Celebrity Watcher—Not!
Who cares who Kristen Stewart is sleeping with? And who is Kristen Stewart anyway?
Why is a show about bad dancers who were on television, or speaker of the American House of Representatives, or children of 1970s pop singers so popular?
Who subscribes to People magazine?
I think you’ve gotten the sense by now that I’m not too interested in celebrities. And because of that, I almost made a terrible mistake.
Celebrities are Real People (that other people like to spy on)
One reason I don’t get all excited about celebrities is because I think of them as just like everyone else. They eat and poop and sleep. They treat people badly. They treat people kindly.
In other words, they’re human.
But sometimes, in my snobby contempt for what other people find fun, I forget that this “humanness” doesn’t make celebrities less interesting than anyone else. It just changes the ways in which they express their humanity.
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That’s why I’m glad I looked past my initial hesitation and watched My Dog: An Unconditional Love Story.
What I Learned About Celebrities and Their Dogs
I love documentaries.
I love them for the same reason I love reading blogs. I’m fascinated by people telling their stories. And some of the stories I heard in My Dog intrigued me as much as any wonderful blog post.
A few of my favorites:
- Actress, Lynn Redgrave describes how she adopted her dog while undergoing treatment for breast cancer.
- You know how people say they’ll never raise their children the way they were raised? Greg Louganis, former Olympic diver, decided not to coach agility dogs they way he was coached by his dad as a diver.
- Did you know that the playwright, Edward Albee, wrote a poem in the voice of his dog?
Most of all, My Dog, was about people who love their dogs, unself-consciously and without regrets.
You Must Watch This Movie
I don’t like when people tug at my heartstrings. I feel manipulated.
My Dog: An Unconditional Love Story was a straight forward depiction of people who love their dogs. At the core is a support for adopting dogs needing homes (20% of the proceeds from the film are donated to the rescue organizations selected by the participants; you’ll find the list in the credits).
But the documentary doesn’t feature statistics or sad stories to convince people to visit a shelter. And it does include stories of purebred dogs and their people. It simply tells stories about great dogs who found someone to love them.
One of the real cuties of the movie is Frieda, a medium-sized black dog who lives with actor, Christopher Meloni. You can see in the footage that Frieda has a malformed paw. It doesn’t stop her playfulness with other dogs. And it’s never mentioned in the film as a pity card.
I got the impression that Meloni loves Frieda so much that she’s perfect to him and there’s no point in talking about a physical condition that’s part of who she is.
My Dog: An Unconditional Love Story
You can buy your very own copy or give it as a gift through Amazon by clicking the link below. Twenty percent of your purchase will support animal rescue and a few pennies will help Something Wagging pay its hosting fees. 🙂
Do you find celebrities more interesting than other people talking about their dogs? Would you be more or less likely to watch this documentary if the folks in it were not already known to you?
I remember hearing about this movie before, maybe it was from you on Facebook, and I forgot about it ten seconds later. Celebrities hold no interest for me. They used to, I used to watch the Oscars every year, among other useless award shows. But the gossip has been off my radar for a long time.
You have convinced me, though, that this is one worth watching. I probably would have been more inclined on my own if the documentary featured just non-famous people with regular people jobs, but I trust your judgment. Besides, 50 minutes of watching dogs is never 50 minutes wasted. 🙂
I too would enjoy any movie in which loving and articulate people talk about their dogs. But I’m so glad I didn’t let my petty prejudices about celebrity stop me from watching this. I bet you’ll love it.
And if you have family and friends who think dog agility isn’t a real sport, you can remind them that a former Olympic gold medalist finds it stimulating enough to keep him competing. Here’s a little taste: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up1drMRwH4c
After all, some people are MORE likely to pay attention to celebrities. 🙂
I think that celebrities are just people who everyone knows their problems. Sometimes I think they have more than we do.
Good way of putting it, Gina. I certainly wouldn’t want to be famous. If I was being watched every minute, I don’t think I’d come off too well. 🙂
I’m so coming back to watch this after work!
I’m not a celebrity watcher, I don’t know who most of them are.
I like Christopher Meloni as an actor and now as a dog lover. Celebrities are folk living in the limelight, sometimes undeserved (what is it about the Kardashians anyway?) and many times using their celeb status for good (Michael J. Fox, Lance Armstrong, Brad Pitt, among others). I’m wishing for the days of yore when character was more valued than celebrity but…..thanks for the link and am heading to watch it with dogs piled on my lap!
I’m not a celebrity “watcher” but am I evil to make fun of some of them? I’ll be back to watch…
Oh, I just loved watching this movie! What I really liked was that it didn’t focus one second on the celebrity…but specifically on how their dogs have influenced their lives! 😀 I must say, Domeek and I teared up a bit at the end. Thanks for posting it!
I’m not a celebrity watcher either, and I can’t believe the amount of magazine space that is devoted to it. But you have done your part to make this movie sound interesting, so I’ve just added it to my netflix que and hope to check it out when I have some time. Thanks for the recommendation!
I confess I am a celebrity watcher and an reader of the People Pets page (I will look at pictures of regular people with their dogs too). I loved this movie too, and it was really about the dogs and not the stars, which was nice. But this is definitely a movie that non-celebrity-watching dog lovers AND celebrity-watching dog lovers will enjoy 🙂 and that concludes my embarassing confessions for the day!
I’m adding it to our Netflix queue now so I don’t forget it! It sounds like a really cool project, and if it helps raise funds for a good cause, so much the better. 🙂
I had no interest in watching this – mostly the same reasons as you’ve given! I’ve decided to give it a chance now and watch it later.
I will have to check this out. I’m always looking for something decent to watch. I can’t stand most TV shows, as you mentioned in the beginning of your post. I don’t care to keep track of celebrities, and so on.
Very interesting about the diver who chose to coach his agility dogs differently than the way he was coached.