Several years ago I heard an expression that has stuck with me. That expression is "jumping the shark." According to Wikipedia, Jumping the Shark means the moment of downturn for a previously successful enterprise. The phrase was originally used to denote the point in a T.V. show's history where the plot spins off into absurd story lines or unlikely characterizations. These changes were often the result of efforts to revive interest in a show whose audience had begun to decline, usually through the employment of different actors, writers or producers. It is often extended to people, particularly actors these days.
Many, many examples spring to mind immediately as we get older and as some Hollywood types and sporting figures begin to Jump the Shark on the way to ruining their legacy.
One star in the news currently is Mel Gibson. He has had a stellar acting career, a large family, a marriage of 29 years; everything seemed rosy in Mel's world. We have since discovered that Mel's world is far from perfect and he is not the nice guy that he once seemed to be. He is an alcoholic with a DUI offense in 2006, and one back in Australia in 1984. He has been through "recovery" more than once. He divorced his wife (and mother of his 7 children, & 2 grandchildren) and took up with his new "girlfriend" and mother of his newest child. He has recently separated from the new girlfriend under a cloud of suspicion of physically abusing her while she held their baby and verbally threatening to do her harm. There are audio tapes of him threatening her. There are also tapes and witnesses to his many racist rants and remarks that he has made over the years. All of this from a man who purports to be so religious that he built a Church on his property!! What a crock, what a hypocrite.
Then there is of course, Tom Cruise. Once again, he seems to have it all. He has a powerful career in Hollywood, more money than he could ever need, he has had 3 wives, the latest, Katie Holmes, is many years younger than him. He went so bonkers over landing Katie Holmes that he humiliated himself while doing an interview on the Oprah show. The infamous "couch jumping" was to show Oprah how in love he was with Katie Holmes, whom he had dated for about a month at the time!! This incident was a major downfall in his career. It made him seem less stable and a lot more bizarre. Magazines began digging into all that is Tom Cruise. What came out of the digging was his intense devotion to the odd religion of Scientology. Apparently he is one of the higher ups in this cult...er...um... I mean religion. After the info about his Scientology ties became public dialogue, his career fell down more. At this point in time, he is not who he once was in Hollywood. His latest film struggles at the box office as of today. He jumped the shark by jumping on the couch and acting very unstable. He did himself no favors.
The next in a long line of oddballs and morons is Tiger Woods. Wow, he really Jumped it bad!He was on top of the golf world, on top of the heap of millions of endorsements deals and dollars. He had a beautiful wife, 2 young children, multiple houses and the respect of anyone in the golfing realm. Then, poof, his reputation and credibility is gone. The true Tiger showed it's ugly teeth and we were all shocked to see what a moron he really is! Why did this man ever get married? If he catted around and knew he wanted to continue catting around ad nauseum, why involve an innocent young woman and deceive her from day one? What purpose did that serve? I am sure any one of his bimbos or ho's would have carried a child for him (a la Michael Jackson and Debbie Rowe) for a price. It is amazing how much he carried on and for how long without it ever coming out. He was on top of the world, thinking he could do whatever the hell he wanted to do and get away with it.
That is what these shark jumpers have in common. They get so famous, so fast, the people around them treat them like a deity. They can do no wrong, say no wrong. What they decide goes even if it is a poor decision. Nobody wants to tell them the truth for fear they will not be on the payroll anymore if they do. So the famous person gets a god complex and pretty soon, they fall off of their ivory tower. When they fall, they fall hard.
Brittany Spears is a female Shark Jumper. She was on top, looked great, had tons of money, had a hot music career although she was not a good singer by any stretch of the imagination, and poof. She attained her god complex, her posse fed into it and she suffered a breakdown of mammoth proportions splashed all over the tabloids. She is just a cut above trailer trash these days with her Dad as her "supervisor." Why didn't he supervise her career when she was on top or headed up? He was only there to take care of business when she was down and out.
Lindsay Lohan seems to be following in Brittany's footsteps. Another case of girl did well as a youngster, and it all spun out of control.
What is it about fame that makes these people rise and fall so spectacularly? There are leading men and ladies in Hollywood that have not suffered this fate and end up growing up and growing old gracefully. Think of Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, think of Meryl Streep, Michelle Pfeiffer. They have been in scores of movies and have mega money and yet have seemingly normal lives.
There are some who have teetered with Jumping the Shark and still may. Madonna seems to be one of those. She continues to dress and act as if she were 25. She is in danger of becoming a caricature of her old self. Russell Crowe has had enough physical outbursts to cast himself in a shark like shadow. Lady Gaga has gone from a nobody to the most friended person on Facebook. She can only go down from there!
There are SO MANY professional sports figures that jump the shark and do it quickly. We are not talking about decades long careers like Mel and Tom, no, we are talking about NFL players who get giant contracts and a couple of years in they still act like they are living in the "hood." The go to strip clubs, get involved in murder for hire plots, carry firearms with them while going out with friends, have DUI convictions.MLB Baseball has had all the steroid scandals to contend with...I am great, I could be greater....let me just do this 'roid and maybe I can set some records and even more millions. NBA Basketball seems to be full of huge egos, LeBron James is a good example! All of these nitwits who are good at hitting, catching, or throwing a ball are being paid multi millions for doing so and have thus gotten a little god complex of their own. As an NHL hockey fan, I don't see this as much there. What you see is players who abandon a beloved team because they can't be the head honcho, the team captain, or the team they would love to stay and keep playing for cannot afford to pay them what they think they are worth, due to salary cap restrictions. In hockey it is part ego, part economics.
Very few people ever attain the wealth that a Mel Gibson, LeBron James, or Madonna have. And thank goodness they don't! Most people cannot deal with all that comes along with that money. The lack of privacy, having your every act scrutinized, your every move photographed can get out of control. But it is a trade off. They do have the option of walking away from the movie, the music or the sports and still have a pile of money to live on. They usually choose to keep being famous and some eventually become infamous because they cannot live without the adoration that goes along with the title of superstar.
In conclusion, people are jumping the shark left and right. It will continue to happen as long as we put them up on a pedestal. From that pedestal they ultimately have 2 choices. They can stay up there or they can fall. Mel and company have fallen and it is not a pretty sight!
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