The Mirror Effect: How Celebrity Narcissism Is Seducing America
by Drew Pinsky, S. Mark Young
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Book Summary Information
Author: Drew Pinsky, S. Mark YoungEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Published)
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2009-03-01
ISBN: 1616794305
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Harper
Book Reviews of The Mirror Effect: How Celebrity Narcissism Is Seducing America
Book Review: You'll look at celebrity breakdowns in a new way after this book
Summary: 5 Stars
No matter how much we try not to be, we're all exposed to the celebrity culture in some form or another. Even if it's only peripherally, we follow the exploits of Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, and Britney Spears as they careen from one tabloid breakdown to the next, never seeming to stop to even take a breath. Dr. Drew Pinsky has counselled many celebrities through their addictions and other psychoses, so he's a man who knows what he's talking about. But is all of this celebrity detritus affecting us as a society? Dr. Drew (as he's commonly known) addresses this subject in The Mirror Effect: How Celebrity Narcissism is Seducing America. This is an excellent book describing not only how excessively narcissistic celebrities are creating their own downfall, but also affecting the broader cultural and societal mental health as well.
One of the major points Dr. Drew wants to make is to define narcissism. It doesn't generally mean what we believe it to mean. To quote the back cover (as well as somewhere in the book): "What is narcissism? It's not what you think it is: It's not ego. It's not self-love. It's self-loathing. Envy. Insecurity. Self-destruction." Narcissistic people create images of themselves to broadcast to the world, trying desperately to have those images be loved by the general populace or by their peers. Deep down, they are insecure and don't think much of themselves. Narcissistic celebrities inflict these psychoses onto society at large, and many times it brings them to (or even over) the brink of disaster.
Dr. Drew has had many celebrities as patients, both in his well-received television shows like "Celebrity Rehab" as well as in his private practice. As he should, he avoids talking about any details he may have learned via those routes, except in the most general terms ("some patients..." etc). Those he hasn't counselled, though, he does do his best to analyze in this book. He brings up the usual suspects mentioned above, as well as Nicole Ritchie and others who seem to be at home in the tabloids. A study he and his co-author, Dr. S. Mark Young, conducted about celebrity narcissism is also included, where a narcissism survey was given to 200 celebrities (142 males and 58 females) as well as to 200 MBA students (same gender make-up). This test demonstrated that celebrities are generally 17 percent more narcissistic than the general population. Pinsky then goes on to break down the results by gender, profession (actor, reality-show star, musician, comedian) and other ways. This was extremely interesting to read about, and even more interesting that some celebrities consented to have their scores made public (Howard Stern is only 15 out of 40, with 40 being the most narcissistic?)
The most important part of the book, however, is how this celebrity narcissism is affecting the rest of us. This quote brings it all home to me:
"The interdependence between celebrities and the media is a dangerous bargain. The more a celebrity attracts the attention of the media, the more famous he or she becomes. The more dysfunctionally the celebrity behaves, the more interest he or she generates from the tabloids. The more the audience finds out, the more we want to know. And the cost of it all - to the vulnerable celebrities on one side of the mirror, and the impressionable viewers on the other - is impossible to estimate." Pg 41-42
As Pinsky points out, we all have narcissistic tendencies in one form or another, but most of us are able to channel those tendencies into positive things. However, the "Mirror Effect", as Pinsky calls it, of the constant media barrage of celebrity bad and narcissistic behavior, is very likely to affect those of us who already are leaning toward narcissism. Pinsky defines the Mirror Effect as "a tendency to obsess over those damaging celebrity stories - and mirror them back in our own behaviors." Impressionable children and teenagers, already "fraught with insecurity and hardwired for constant drama" see constant celebrity bad behavior, behavior that is largely excused or not punished, and start acting in a similar fashion. Since they idolize the celebrity and see their bad behavior lead to more fame rather than consequences, they start to feel like that it's ok to act like that as well.
The media comes under heavy criticism in The Mirror Effect. Pinsky talks about how, in the past, Hollywood stars' private lives were actually kept private, except for strictly controlled snippets to keep fans interested. The studios and the media were complicit in this, hiding homosexuality, love affairs, and other misbehavior. Now, the media is all over a juicy story as soon as a rumor comes up, covering it in all its gory details, and seemingly reveling in the celebrity's misfortune. The media builds the celebrity into a star, and then it does its best to tear them down. Many in the general public follow the rise and fall of these people with bated breath as well, finding the final collapse of the star exhilarating. They never seem to think about the psychoses the star may have that are causing this behavior, never wondering what might be going wrong.
Pinsky does an excellent job of bringing all this together, first concentrating on the celebrities themselves and then bringing it into society itself. He talks about whether or not becoming a celebrity creates narcissistic tendencies in said person or whether the tendencies themselves cause the person to try and become a celebrity. It's an interesting question, and I find I agree with his answers to it. Pinsky then ends the book with helpful tips for parents who are raising teenagers, to hopefully avoid having them succumb to the Mirror Effect trap.
The only real flaw I could see in The Mirror Effect is that Pinsky has a tendency to repeat information in an annoying fashion, sometimes just a few pages after he's first mentioned it. I don't mind an author doing this when it's the point he/she is repeatedly stressing, but I'm mainly speaking about general information in this criticism. Sometimes authors seem to repeat factual information to support their point, seemingly not realizing that we already know this because the same information was given to us 20 pages ago. Pinsky isn't a big offender in this category, but he did do it enough to make me roll my eyes a bit.
That doesn't detract from the valuable points that Pinsky is making, though. I don't follow celebrity culture religiously, but it's impossible to avoid when it makes mainstream news as well. I have to say that a few times when I've seen a major figure self-destruct in front of the cameras, I've had a "wow, she deserved that" feeling in my head even as I moved on to something else. It's residual, but it's there. The Mirror Effect has changed that for me. While the automatic reaction may be hard to eliminate from my mind, my second thought will be "I wonder why he/she is doing that." I don't believe there is any way to turn back the clock and stop the media "up and down" cycle of celebrity coverage, but books like Dr. Drew's will hopefully help make it so the celebrity problem doesn't expand into even more of a societal problem than it already is. At least we've taken some baby steps in that direction.
Originally published on Curled Up With a Good Book © David Roy, 2009
Summary of The Mirror Effect: How Celebrity Narcissism Is Seducing America
Reality TV. Celebutantes. YouTube. Sex Tapes. Gossip Blogs. Drunk Driving. Tabloids. Drug Overdoses.
Is this entertainment? Why do we keep watching? What does it mean for our kids?
In the last decade, the face of entertainment has changed radically?and dangerously, as addiction specialist Dr. Drew Pinsky and business and entertainment expert Dr. S. Mark Young argue in this eye-opening new book. The soap opera of celebrity behavior we all consume on a daily basis?stories of stars treating rehab like vacation, brazen displays of abusive and self-destructive "diva" antics on TV, shocking sexual imagery in prime time and online, and a constant parade of stars crashing and burning?attracts a huge and hungry audience. As Pinsky and Young show in The Mirror Effect, however, such behavior actually points to a wide-ranging psychological dysfunction among celebrities that may be spreading to the culture at large: the condition known as narcissism.
The host of VH1's Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew and of the long-running radio show Loveline, Pinsky recently teamed with Young to conduct the first-ever study of narcissism among celebrities. In the process, they discovered that a high proportion of stars suffer from traits associated with clinical narcissism?including vanity, exhibitionism, entitlement, exploitativeness, self-sufficiency, authority, and superiority. Now, in The Mirror Effect, they explore how these stars, and the media, are modeling such behavior for public consumption?and how the rest of us, especially young people, are mirroring these dangerous traits in our own behavior.
Looking at phenomena as diverse as tabloid exploitation ("Stars . . . they're just like us!"), reality-TV train wrecks (from The Anna Nicole Show to My Super Sweet 16 to Bad Girls Club), gossip websites (TMZ, PerezHilton, Gawker), and the ever-evolving circle of pop divas known as celebutantes (or, more cruelly, celebutards), The Mirror Effect reveals how figures like Britney and Paris and Lindsay and Amy Winehouse?and their media enablers?have changed what we consider "normal" behavior. It traces the causes of disturbing celebrity antics to their roots in self-hatred and ultimately in childhood disconnection or trauma. And it explores how YouTube, online social networks, and personal blogs offer the temptations and dangers of instant celebrity to the most vulnerable among us.
Informed and provocative, with the warm and empathetic perspective that has won Dr. Drew Pinsky legions of fans, The Mirror Effect raises important questions about our changing culture?and provides insights for parents, young people, and anyone who wonders what celebrity culture is doing to America.
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