Celebrity... I Mean Commodity

Here in Korea being a foreigner is being a celebrity. Now, I am not the handsomest of fellows, and Carrie is probably the one to talk to on this issue, but I get my fair share of celebrity status. After all, I am a Mel Gibson look-alike.

A common Korean passtime is to take a foreigner and find their celebrity look-alike (Sheila, your brother is Nicholas Cage). But all this doting isn't all smiles and sunshine. For a long time, I enjoyed the shock on children's faces when I turned the corner, or the shouts of "foreigner, foreigner" and pointing a finger in my face (I almost broke it off), but now I am getting a little tired of it. I guess sometimes it is still fun, but the point is celebrities live shitty lives and now I understand why.

When people don't view you as like themselves, they don't view you as human. I recall the words of my director on the subject of my place in the school: "you are not really here to teach, you are just... well... the 'face' of the school." Ahhhh, that's much better, I thought for a second there you were insulting me.

So, celebrity and commodity are not so different here in Korea, and I guess not in Canada either. Think if you saw a celebrity on the street in Canada, and asked, "can I take your picture?" Is that a compliment, or are you using that person. I guess the real difference lies here. Real celebrities make a lot of money. Fake celebrities, like me, make very little. Both get jaded, but I would rather have the money too.