Best known by our readers as Vincent “Vinny” Chase from HBO’s Entourage, Adrian Grenier made a new name for himself across the campus of Arizona as the influential producer of Teenage Paparazzo. After speaking with a number of students, the general consensus was that most had shown up with the hopes of meeting the infamous Adrian Grenier. It was refreshing to see and hear how the mood changed post premier of his documentary. Jeremy Rosenberg, a political science junior at the UA said, “[We all] had our cameras out at the start, during the movie [the audience] had a reflection of change.” The film inspired the audience to reflect on their original star struck state and considered the environment at hand.
Teenage Paparazzo is a documentary based off of a one-night encounter Grenier had with the young, Austin Visschedyk, a 14 year-old paparazzo. This chance encounter spiked Grenier’s creativity leading him to create one of HBO’s most eye-opening views of the relationship between celebrities and paparazzi. Living in the new-age of technology, society is more driven than ever to have a constant “in” with celebrity lives. “With the technology we have today we have the tools of the media to shape the world the way we want. I want to get people to re-evaluate how they consume media,” Grenier said. I have my guilty pleasure of picking up magazine’s filled with the latest celebrity gossip as I’m sure most of us do. It comes down to the matter of what we do with this information and how we react to it.
This documentary conceptualizes how media outlets affect celebrity lives and the lives of those who absorb celebrity exploitation. In the eyes of anyone outside the limelight even the bad moments seem perfect. I’ll never know what it is that draws us to strive for fame and fortune, to do as celebrities do. Grenier said, it is a lonely place to be a celebrity. This idea is never enough to get people to think twice about their dreams of becoming famous.
Technology has always changed the meaning and role of a celebrity, constantly setting them on a pedestal that just keeps rising. Through the tabloids and paparazzi, we almost de-humanize celebrities. They become more of an object and less of a person. As Grenier told Sarah Austin of the Forbes Video Network, “My hopes are that this documentary will mark the end of tabloids as we know it.”
In the few minutes I spent with Adrian, and after viewing him on the “other side” in his documentary I’ve come to find that he really is just another person trying to make sense of human behavior. It is important that we utilize the tools available to us and strive toward a positive goal. We should be taking on the media and changing it for the better.
The UA was only the first of many stops Grenier and his entourage hope to make throughout their college tour. “I want people to have fun, I am very proud of the film, it’s fun, funny, entertaining and overall indulgent. I hope to help people find balance and become nourished on a deeper level,” he said. For those of you who missed this opportunity I highly encourage you to watch this documentary. “Teenage Paparazzo” will enliven previous inclinations you may have had about the tie between paparazzi and celebrities.
For those of you interested in taking a deeper look into this project visit http://www.teenagepaparazzo.com/ and be sure to follow their tour on Twitter. Who knows?! They may be hitting your hometown next.