The impact of fame on a person, as well as on others, is a very timely topic deserving of our attention. Around last Fathers’ Day, one of Saul Bellow’s sons wrote an Op-Ed in the New York Times titled “Missing: My Father,” about his longing for the father he never had rather than the one he lost from recent death. Later that evening, a special television program on Hollywood fathers and sons aired, highlighting the perks and hardships of growing up with a celebrity parent. The same week there were two articles in the New York Times about Michael Jackson’s acquittal from child abuse charges. One argued that the judgment had nothing to do with his fame and the other that it had everything to do with it.
Danielle Knafo (Sat,) studied this question.