Paris, Not France (2008)

parisnotfranceI’m not one who gives a crap about tabloids at all. Occasionally I’ll skim over something by accident or watch something on television where I simply can not avoid it but otherwise I find no value in prying in to the lives of people who claim to have it hard when they really don’t. Take Paris Hilton, a young woman who is one of many people in Hollywood who have claimed their fame for doing absolutely nothing. But hey, she’s a victim too. Or at least that’s what this propaganda infomercial about Paris Hilton tries to convince us of.

Originally aired a few times on MTV in 2009, this is a “documentary” that achingly tries to convince us that Paris Hilton is really just as much of a regular person as we are and she’s not the attention whore the press makes her out to be. Poor her. She was born in to immense wealth and earned nothing she’s gained, she has no acting ability but has garnered chunky roles in big movies and television shows, she’s been on a bunch of magazine covers for doing nothing, has gained a humongous fan base of brain dead numbskulls for doing nothing, she has a recording contract in spite of not having any actual singing talent or depth, and (most annoying) she’s a best selling author gaining a book deal and a massive book tour for not really being able to write properly, but because she’s Paris Hilton.

Not to mention she’s worshipped for being good looking (really? her?) and in reality has no actual appeal to her other than being insanely made up, and yet she’s just like us in the end. Yes. I believe that. The entire movie is just one big statement from Paris explaining “Everyone expects me to have substance when I really don’t. So leave me alone.” Though the documentary tries to pawn off her inexplicable fame and acclaim as accidental they never quite explore if Paris is actually trying to get out from the spotlight. There’s even a scene where she is being made up while she is sleeping emphasizing how much in demand she is on her world tour, and yet she never complains. Why? Because this entire “documentary” is just one big attempt to downplay Hilton’s vanity and pointlessness in a world of people who aren’t being noted for doing things of actual relevance.

She’s a girl who sought out fame, has fame, claims to be punished with fame for seeking fame and is now exploiting herself to show how demanding her fame is for a crowd of movie-goers. Wrap that around your brain for a while. Then the movie attempts to portray Paris as just an everyday girl by basically contradicting itself and showing her as someone larger than life. According to director Adria Petty, she is but a goddess walking among us mere mortals and we shouldn’t praise her for being so amazing. We should just leave her alone until she has something new to promote or some product she’s whoring out, that’s when we should come out and welcome her with open arms. Every single minute about “Paris, Not France” is just one big disingenuous push on the audience by Hilton’s publicity team to put on display a person whose life will amount to nothing more than a lot of touched up pictures and a really very bad television show.

Who is the real Paris Hilton? I don’t even think she herself knows. Surprising enough Petty does warrant some value from this in the end as the ultimate question isn’t: “How does she live with so much attention?” but: “How will she live when she’s no longer being paid attention to?” Leave her alone, but pay attention to her, don’t draw attention to her, but watch her movie. She just wants to live in peace, but she also wants to have worldwide fame in the process. She’s better than you, but she’s just like you. This is anything but a film, this is just a cheap marketing device from Paris Hilton’s massive PR department, and it’s yet another display of a worthless individual being deified for having tons of money and contributing absolutely nothing to society.