Why Child Stars Go Crazy... (IR)

        Have you ever noticed the trend of child actors that grow up to be troubled people? So many actors and actresses that go into TV careers become corrupt and do incredibly foolish things. Many of the young stars we come to know and love turn out so different. Miley Cyrus, Amanda Bynes, and so many more celebrities that started acting when they were young have made some very bad decisions. The actress I always think about is Lindsay Lohan. She was one of my two favorite child actors. I loved her role in The Parent Trap and it became one of my favorite movies. When she grew up, the choices she made that messed up her life made me feel sorry for her. I really do hate how almost all children with acting careers go bad. So, I got to thinking, why is it that so many child stars go crazy in the first place? There has got to be a reason.
        I did some research and found an article written by my other favorite child actress, Mara Wilson. She is proof that not all child actors decide to make bad choices. For those of you who don't know her, Mara Wilson started as a child actress (I know her best for her starring role in Matilda) and once she started growing up, she left hollywood. The article she wrote was titled, "7 Reasons Child Stars Go Crazy (An Insider's Perspective)". She made a lot of good points and it was very interesting to read about.
        For Instance, one of the things she wrote about was the parents of the child who is acting. This is something I have wondered about as well. Sometimes it's not the actor's fault, but the parents. Mara explained that when she was little and she decided to start acting, her parents tried their best to change her mind. They were very protective of her, and this probably saved her from getting too pulled into the acting life. Many child stars go into acting because their parents want them to, and it's not the choice of the child themself. Then when they turn 18 and are declared an adult, they can make decisions for themselves rather than for their parents, and they can make bad mistakes.
        Also, being in an acting career means that throughout your entire life, people will be just waiting for you to make a mistake, observing your every flaw. That's enough to drive anyone crazy. Child actors who continue acting until they are adults never have a chance to go through a rebellious stage in their life. Almost all teenagers have a point in their life when they question things and make mistakes, but then learn from those mistakes and become a much better person. Well, would you want to rebel like that with a million eyes watching your every move? I didn't think so. Therefore, young actors miss out on that part of life, so they can't help rebelling at a later point in their lives, which causes mass consequences.
        Another point Mara brushed on was the truth that child actors get used to the attention and then they lose it all. By growing up in such an environment as acting, many children get spoiled. They get used to so many people paying attention to them and they love it, so they keep on acting and forget about the reason they were acting in the first place. They forget about their love of acting and focus in on the people who want them to act. And eventually, those people lose interest in them. And then they don't know what to do with their lives. They don't know if they should take up a different career or if acting is all they really know how to do. So, many young actors do things that they will later regret in a state of confusion. Mara gives the advice that all child actors should get out of the business as soon as possible to avoid corruption.
        The #1 reason that child stars go crazy, in Mara's opinion, is that they can't escape it. She only acted when she was a little girl and sees it as an old hobby, but people still recognize her as the girl who was in Mrs. Doubtfire or as the girl who played Matilda. She has a different life, but many people can't seem to grasp that. Once a child gets into the acting life, it is incredibly hard to leave. Imagine if Miley Cyrus had suddenly decided to quit acting in the middle of filming Hannah Montana episodes. A lot of young girls would be furious and the producers would not be happy. Young actors also have to put into account the feelings of their fans. Once you are involved in acting, it's nearly impossible to escape.
        There are many more reasons as to why so many young actors do what they do. I only elaborated on a few of the reasons. There are many factors to be taken into account with the question of why child stars go crazy. I guess what gets me is the number of them that make huge mistakes. If it were only a few actors who messed up, it wouldn't be nearly as big of a problem. But with the fact that almost every single one of the child actors I grew up with has made terrible life decisions, I can say that this is definitely a problem. Of course, some young actors are able to escape the grasp of the acting life. Some are able to heal from their mistakes and turn their lives around. Others are able to escape it all completely, just like Mara. However, the past will always be there. Even if child actors do stop acting, people remember them. That can be a good thing, but it can also be bad.

This is a picture of young Mara Wilson next to the Mara Wilson of today.

Here is the link to her article:

http://www.cracked.com/blog/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/

Amazingly Awesome Alliterations! (Rhetorical Device Post)

        If I could pick my favorite rhetorical device, it would be alliterations. The idea of recurring consonant sounds have always intrigued me. I think that the reason I love them so much is because they are just so much fun! As someone who loves acting, I have always appreciated the wording of things, especially in scripts for plays or musicals. For example, in "The Wizard of Oz", I always smile when I hear "The Wicked Witch of the West". I love alliterations because they make everything so much fun to say. They open a whole world of tongue-twisters and nursery rhymes that have that special ring to them. One of my favorites is a tongue-twister I heard in choir class in middle school: "Two toads, totally tired, trying to trot to Tilbury". Now, imagine singing that while trying to get the words exactly right. It was one of the songs we used in our warm-ups and it was a vocal exercise that helped with diction - the ability to enunciate all of the words in an effective way. Alliteration is an extremely useful rhetorical device, and I feel as though we use it all the time but never really notice. Alliterations allow sentences and phrases to flow with a distinct rhythm. They make the words pop out more in a way that sticks to your mind. This is another reason that I love alliterations. They are so easy to memorize in literature because they stand out so much. Phrases with similar consonant sounding and emphasized wording tend to be much easier to remember than common, everyday speech.

        This picture is a very hard-core example of alliteration. Almost every word starts with "P" and the vowel sounds "ee", "eh", and "ah" are combined and mixed up into a variety of phrases that all have to do with one general idea. This tongue twister is tricky to say very fast. There are all sorts of alliterations. Some are extremely rhythmic and obvious, like the one above, while others are more suttle and still have similar consonant sounds, but are much harder to identify.
        Alliterations add a very bright touch to the English language and without them, literature would be much more dull. Their rhythmic sounds and strategic wording add a spark of creativity to common speech. I may have chosen to write about them because I love to speak them in plays and sing them in choir, but I am pretty sure that I am not alone when I say that alliterations are pretty awesome. They make writing and speaking incredibly enjoyable and therefore, I can say with confidence that they are my favorite rhetorical device.

                                To sum things up, all alliterations are amazing and awesome!

The Draft (Class Connection Blog Post)

        In class we recently finished reading The Things They Carried. I have to say, I have not read many books about war before, so this was a very interesting concept for me. I've never had to deal with war in my life. I know that my grandfathers both served in WWII when they were alive, but no one ever really talked much about their experiences. I honestly don't even know much about the wars that have taken place throughout my own lifetime. War just seems so far away that I tend to put it out of my mind. So, after reading this book, I started thinking about how lucky my generation is. We never had to experience drafting. When the draft was going on in the story, I began to wonder how the new generations would handle the idea of drafting - taking men from all over the place and taking them to serve in a war. I'm not saying that drafting is wrong - sometimes hard times call for drastic measures. But I have two older brothers, both between the ages of 18 and 25, and the idea of them being suddenly pulled into extremely dangerous situations honestly terrifies me. I don't know what I would do. Family is an essential part of life, and I absolutely hate seeing them pulled apart. Therefore, the idea of sons and brothers being pulled into a war and not knowing if they will ever come back gives me a hollow feeling inside. I hope that our country doesn't break into a bad enough war that drafting is required, but the world is unpredictable and we never know what may happen. Well, I hope that we don't have to experience drafting anytime soon. I've never been very interested in the idea of war, so The Things They Carried got me curious about things like the draft. Thanks for listening to my wandering thoughts! (: