Claire Neville
Staff Writer
As a student in Trinity it’s easy to bask in the prestige and international acclaim of the college. To quote a fellow fresher, “it’s like the Harvard of Ireland”. Central to this reputation are the iconic alumni – Oscar Wilde, Jonathon Swift and Wolf Tone, to name but a few. Recently many discovered that Courtney Love walked the cobbles back in the 80s. One might wonder whether there are any amongst us who will write a classic, go down in the history books, or win Nobel prizes. Perhaps you are sitting across from the next Samuel Beckett in the Buttery or this generation’s Thomas Preston in the Hamilton. Or is it you who’ll have lecture theatres named after you in decades to come?
Yet in this fast moving world where fame is not bound to talent is there really any platform for new icons in the 21st century? The exclusivity of Hollywood in the 1900s meant that Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and Maureen O’Hara had a cult following that will transcend time and generations. With the growth of celebrity culture and reality stars taking over news headlines perhaps our values have changed to eliminate the prospect of moulding cultural icons. It’s unlikely that we’ll be gushing to our grandchildren about how we were alive to witness Kim Kardashian’s train-wreck wedding and went to the opening weekend of a Twilight film. But if a historian was to assess these events by means of their ratings and level of media attention, they would be seen to be amongst the most iconic media moments of the early 21st century. Even critically acclaimed films and Oscar winning actors will be drowned by the size and the quality of the industry. With more films being made, more stars are created, but this decreases the likelihood of them obtaining icon status.
The landscape of the music industry has greatly changed over the last few decades with new technology meaning that commercial value and image has greater significance than talent. Although this functions to create chart topping hits, it will not make long lasting musical icons. YouTube stars seem to be the main attractors of media attention, with their rise to fame constituting an almost fairy-tale quality. The reality show has dominated our televisions but with no contestants on the X Factor lasting more than a few years in the spotlight and ratings consistently going down it’s likely that Simon Cowell and his media genius won’t get more than a paragraph in cultural history books. The only hope for musical icons are those who truly focus on the music rather than on immediate cult following. “Florence and the Machine”, “Coldplay or the Kings of Leon” appear to fit the bill for some Trinity students.
Perhaps Trinity’s most acclaimed alumni are our literary heroes. The world renowned reputation of Irish writing defines our culture and has given esteem to our efforts to be seen as an effective and intellectual people who are otherwise often cast as backward and uneducated. Yet will the likes of Sebastian Barry and Emma Donoghue be lost amongst the millions of writers self-publishing on the internet? Blogs, twitter and Facebook are the new means of expression, with publication seen as an aspect of daily life and not a privilege. The sheer volume of books and the onset of the Kindle mean that even great works of art will be fleeting. In this climate it will be difficult to compose a classic.
In the past the true ingredient to becoming an icon was pushing boundaries. Forbes 2011 10 Top- earning dead celebrities included Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley and Albert Einstein, all of whom contributed to reshaping culture and bringing about forward thinking. But in the realms of music, literature and film can we really push many more boundaries? It was partly the censorship board who made Edna O’Brian’s ‘Country Girls’ a classic and Elvis’ controversial swinging hips which turned heads. Most thoughts pursued in the media have been recycled a thousand times before. Is Lady Gaga really any more scandalous than Madonna or Cher? Perhaps boundaries can no longer be broken. Perhaps this is the end of the icon.
When I asked students who they thought would be venerated in the future “Morgan Freeman”, “J.K. Rowling”, “Woody Allen” and “Regina Spektor” were mentioned, though many students “shudder to think” who will emerge from this generation as icons. Perhaps these stars will have cult status with memorabilia and manuscripts auctioning for millions. Often I’ve heard people say they wish that they had been alive to see Queen or the Beatles in concert when they were at their peak. Maybe our grandchildren will be wearing t shirts with U2 logos, longing to have been alive for Live 8. It is doubtful that contemporaries of Bram Stoker speculated that he would gain a fan base spanning generations. With this in mind remember to be nice to your classmates; you don’t want to be cast as the inspiration for the next Dracula.
