Wow, James Franco Sure Is Leisurely

http://goremaster.com/blog/2010/04/19/james-franco-birthday-april-19/

James Franco is a very successful guy. He has made millions in blockbuster films such as Spider-man and Milk, and has become a household name. Now Franco is an Oscar-nominated actor, who coincidentally will be co-hosting the Oscars. But there is a side to this celebrity people do not normally see. After becoming a successful actor, Franco since 2006 has attended a host of colleges such as UCLA, Columbia University, the NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, Brooklyn University and most recently Yale University where he is working toward a Ph.D. in English. Franco is also an amateur painter and wrote a series of short stories which he had published. All of these things are a product of Franco's accumulated wealth, and as Veblen would say, are evidence of Franco's life of conspicuous leisure.

According to Veblen, people thrive to be in a position that permits "higher thinking," which is an unproductive consumption of time: when Franco was an actor, his job did not involve much intellectual or academic thinking. There was some void Franco wanted to fill in his life, so he decided to take on a more predatory, and leisurely, work.

People assume that wealthy celebrities have the pecuniary strength to be leisurely and consume large amounts of time and goods, so celebrities need to be particularly conspicuous in order to stand out from the clutter of famous people trying to brand their names. When one sees the insane amount of academic accomplishments Franco has accumulated in the past four years, it's hard not to think of the time and money needed to do all of those things. It makes one think, "if anyone is a part of the leisure class, it's James Franco." These types of thoughts are ideal for those who practice conspicuous consumption and leisure, because the ultimate goal is higher repute in society.

Veblen also touches upon the idea that ownership is a practice of the high leisure class and a good method of being conspicuously wealthy. Although not quite ownership, Franco's multiple academic degrees are his to own and do with what he wishes, and Veblen's three incentives for ownership translate into incentives for obtaining so many degrees. Being so scholarly 1) allows Franco to be dominant (at least intellectually) 2) is evidence of his prowess and 3) is useful if his acting career cannot sustain him in the long-run.

Wealthy people can show their pecuniary strength through conspicuous leisure and consumption, which all entail that their actions are unproductive to society. Franco's scholarly exploits serve no greater purpose other than his own interests. Other celebrities and wealthy people have found a way to show their fiscal prowess and power through acts that are productive to society: charity. Although not as productive as being a blue-collar worker, as Veblen says, acts of charity by the wealthy contribute to the greater good and produce a positive effect on a context larger than just that of the wealthy.


Information for this post regarding James Franco was obtained from Wikipedia.org.