The Downward Spiral: A look at Lindsay Lohan

As a scientist, the theory is simple.  Once an object initiates motion, intertia dictates that the object remains in motion.  In fact, it’s Newton’s famous first law.  It’s no surprise that this same concept can be applied to the celebrity social world.  No case is more relevant than that of Lindsay Lohan, who has recently embarked on a rather grim downward spiral.

Lindsay Lohan: When she still had Integrity

The stunning Lindsay Lohan was once of my favourite celebrities.  I remember Parent Trap fondly, where she played a double role, (the movie was filmed right here at home in Ontario, yeah!).  Then of course there was Freaky Friday, where she played the role of an older woman trapped in her teenage body.  And then my favourite movie of all-time, (sorry Legally Blonde) is Mean Girls, not only for the gratuitous math content, leading to my favourite line “the limit does not exist,” but for its realistic portrayal of high school life. I went so far as to even read the book it was based on, and the knowledge I gained from both the book and the movie led me to dabble into feminist organizations, where I gained an amazing new perspective in life.  It’s crazy how little guys really know about women. In fact, the very same morals that Lindsay Lohan currently portrays serves as a stark contrast to those which Cady Heron actualizes by the end of the film in Mean Girls.  Check out an awesome director’s commentary of the life of teenage girls with sick Mean Girls clips to understand what I mean:

Aside from films, I even got into her second album, “A Little More Personal (Raw),” which I enjoy for its unpolished, rock edge.  From sweet covers, to intensely emotional songs, it really did seem like Lindsay had a firm grasp on her stance as an artist.  Success was her way, she was focussed, popular, one of the hottest girls at the time. So what happened?  Check out why I liked her album so much first with this emotionally poignant song:

I think the warning signs arose simply with her excess partying.  As news and gossip came out from 2006, she had a hard night suffering from dehydration and likely excess alcohol use, causing her public image to be more Paris Hilton-esque instead of the cute and innocent girl-next-door from family friendly films like Herbie: Fully Loaded.  Then the bulemia and drug use came, where she was on the brink of total devastation.  And soon after in 2007, came the alcoholism, the DUI, the rehab, it almost sounds like the cycle is expected with any up-and-coming celebrity.  This is consequently part of the reason why I respect celebrities like Kaley Cuoco and Reese Witherspoon so much, because they have avoided this entire lifestyle.  Still, Lindsay was able to hold it together more-or-less, still being seen with at least some hope.  She was still modelling, designing, and the public perception did not turn on her just yet. She at least hasn’t gotten into any crazy marriages like Britney Spears.

Back when she was struggling with eating disorders she was still modelling (as here in Vanity Fair)

Things only got worse once the cocaine rumours began swirling around, and when she finally came out with her lesbian relationship with Samantha Ronson, who later Lindsay claimed was a heavy drug user and had multiple affairs whilst with Lindsay.  I had a friend who was obsessed with Ronson, going so far as to meeting her at a club she was DJing at.  Through my relationship with the friend, and my constant watching of Chelsea Lately, my interest regarding Lindsay Lohan and her lifestyle blossomed.  She entered a very secretive state, which I would assume Ronson pounced on causing a rather abusive relationship between the two.  And when she came out from that, her life really took a turn for the worse.  No longer was she the G-rated star.  Heck, she even paraded her nude body in a New York magazine, a serious taboo for professional stars.  She had entered a new state permanently. Even Jamie-Lynn Spears was able to have to some type of normalcy in her life even after having an unexpected child out of wedlock.

I definitely miss the Lohan of old!

This brings to mind an ecological concept I learned in university from an article by Peterson et al. Simply, every ecosystem has a point of stable equilibrium.  Imagine a rainforest, where the trees, the snakes, the monkeys, the insects, the tigers, all live in ‘harmony,’ in that their populations remain fairly stable each year, and every organism satisfies a certain function.  After a disturbance happens, let’s say a devastating drought takes place for a year, where there is very little rainfall.  This will definitely affect the rainforest, but in 2 ways: temporarily or permanently.  If it is temporary, perhaps the organisms can resist the lack of rainfall, and can continue with the same functions ordinarily, it is like nothing ever happened, then the ecosystems remains in the same stable state.  However, if the ecosystem is not resilient, it is said to have reached a new stable state, whereby the ecosystem reaches a new equilibrium but the diversity and richness of organisms has changed permanently.  This system can be modelled physically by a ball rolling on a curved surface:

If the disturbance is great enough, the ball will roll into a new stable state, otherwise it will roll back down into its current state.

So how does this relate back to Lindsay Lohan?  I believe her experiences in clubs, with alcoholism, with Samantha Ronson was a disturbance that was too great!  Imagine if Lohan is the blue ball, this disturbance pushed her “over the edge” where she now rests at a new stable state, as a completely different person.  It’s like the death of a loved one, the trauma may push you “over the edge.” And after grieving one always says, “I’ve become a different person” (aka new stable state), or “I’ve adjusted back to my normal lifestyle” (aka they rolled back down to their current stable state).  Perhaps physics does have a role in sociology.  Nonetheless, Lindsay has definitely hit a new stable state as the raw, doesn’t care about her self-image persona.  It’s the very same image that people are saying Miley Cyrus is approaching.  This is evidenced by how Lindsay is even denying — with a completely sober mind — things that have clearly happened in the past, as viewed through this Sun report on an ET interview.  It is almost like she completely disregards her journey to this new stable state as herself, and she is simply now reveling in the new character she has developed, skipping alcohol education meetings and starring as a porn star in a new movie.  Will Lohan ever get out of the headlines?

Lindsay Lohan today.

Well, to be honest, probably not.  As long as Perez Hilton and TMZ are still around, Lindsay Lohan will be a mainstay of our popular interest.  And it simply is because she represents that leap to a new steady state that so many of us think about, often try to reach and accomplish, but never actually reach.  In a way, the Buddhist philosophy of reaching Nirvana is the same transfer to a new steady state.  Essentially the principle dictates that one abstains from all the worldly pleasures to find self-enlightenment.  This same structure is reverberated in the oft-quoted Hierarchy of Needs by Maslow.  Perhaps Lindsay Lohan has self-actualized, and now she’s living the life she desires, albeit controversial to simpletons like us.  And for that, I can’t help but respect her.  DUI, drug-use, lack of responsibility and dignity, and potential jail time looming aside, Lindsay Lohan represents that crazy within us that wants to get free, that complete and utter disregard and aversion to social mores of what’s expected, and simply how to live the life that you want to set out to create.  And she has the ability to laugh it all off:

So is it a downward spiral?  Maybe.  But take it for what it is, one individual, choosing to live one life, even though it’s destructive, even though it’s deplorable, she can say her life is decisively Lindsay’s.  How many of us can claim complete ownership of our own lives, not affected by a loved one, parent, or child?  It’s a rare quality that she possesses.  At the bottom of the downward spiral, perhaps she has realized something that all of us reaching the top of the ladder of actualization is trying to realize: listen to your emotions, care about yourself first, and as one of my favourite Lohan songs succinctly states, Live for the Day.

Peace and Love!

The Popular Individual

Lady Gaga lives life to the beat of her own drum

In life, social trends push us to conform to certain lifestyles, certain behaviours, and certain characteristics.  We face a basic dichotomy where we choose A) to conform, or B) to express our individuality.  And in life, this fundamental option characterizes every decision we make.  Perhaps it may be simplistic to state that every action is based on a binary choice, either A or B, but this is really what it comes down to.  One of my favourite psychologists, Maslow, also believed in this decision we always face, although he took a slightly different twist.  He stated when we face a crossroads we either choose to pick A) the option that is safe, or B) the option that is the risk.

And really, these two options correspond nicely to conformity vs. individuality.  We always choose to conform because it is safe, it is expected, we know a subset of people will accept us once we choose this option.  It is the reason why I opt to wear American Eagle or Urban Outfitters clothing instead of cheaper, baggier clothing that I would normally feel more comfortable wearing but would look awkward on my slim physique.  It is also the reason why I maintain a shorter hairstyle instead of a longer style representative of the 70s-rocker within me.  The reason why I choose these options likely lies in my conflicting sociological beliefs, where I follow the work of Charles Cooley and his looking-glass self, whereby I frame myself upon the predicted judgments of others.  Simply put, I want to be accepted, I want people to have a positive first impression of me, and I don’t want to seem aberrant or eccentric.  Perhaps the risk of performing an action that is different, even if it is true to who I am, outweighs the benefits of not performing the risk.  For instance, I would love to take the risk and have an artistic yet dangerous tattoo on my back like one of my wrestling idols, Randy Orton, but I think about the long-term consequences: Would my wife approve? How will my potential employers react?  What would it look like in my old age?  Maybe I’m now touching upon a paradigm between living in the present or living in the future, and this conflict is vital to the conformity paradox.

But where does Lady Gaga fit in?  She has rocketed to the top of the celebrity world by choosing option B consistently.  She takes risks and expresses her individuality.  One may initially consider the celebrity world to be leagues apart from our personal worlds, where being individual is a requisite, the only way to have that X-factor to get signed.  But Lady Gaga, like all of us, has faced hardships in taking those risks, often originally getting booed in her earlier music acts, and often being teased at school for her different view of life, her sexuality, and her sense of style.  And in the end, her individuality has resonated in a world where impressionable teenagers have adapted to the American Eagle clothing, short hair, and clean-cut lifestyle demanded from the norms and mores of society.  She has developed a huge fan-base to the point where people want to live a “Gaga” life.  Even my dad recently called her amazing and sensational: a huge standard to be given by my father, who possesses a typical aversion to Western Culture.  I would solidly place her as one of my inspirations, as she has encouraged all of us to find that “freak” within, as seen in this interview with Ellen.  I’d recommend a full watch, but at least watch from the 3:00 point.

Lady Gaga lives in the present.  One could argue that most celebrities live in the present, trying to make the most out of their 15 minutes in the spotlight, knowing that they may later transcend back into anonymity.  In the real world, there are demands on careful planning, organization, and networking.  To achieve success in this world, the paradigm shifts from becoming an actualized individual, to accepting what society demands.  Lady Gaga is a misnomer, as she can be the individual and what society demands simultaneously, but there are only so many niches in the world for people like her.  Instead of bearing obstacles and hardships in finding that niche in the world, it is often most convenient to choose one or the other.

But how do we know which to choose?  Should we consistently choose option A, or consistently option B, or a mixture of the two?  The answer is not so simple.  Taking a look into animal behaviour, the ultimate reason for all behaviours corresponds to fitness of the individual.  For example, a raccoon foraging at night helps it avoid predators, or a bird with a longer and more varied mating song will encourage more potential mates.  The animal world is selfish in this regard, as self-sacrificing genes are rare.  However, there is a well-documented behaviour known as reciprocal altruism, where an individual animal performs a helpful action upon another individual, where it then expects a similarly beneficial action to be performed later.  This is as simple as chimps picking insects from the backs of each other, or as complex as vampire bats regurgitating blood only for those who did the same action beforehand.  Although characterized in animals, this action can be seen in humans as a form of friendship.

Even these ugly creatures can develop friendships

In friendships, we often develop a sense of trust, where one performs a favour, and then expects one in return. Friendships form a very basic network in human society, as this reciprocal altruism resonates and is a vital part in the formation of society.  The entire economic system and transfer of money relies and enforces this mechanism of altruism, as individuals are rewarded for how much they provide to society.  If I work 40 hours, I will earn more than if I work 10 hours.  But in every friendship, in every personal connection, we must as suggested in animal behaviour: self-sacrifice.  Artists are unique in that people pay and admire their services because of their individuality.  For the rest of us, myself included, we must sacrifice ourselves, our passions, and our desires, to be able to acquire money for survival.  Even in the smaller-scale with friendships, we must sacrifice part of ourselves to be accepted by the other, it all ties back to the Looking Glass Self.

Just as with chimpanzees or vampire bats, it seemed advantageous to develop altruistic relationships, or friendships.  But as time as gone by, I began to realize with every friendship, every relationship, I have had to adapt to the other individual and in turn lose a part of me.  Whether it was one-sidedly helping them with their homework, putting up with their offensive remarks, constantly having to listen to their philosophies which often juxtapose mine, or learning to adapt to their markedly different culture, to make these new friendships or relationships work, I needed to sacrifice part of myself.  In commonplace, these actions are known as compromise, but really I am compromising my individuality.

Maslow also implored “Be prepared to be unpopular.”  Lady Gaga was prepared to be unpopular, and ultimately her hard work paid off.  But it’s difficult choosing that option B, when option A is right in front of you.  The short-term gains of making that friend, being popular in parties, making those new connections, having a positive image, all seem worth it at the time.  But if your passions, your dreams, your beliefs are modified by virtue of picking that option, what is the real gain?  Society does necessitate conformity, but as an individual, we must really follow our own heart, or else we will then become a product — not an asset — to society.

Popularity is a goal for all of us. It would be a blatant lie to say otherwise.  But perhaps in the long-term the only way to achieve real popularity, popularity for who you are, whether it is the art you produce, the scientific idea you have, the spiritual belief you hold, or the characteristic you hold dear, will only be achieved by staying true to yourself.  If you deviate and look at popularity in the short-term, it will be artificial, as you never had time to develop who you are really are.

For me, I have a few best friends, the ones who allow me to be me 100%, and that’s really all I need.  I will make sure I am not misled to become a popular conformist… because at the end of the day, I like everyone, wants to be like Lady Gaga, a popular individual.  Someone who is respected for who I am, who I was, and who I want to be.

Peace and love!!