Look, usually, I am staunchly indifferent to the comings and goings of celebrities. I find celebrity worship and the parasocial relationships that their fans develop weird because celebrities more often than not are just ordinary people. Some are truly gifted and levels above their peers, but most are just in the right rooms at the right times or simply born into it. However, Timothee Chalamet is currently making the rounds for his speech when (spoiler alert) he won a SAG award for his performance in ‘A Complete Unknown’. I haven’t seen the movie yet so I don’t know how deserving of the award he is yet, although I don’t doubt that he deserves it. I think Chalamet is truly an incredible actor. I’ve thought that ever since I saw him in King. Excuse my French, but fuck he was good in that. Then seeing him in Dune and Dune Part II was damn near transcendent as an experience. I’m getting carried away, but the point is that he said multiple things in his speech, but my key takeaway was his declaration on his pursuit of greatness. He said “I want to be one of the greats’. He gave examples like Daniel Day-Lewis and Viola Davis who to their credit are great actors, acclaimed within Hollywood and renowned for their great performances. He saw their performances and said that he wanted to do that too, he wanted to be in the same conversations as them, and he wanted to be remembered like them. To me that one line of his speech alone was truly inspirational. It was like a light went off in my head, because I thought to myself, yeah I want to be great too.
His speech has generated quite a bit of buzz in social media for multiple reasons. One negative reason is that people have come away thinking that Chalamet was quite arrogant in his declaration to be one of the greats. To me, I was perplexed as to why people would find him arrogant in that speech. He didn’t declare himself great even though he is the youngest-ever Best Actor In A Leading Role winner for the SAG Award, he simply declared he was in pursuit of greatness. He declared that he had the drive and ambition to reach for greatness. Many critics would already call Chalamet a great actor, but he does not hold himself in that regard yet. He doesn’t see himself the way he sees his peers and idols. His speech signified his mentality. His speech showed that he isn’t trying to be one of the greats, but that he actively wants to be one of the greats, and I think the wording here is important. It isn’t a matter of trying for him, but rather a desire that he is pursuing and will keep on pursuing.
So what is wrong with saying you want to be great at your craft? Why aim for mediocrity? What would be the point in declaring his pursuit of mediocrity and being average? He was honest and vulnerable. His speech to me was humble and endearing, whilst signposting that he isn’t done yet and that he is hungry for more. Declaring the desire and pursuit for greatness in a public setting is setting himself up for failure. Should he fall short, people will seek to remind him of his declaration, and yet he did it anyway. Now that shouldn’t be the case. If someone publicly shares their dream and goal we should, at best be encouraging and, at worst indifferent because it has nothing to do with us. Yet it’s like we are so accustomed to beating people down to this false modesty that when someone sheds it, acknowledges that they have shed it, and have true lofty goals in mind, suddenly we all go mad and lose it.
It is becoming quite alarming that social media now has this growing trend of attacking earnest people who want to do more and be more. The immediate reaction is how dare they want to be more than they are. Call it what you will, whether it is the crabs in a bucket mentality, tall poppy syndrome, or simple plain jealousy, it is an issue in our society. We attack and berate those who are seen trying (and/or failing), yet change our attitude once they achieve their goal(s) and act like we always believed in them. A TikTok I once saw had the message that things are corny till it works out which is unfortunate, but true. People will ridicule someone who starts a new hobby or tries to be an influencer and their attitude does a 180 when that person ends up hitting it big and then saying their success is down to luck, circumstance or suddenly becoming their biggest fan.
Now my dear reader…
…what’s all this got to do with me? I mean, after all, this is my blog and everything on here should be about me. Well as I said, I want to be great too. I want to be one of the greats. In my writing, in my career, in my friendships, in my relationships, and in my hobbies. I want more for myself. To be great often means to be seen in some capacity, and that’s no different to me. It’s why I am doing my best to double down on my socials whether it is blogging more or uploading more content on my TikToks and Instagram (follow both if you don’t already). I do want more for myself and I don’t want to pretend otherwise. Now I’m not going to compare myself to Chalamet. He has been great in numerous roles and has received worldwide critical acclaim. I am not sure if I ever will achieve greatness, but I want it all the same. I want to view myself as someone who can and will be great. I’m not saying greatness will just come to me, no, this is a pursuit of greatness. However, I am saying I will do all that I can to meet the goals and dreams that I have set for myself. To find and utilise tools and opportunities so that one day I may declare that I have obtained greatness. In what form my greatness will take is still undecided, although I’d love to be a great writer one day. Maybe that’s sheer unearned arrogance because what about me is capable of greatness? Well, Chalamet has left me inspired and I want to do something with that inspiration, so I suppose all this is just my long speech of saying…I want to be one of the greats.
The Life Of Lazlo 
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