What I See: Johnny Depp, Amber Heard battle a case of Hollywood being ‘swallowed by its own pretension’

For some time, I have been cynical when it comes to the Hollywood scene. When I was growing up in the 1970s and 80s, movie stars and movie stardom was something I looked up to, but after maturing, I suppose my attitude about the industry has waned. Back then blockbusters, like Star Wars, the Rocky films, the Bond films, Jaws and the Godfather trilogy, certainly grabbed my imagination. Not just the films, but the actors, too. I’m even a devotee of the golden age of Hollywood, which spawned actors like Humphrey Bogart, Clark Gable, Judy Garland and Rita Hayworth. Looking back, I reckon it was the mystique, in many respects, which made the industry and those in it special. It was the fact we knew so little about these individuals that tantalised our imagination. It seemed their lives, just like the lives they presented on the screen, were far removed from our actual realities. It was, indeed, what made Hollywood special. Today, with such concentrated media and the advent of social media, I reckon Tinseltown has lost much of its glitter. We are so saturated with information that much of the supposed news is simply nothing more than tacky dialogue — information that is just normal occurrences elevated to sensational dribble. And this brings me to a case-in-point. This week, the well-publicised defamation trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard is expected to come to a conclusion. Depp is suing ex-wife Heard for US$50 million and Heard is countersuing for US$100m. The star of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies is suggesting Heard is liable in regard to an op-ed she wrote in the Washington Post, where she described herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse”. Now, I am in no way belittling the subject of domestic abuse, but the fall-out from this saga is an example of how Hollywood has fallen from its once lofty heights. To me, the behaviour of both Depp and Heard illustrates they are both incredibly strange individuals, and, simply, unlikeable. And the way millions around the world can tune in online and follow this real-life narrative is quite astonishing. People might argue that they are human beings, just like everyone else, but I’m not really sure about that. The real-life soap opera drama that is being played out in Fairfax County, Virginia is a clear example of Hollywood being swallowed up by its own pretention. And that makes me a little sad. Peter Fiorenza hosts Fiorenza on Sunday between 10am and noon on Radio MAMA