to ourselves, to know that we are fallen creatures and in need of His grace. Catholicism has nothing in common with a masquerade party.
- + + (Dr. Donald DeMarco is professor emeritus, St. Jerome’s University, and an adjunct professor at Holy Apostles College. He is a regular columnist for St. Austin Review and is the author of 41 books. He is a former corresponding member of the Pontifical Academy of Life. Some of his latest books, The 12 Supporting Pillars of the Culture of Life and Why They Are Crumbling, Glimmers of Hope in a Darkening World, and Restoring Philosophy and Returning to Common Sense, are posted on amazon.com. His most recent book is Let Us Not Despair. He and his wife, Mary, have 5 children and 13 grandchildren.)
