Jack Gleeson, star of Game of Thrones, critiqued celebrity culture at an Oxford Union event, calling the idolization of celebrities a harmful trend in modern society.

Jack Gleeson Speaks At The Oxford Union

Gleeson, 21, who stars as the evil King Joffery Bartheon in HBO’s hit series Game of Thrones, was invited to appear at the Oxford Union, a debating society that invites famous speakers to Oxford. Gleeson, who studies theology and philosophy at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, when not acting, took the opportunity to kick off the Q&A session with some personal remarks on the nature of fame.

Gleeson has previously stated his flirtation with the idea of quitting acting after Game of Thrones. After attending college, doing charity work and starting his own theater company in Ireland, Gleeson says he is not sure acting, at least in such high profile material as Game of Thrones, is for him.

“Since going to Trinity and gathering an interest in philosophy and with GOAL [charity] and my theater company I’ve kind of just re-evaluated what I want to do. I’m 21, so it’s hard to decide what kind of course life will take,” Gleeson revealed in an interview.

Gleeson expanded on his various interests during his appearance at the Oxford Union in November (the video of his speech was released on YouTube in January, 2014).

Gleeson Condemns Celebrity Culture

In the speech, Gleeson speaks of how “embarrassing” he finds his status as a celebrity and expresses his desire to never be a part of the celebrity system that seems to come hand in hand with staring on a show like Game of Thrones.

“It was an environment from which I instantly wanted to retreat. I detested the superficial elevation and commodification of it all, juxtaposed with the grotesque self-involvement it would sometimes draw out in me,” Gleeson says.

“I’m in a unique position: straddling kind of cigarettes and books of a student simultaneously with the cocaine and prostitutes of a celebrity,” Gleeson joked before launching into his analysis of the “commodification of the celebrity image.”

Gleeson critiques American media and the industry American culture has created around the concept of celebrity, calling it profoundly destructive, and criticizing how celebrities become businesses through sponsorship:

“Having one's image, and essentially life, democratized, dehumanizes and sometimes objectifies it into an entertainment product. What sort of valuation of the ego would one have once you’ve let it been preyed upon by the public for years and years? Perhaps, it becomes truly just skin and bones.”

Gleeson says he is hesitant to give interviews and present himself as a public figure, especially considering how celebrities are often taken as role models.

“The authority celebrities have over us is accepted,” Gleeson says, comparing the unchallenged authority given to celebrities to the scrutiny bestowed upon other ‘celebrity’ like figures, such as politicians.

Gleeson concludes his speech by cautioning the audience against idolizing celebrities so much that they become the personification of dreams of success. Though Gleeson does not go into specifics, he condemns making celebrities out of individuals who flaunt immoral behavior.

“We must be choosier about our celebrities… And we also need to temper the concentration with which we love to celebritize, primarily for the sake of the celebrities themselves and their self evaluation, but also for ourselves. Just as the object of our attention can be rendered hollow and externally directed with too much worship, so too, I feel, can the worshipers sacrifice their own individual self or autonomy in favor of giving it up to a higher power,” Gleeson concludes.

Game of Thrones season 4 premieres April 6 at 9 p.m. on HBO.

– Olivia Truffaut-Wong

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