The art of Overstaying your welcome.

I used to be a big fan of conspiracy theories, and I’m pretty certain it stems from wanting to find any reason to escape my reality. Theories surrounding the higher ups, money, the Illuminati and my favourite one, celebrities and politicians being secret reptiles. These are all incredibly far-fetched for sure, but one that almost rings a little true is the theory surrounding Walt Disney.

They claim Walt Disney was frozen in time and is currently being hidden inside Disneyland, awaiting the perfect time to come out of hiding to prove to the non-believers that it’s possible. The concept of Walt Disney being cryogenically frozen awaiting the very moment Mickey Mouse stocks plummet is incredibly humorous because it’s so obviously not true, and the fact that I even entertained the possibility is just even more funny. But it got me thinking about the many celebrities haunting the pop culture realm long after their cultural relevance has expired. You have to question if they’re frozen in time, too?

When I say frozen in time, I don’t mean literally, but more so spiritually, some celebrities seem frozen in a moment, a role, a franchise, stuck in an ever-lasting purgatory of teen heartthrobdom.

Their life force seems to be kept alive by fan nostalgia paired with naivety that a comeback could be right around the corner. I find these celebrities to be so uniquely awkward, along with borderline embarrassing, because their actions tell me that the stage curtains have fallen yet their still standing behind those very curtains long after the audience has left their seats. Years later, they’re standing behind the curtains with the same enthusiasm that they had at the very last show. Refusing to exit the stage is definitely a choice. With Hollywood being full of fleeting fame, a rare few individuals manage to stretch that moment into an uncomfortable after-party with a bunch of individuals who aren’t even sure who you are. When I say it’s an embarrassing concept, I don’t mean it in a way to say that caring about the thing which shot you to fame is embarrassing, but the very concept of failing to move past it is.

A common theme with individuals in this category is that they all either peaked early, rode a cultural wave, were child stars or reality TV stars. After the success, they either became a caricature of their characters or failed to rebrand themselves moving forward. I mean, if you got famous because you were a viral meme, your best shot is to move on to something else, not make T-shirts and make your entire brand that one meme because it doesn’t create sustainable fame.

Take the guy dancing to ‘Just Wanna Rock’ by Lil Uzi Vert with the caption ‘The Party ended a while ago and he’s still here….’ I feel that the reason this meme is timeless is because the party had ended, and he had refused to leave, so who’s to say when the party ends? Who can dictate when the meme ends? Not only this, but users online remixed it and used it in various ways to communicate, still being around for a certain moment, whether it’s an album that dropped ten years ago or a festival moment which happened last week. The guy from the video was able to collaborate with big Brands such as Marc Jacobs, but I feel he, too, has placed himself in a cycle of only being known for that video, so you see it’s very easy to find yourself unintentionally overstaying your welcome.

So, who’s actually coming to mind when I think about those individuals who have failed to wake up and smell the coffee and accept that their moment is done?

tOM FELTON: DRACO LIVES ???

When I see Tom Felton, he’s somewhere talking about his experience playing Draco Malfoy in Harry Potter, and whilst that’s not bad, I feel like I’ve lived many lives since Harry Potter ended in 2011, which is entirely normal since I was 10 years old…. In that time, I’ve finished primary school, done my GCSEs, finished Sixth form, completed University, and amidst all these major life events, Tom was somewhere, relieving the entire experience of filming Harry Potter…. If you told me that Tom Felton was cryogenically frozen in Hogwarts robes and would occasionally be thawed out the minute anybody mentioned Harry Potter, I would believe you within a heartbeat. His entire career post Harry Potter has been speaking about Draco Malfoy. Whether it’s his memoir, Instagram lives, or interviews for other projects, he seems to be existing within a never-ending loop, like he never left platform 93/4.