50 Rarely Seen Old Pics Of Hollywood Celebs Shared On This Instagram Account

The old Hollywood era has made a mark on Western culture unlike anything else. Its origins date back to the first film completed in Hollywood, 1908’s The Count of Monte Cristo, although production of the film began in Chicago. The first film made entirely in Hollywood was a short film in 1910 titled In Old California.

By 1911, the first movie studio appeared on Sunset Boulevard. By 1915, many major motion-picture companies had relocated to Hollywood from the East Coast. Around this time, many iconic film stars rose to fame on the big screens, forever changing or rather shaping the concept of famous people, aka celebrities.

No wonder that in the 1930s and ‘40s, a time ransacked by the Great Depression and World War II, Americans turned to Hollywood film for inspiration. Stars like Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford were like the Chiara Ferragnis or Leandra Medines are today. The glamor and accessibility to live their lives through the movie screen was something that appealed to audiences around the world. Soon, movie stars became the era’s new gods and goddesses, not unlike the influencers we see on social media today.

Today, the same icons, think of James Dean and Brigitte Bardot, remain as relevant as ever. Their portraits now cover t-shirts and coffee mugs, and it only takes one scroll through Instagram to see how much of an inspiration these figures are to users on the platform.

These days, when celebrity culture is omnipresent, you can’t help but wonder what kind of effect both current celebrities and old icons have on our self-worth and mental wellbeing. Is it possible to become too invested in the lives of famous people, you wonder? So Bored Panda reached out to Claire Sisco King, the Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies at Vanderbilt University, who shared some very interesting insights.

“There is the possibility of over-investment in any kind of relationship, whether it’s an interpersonal relationship with a friend or romantic partner or a parasocial relationship with a celebrity. We can even point to examples of overinvestment in sports teams,” the professor said.

“There are certainly negative implications associated with the idealization of celebrities. For example, idealization of the American Dream obscures the fact that some people experience privileges (such as race or socioeconomic status) that make it easier for them to achieve success,” Sisco King stated. She added: “As another example, celebrity culture has contributed to the hegemony of white Eurocentric beauty norms and the idealization of thinness in the U.S.”

Moreover, “The emergence of social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok has corresponded with increased cases of body dysmorphia among young people whose ideas about what they should look like are often shaped by inaccessible ideals. Images of celebrities are often manipulated, and celebrities have access to resources (trainers, nutritionists, cosmetic surgeons, etc.) that most people cannot afford; but still many people desire and even attempt to imitate these beauty standards,” the professor explained.

Having said that, Sisco King said that there are also benefits to celebrity culture. “We can point to examples of stars whose presence and activism have countered oppressive discourses in the U.S., countering racism or homophobia, for example. For example, in the 1980s and 1990s, celebrities played a major role in promoting AIDS awareness. More recently, many Black celebrities have used social media to support the Black Lives Matter movement, and many famous women have challenged misogyny and sexual violence through the #MeToo movement.”