Tuesday, June 23, 2009

A House United


This past week Manilow fans found out that Barry’s Malibu beach house is for sale. (Sounds kind of like Barbie’s Malibu beach house, doesn’t it?) According to some online real estate sources the house has been on the market for four months. To peak interest, the selling price was dropped and the sale was made public. Pictures of the house, inside and out appeared several places online, all originating from the firm selling the house. Fans got a glimpse into Barry’s life that is not often available. Some enjoyed seeing the house while others thought the photos an invasion of Barry’s privacy. Then there was that celebrity real estate blog that brought the simmering battle among fans over Barry’s sexuality back up to a boil. That’s when I saw the common thread that joins the two warring groups. Both share a common belief – the belief that Barry Manilow is an unhappy, lonely, unfilled man. Let me explain.


Officially, fans are lead to believe that Barry Manilow’s private life is off limits to fans and the press. All anyone needs to know is that Barry’s life is music. The group who buys into this version of Barry’s life views him as a lonely man who never found his one true soul mate to complete his life. A small group of women fans think they are, in fact, that soul mate but that’s a whole different blog. The need to reach out and support this lonely man is an added draw to Barry.


Then there is the other group of fans who that believe for his entire career Barry has been forced to keep his true lifestyle a secret. Barry is seen as an unfilled man who has lived a lie for too many years. Claiming to love the music, these fans also stay around to support Barry if he ever comes out of the closet they believe he is hiding in.


Is the common thread evident to you? Both groups feel that Barry has a need for them, which he does, just not in the way they would like to think he does. An unhappy man, Barry will one day need the support both offer him. Is this not pure PR genius? Keeping Barry’s off stage life off limits to the public leads both groups of fans to believe they know the “truth” about Barry. Each group stays around so they won’t miss being proven right at some point in time. Whoever came up with this strategy is brilliant. It is working. This adds a mystique to Barry that will keep interest high for a long time to come. Great job in this day and age of celebrity media counting everything as fair game in the life of a public figure. May we fans never find out anything about Barry’s private life, because we seem to be the only ones who care.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Actually there is one group you forgot. I have been following Manilow's career since he first started and along with many others could care LESS about his sex life, who he has dinner with, what he eats or does not eat and whether he has a dog. I respect his (and other celebrities') decisions to keep their career and their private life separate and to try to HAVE a private life in this age of full access coverage. If we truly follow him for the music he makes, why do we need to know more? Since celeb realtors are used to keeping sales like this private, I do not know why the decision was made to make it public - perhaps to open the market to someone who has the money and might, like many buyers, want to live ina house once owned by a celebrity. Who knows. I do think that if he actually spent much time there he would not have wanted the pictures posted. If the house is not occupied it is only the theft, stalking and property invasion he might have to worry about.

In the meantime, please give credit to those fans and mature adults who are not on opposing sides of self-involved fantasies about his sexuality or any other ridiculous personal issues we do not have any need to know. Sigh.

Anonymous said...

I see you sit on the fence. Again. You tally these people as a 'catagory' for having a belief one way or the other. Honestly, I dont care one way or the other about his sexuality. It makes no diference to me because I dont analyse it where it is apparant you do. Whether he is gay, straight, bi-sexual, celibate, its none of our business: its HIS life.
How sad that you think you have some sort of rule over those who do have an opinion on what they think about him while you sit on the shelf in judgement of them and how they feel about him. Shame on you.

Crissy said...

I see you sit on the fence. Again. You tally these people as a 'catagory' for having a belief one way or the other. Honestly, I dont care one way or the other about his sexuality. It makes no diference to me because I dont analyse it where it is apparant you do. Whether he is gay, straight, bi-sexual, celibate, its none of our business: its HIS life.
How sad that you think you have some sort of rule over those who do have an opinion on what they think about him while you sit on the shelf in judgement of them and how they feel about him. Shame on you.
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And you aren't sitting in judgment of Susan? She has a valid point whether you agree with her or not. As for that group of fans who insist that Barry is unhappy and unfulfilled because he's a living a lie due to being in the closet, which I don't believe as he'd have to be gay, they also are the first to criticize him for faults real and perceived, quickly believe every negative thing written about him, and grudgingly give him credit when it's well deserved. Personally, I think they continue to stay because they won't be happy until they've caused every fan who doesn't believe the way they do is just as disillusioned and bitter as they are, and are hoping for the day they can shake their fingers at those in the first group Susan mentioned and say a collective, "We told you so." Frankly, I wish they would all just go away and leave the rest of us no matter what category we fall into to enjoy being fans.