I was wondering about these two groups recently. They make millions of dollars every year yet their usefulness to society is limited. It makes no sense. If you happen to have a certain talent you can get paid a lot of money to pretend to be someone else or run around a bit, and while I don't deny it does take some work, in comparison with other careers the ratio of pay to contributions seems a bit out of whack. Entertainers are a part of society, but they aren't vital to society, or even life; their value and usefulness is limited, so why is it that they get paid more than people who do real work supporting society? A football player who spends his days playing a game instead of being useful can drive a Porsche while a nurse, who assists doctors in maintaining the health of the population can only afford a Honda. An actor whose only contribution to society is looking pretty can afford a mansion on many acres of land, while the people building our infrastructure live in suburbia, some in small houses, others in condos and apartments. Does this seem fair to the rest of you? Note, however, I am not against rich people in general, surgeons can afford big houses and expensive cars, but they spent ten years of their lives and as much money as the house learning to save lives, and plenty of millionaires like Bill Gates worked their way to the top. Though, arguably, people like Bill gates and Donald Trump aren't necessary to society either, they actually earned their money through hard work and their own savvy. What work have actors done? What work have athletes done? Of course even though surgeons, engineers and scientists do get a decent income, it is still lower than actors, despite these people being immensely more useful. How is it that we have come to a point where dead weight can live in luxury, while the foundation of society has to struggle to make a living? Why do we accept this? When actors and athletes vie for more money, they usually get it, at the same time people in more useful jobs get pay cuts, or even get fired. Personally I think we should tell these people to stop being greedy and spend our money improving the lives of the rest of us, the ones who don't get time on the TV screen. We should be directing that money in ways to cut costs, that doesn't involve firing a few thousand people and reducing the wages of the ones who aren't fired, as well as making things cheaper. Schools are suffering from lack of funding, we need school to train new workers and scientists and such, why not take that money going to waste on actors, and put it towards grants for our children, so they will have the chance to learn to do something productive? Even at a closer level, the Superbowl is popular, and tickets sell for a lot of money,, and a lot of them sell, but most of the money goes to the players and the owners yet it takes more than those people to run it. Thee people who maintain the stadium, the people who line the turf, the guy at the concession stand all get paid very little, without them the Superbowl would take place in a poorly maintained park and people should have to feed themselves, wheres their cut in what they helped support? Films and TV bring in a lot of money, but most of it go to A list actors and the studio, the stage crew and writers and such don't see much of that money, in fact that was a reason for a recent strike. These behind the scenes people were just as instrumental to the success as the actors, so where's their cut? Rant aside, what do the rest of you think about the vast amounts of money actors and athletes get for their disproportionate amount of work? Does it seem fair to you that not only do these people who contribute little to society earn more than those who are instrumental to society, and in addition to that, they gross more than the people without whom they couldn't even earn that money?
I do find it kind of odd (and a bit annoying) that a horde of 250lb+ guys piledriving each other gets them as much money as it does. In some aspects, I'm a little more biased in favor of actors/acting, as I participated in stage crew for around five years, and appreciated the actors's effort in respecting/working with the set pieces we gave them. On the other hand, taking away the set would probably leave most productions as flops; The general audience would not have enough imagination to fill in the gaps. Overall? Sports do not deserve the attention they get, period. However, one could argue that acting is inextricably intertwined with visual/musical arts and arcitecture that it is a valuable part of society.
Art is a valuable asset, but I am baffled as to why actors get so much while the crews get shafted. Actors do deserve to get paid, but getting a couple million off of one project is a bit much since the actor isn't the only one who worked on it.
I agree that actors and athletes get paid too much, but there is one important reason behind it: thousands to millions of people hand over their money to see those stars. If we want the money to be spent elsewhere then we need to get the population as a whole to stop buying into sports, movies, etc. Another point I should raise about the salary difference between stars and maintenance staff is that the staff working off-camera, if they request a pay raise, can be replaced by nearly equally competent people for a lower price. If Star XYZ threatens to leave if not paid more, then it is harder to get a replacement that the public approves of. People pay to see these stars, so the stars have a lot of bargaining power. This is, essentially, the root of the problem.
I do get where you are coming from, Ill try to give 3 reasons why they get payed what they are payed 1. Why not? We live off entertainment, and other then books and physical activity (which are mostly sports) entertainment is full of actors and athletes, would you call the athletes for the Olympics not deserving? They work year round to represent their country. I think nurses/doctors etc after a hard day of work would like to just sit down and watch some TV 2. Its a business. If you are a nurse or doctor, Im willing to bet you are one because you love doing it. If you dont like how A&A get so much money, become one, its not limiting anyone from becoming one. You cant really blame people for following the trend. 3. I think you underestimate how much they work. They work EVERYDAY (well athletes, I cant say much for actors, I know more of sports) It is a job where you can easily lose your job because of one month you decided to stop. Also, for athletes, there are plenty of them that go bankrupt after they retire, (atleast football players) while some football players are paid alot, there are plenty that dont make alot. Their job will only last into maybe the 40s at most, then they have to live off that money until they die (which could be 40 years) while a Doctor can continually get w/e they get paid for many many years. Above all, everything has its importance, while they arent saving lives, every job has its point. Although, I just watched something on actors/singers on how they send their money... its ridiculous... In the end, its really not as much as you think, except for the few that made ALOT in their prime, but its the same as the people winning the lotto gambling, a doctor who gets a few lucky breaks and makes money for nothing, everything is fairly balanced. (if you live in the US, please dont use the economy as an excuse for they should be payed less, thats just our fault, europe, australia etc all have the same things and they are doing better then us) Its just something we have to accept, also, think about it this way. Would we really want to pay doctors millions a year? Think about it, The doctor position starts to become the position where people try to become one just for the money. Next thing you know, we have (more) doctors that really dont care about patients but more for money. They are really positions that need peopel that care more about people instead of money.
I don't think all actors and atheletes are muli millionaires, only a few get relli famous. And some only short lived. Well they do have some sort of contribution to society... They advertise products so that more people buy them. They are sometimes as powerful as the media.
There is MORE to it than just working hard for actors to receive their pay. You have to look at history to understand why movie actors get paid so much more than theater actors (Who work twice as much for one play than movie actors due to their diction and script memorization.) Film actors do not need to memorize full scripts. I took a film class so I could help reveal some ideas why film actors get paid so much. When film was was first invented (late 1800's by Thomas Edison under the name Phonograph), people used cameras as a leisure item. Later in about early 1900's, The Lumiere brothers took the first step into producing short films. These early short films were just documentary clips of everyday life. It wasn't until 1903 with "The Great Train Robbery" directed by Edwin S Porter that actors were used in film type system. I forget the years but, silent film flourished. Soon 3 businesses arose. Filming, distribution, and showing of the films (Theaters). Film companies then arose and purposely hid the identities of their actors because they knew if the public found out about their favorite character in a movie, the company might have to raise the pay of their actors. In around 1920's The Golden Film of Hollywood arose. By this time, the Star System was created. This means, famous actors received more pay and were under a strict contract of 1 company for a set number of years. Also, by this time, actors realized their power because of the general public's interests in them. Some raised their pays or threatened to quit, while some went off to make their own film companies to pay themselves (Charlie Chaplin and United Artists). And as these beloved actors appeared more in movies, the companies got more money due to viewers. By 1950's Hollywood lost a lot of power due to the Supreme Court and their Golden Age died. However, the Star System still pretty much remains. That might help you guys see why actors get paid so much. In The Golden Age, actors were paid MUCH more back then than compared to current times in terms of 1920's-50's dollar value.
