The psychological effect of fame.

I noticed something very odd the other day. Ainan, 11, was going for an interview for something or other (no need to discuss it further, just yet). Standing to one side, holding a form that I had just filled in, was a young woman. A little shudder passed through her, as I gazed at her. How curious, I thought.

“What’s up?”, I asked, gently.

She clutched the form, concerning my son, more tightly, in her hand. “I am nervous.” She shuddered again, as she said this.

Now, I hadn’t expected that. I didn’t enquire about what, for I knew, at once, what must have been making her nervous. It was all rather strange. SHE was part of the team interviewing Ainan – yet it was not Ainan who was nervous, but HER. It was Ainan’s fame that was affecting her so, it seemed. To her, Ainan was a personage she had read about in newspapers – a somewhat legendary figure, therefore – and so, to meet him, in the flesh, was for her a matter of some challenge.

I led the conversation away from the thought that made her nervous and on to the task that Ainan had to complete, that day. As her thoughts turned to her work, she seemed to relax somewhat – for that domain was more in her control.

The moment was a startling one for me. It made me realize that, though Ainan is very young, he is, already, to many eyes a “famous person” – with all the psychological effects on people that come with that. I am led to wonder how much this effect on others will grow, over the years, as he continues to achieve unusual things and continues to become better known, thereby. To me, he will always just be my son – but to others, it is clear, he is already becoming something else – a figure of some weight, in the world, at least in terms of the effects he has on people’s minds. This little incident was just a hint of what fame can be. I learnt something from it: when a person becomes famous, it is not they who change, but the whole world in response to them. My son, Ainan, was still my son Ainan – he had not changed in any way since becoming well known – but, at times like this, it was clear that the world had changed in response to him. The world was no longer the same – it was gradually becoming something else, something new.

I hope that whatever the world becomes, in response to Ainan, that it continues to be welcoming and accepting, as it has been so far. I know this, however: that whatever happens, Ainan, being Ainan, will remain centred and calm, in the middle of it all. Ainan’s fame will change the world, as it appears to him – but Ainan will remain as he is: a quiet observer of it all.

I am left with one question, as I reflect on that twenty-something woman’s reaction to Ainan. How will girls behave towards him, when he becomes a teenager? If a twenty-something woman can be led to shudder at his presence, how on Earth will teenagers react when Ainan, himself, is one? Perhaps this particular young scientist will have something of the “pop star” about him. There are, after all, already signs of some perturbations in the social world. I wonder what Ainan will make of it all? We shall have to wait and see.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

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The tragedy of Macaulay Culkin.

Macaulay Culkin is, in my eyes, a tragic figure - but not for any reason that anyone else, would necessarily know, before I write of it. Indeed, he is doubly tragic. I shall explain.

Firstly, there is the obvious fact that Macaulay Culkin's greatest successes are behind him. The peaks of his life all lie in childhood. Unlike some who achieved renown, whilst very young, Macaulay Culkin did not go on to an adult career the area of his initial expertise. Once the cuteness of childhood was gone, so was Macaulay Culkin's great career.

Imagine, if you will, what it must be like to have been so gloriously successful, whilst still a child - and then to be so notably unnotable, as an adult. In a sense, he has lived past his life, as most people think of life - a time of aspirations and achievements, strung together from birth until death.

We cannot know what he may be aspiring to do, now, for he is nothing but quiet. There is not a word of his doings, as an adult. He seems to create nothing and do nothing that would amount to creative work. But then, he doesn't need to work, for he is rich. How rich is a matter of speculation, but a couple of years ago, I read estimates that he was worth 30 million US Dollars. Whatever he is actually worth now (and if he was invested in the wrong things, in the recent turbulence, it could, of course, be a lot less now), I am sure that he is worth enough to be considered "rich" by the common man and even by the quite uncommon one.

I have come to view Macaulay Culkin as tragic for a reason known, most probably only to me. This reason is simple. Ever since I posted once on Macaulay Culkin a year or two ago, I have had a lot of traffic for him. Indeed, about 2 to 3 % of the traffic to my site concerns Macaulay Culkin. The former star might be pleased to learn this - but I wouldn't, if I were him - because ALL of the searchers have had the same set of search terms - or variations on them. They have only ever been looking for one thing about Macaulay Culkin. The search terms are always, in effect: "What is Macaulay Culkin's net worth?" or "What is Macaulay Culkin worth now?" I have never, once, not even once, seen a search for ANYTHING else about Macaulay Culkin except his net worth. It appears that no-one is interested in anything, now, about him, than his net worth.

This seems to me a very sad situation. After a childhood of great and globally renowned filmic achievement that established him as one of the great child stars, as an adult, he has no discernible career or creative outlet (that I have ever heard of...which probably means that it is not happening). The only thing that people find of interest, now, about him, is how rich he is. That is it: how rich is Macaulay Culkin? That is the only question they have arrived on my blog in search of.

I wonder at what motivates these searchers. Are they people who have met him and wonder if he is worth trying to sponge off of? Are they fans who wonder on what financial pedestal to raise him? Are they financial workers, seeking background on him, in an effort to gauge what they might be able to sell him? I have no way of knowing...however, I know this: they don't care about his work, about his films, about his past greatness - they only care, now, about his money. Macaulay Culkin has become, in their eyes, nothing more than a rich adult, worthy perhaps of befriending solely for his money, or perhaps attempting to scam in some way. Nothing Macaulay Culkin did as a child has left a mark on these people. Now, that is sad. Macaulay Culkin, former child star, is now nothing but a great, big wallet, to all the searchers who have arrived on my site, in search of him, these past couple of years.

In many ways, I think Macaulay Culkin's fate is rather worse than being forgotten. He is now remembered as someone who should be rich - and nothing more: what a fate.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to:http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

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IMDB is the Internet Movie Database for film and tv professionals. If you would like to look at my IMDb listing for which another fifteen credits are to be uploaded, please go to: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3438598/ As I write, the listing is new and brief - however, by the time you read this it might have a dozen or a score of credits...so please do take a look. My son, Ainan Celeste Cawley, also has an IMDb listing. His is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3305973/ My wife, Syahidah Osman Cawley, has a listing as well. Hers is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)