Movie Review - The Bling Ring

The Bling Ring ** (R) This film had to be fact-based in order to be made. A handful of privileged teens in suburban Los Angeles decided to break into the homes of celebrities to steal their stuff. Although they sold some of the swag for profit, they were mostly motivated by glomming onto the glamor of the Paris Hiltons and Lindsey Lohans our culture idolizes by taking objects they owned. It’s akin to ancient tribal rites like eating the heart of one’s slain enemy to assume his (former) powers. Fame is not only available without achievement, but its essence seems transferrable through personal property, at least to these deluded delinquents. Like Andy Serkis’ Gollum, the kids believed they’d acquire star power via their version of "precious"

Much of human conflict can be explained as clashes between inflated senses of entitlement. The macrocosm may lead to wars; the micro variation explains road rage, infidelity and a broad range of uncivil-to-illegal conduct. If these kids had turned to crime because of extreme poverty, or been trying to make a socio-political statement against our worship of excess, their actions may have seemed less pitiful-to-contemptible.

The utter lack of parental supervision or depicted senses of right vs. wrong is appalling. They feared being caught, but felt little, if any, compunctions about what they were doing. They were becoming their idols by owning and sporting their chattels. Watching the dramatization of what these kids did so blithely is far more depressing than entertaining or enlightening. As long as we fill the media - including what’s supposed to be news programming - with the ups and downs of the glitterati, we’ll continue encouraging the sort of values and priorities these kids developed. If the world around them didn’t seem to turn on the latest celebrity fad and foible, they wouldn’t have seen their crimes as hitching a ride on the coattails of stardom. (6/21/13)