Fickle Fame

Part of what makes "Searching for Sugar Man" so intriguing is its description of fame.

In the modern U.S., it seems as if everyone wants to be famous, wants to be set apart and recognized as being special.  Part of what made us enjoy the Harry Potter series so much was the notion that each of us could be "the Special One," endowed with special powers, destined for great things.

Rodriguez, discovered in Detroit in the early 1970s, actually is endowed with special powers, had this rare capacity to write lyrics and music that cut to the core of the human condition.  But only a few people saw it--until his music found its way to South Africa.  How interesting that his music resonated in a place so foreign to him, even as it was ignored where he lived.

It's also interesting that Rodriguez seems almost indifferent to fame when it finally arrives.  He's delighted to play before tens of thousands of adoring fans.  But he's also just interested in meeting people, connecting with them.  And when he returns to Detroit, he gives most of the money away, lives in the same modest home.  His friends have a hard time believing that he's a star in South Africa, wonder if the photographs of him in front of huge audiences have been "photoshopped."

I would think that the great majority of us, if we became famous, would expect and then demand to be treated differently from everyone else, would gradually lose the best parts of who we had been, would demand to be hoisted onto fame's shoulders and carried far away from those who had known and loved us.