By Christina Nakagawa

A little bit of overexposure

Recently, one of the stories about Benedict Cumberbatch is about a quote from his saying he may have overexposed himself.

“It’s just crazy. I’ve overexposed myself! Actually that sounds a bit dirty,”

Dirty jokes aside, what he is talking about is that he has been in a lot of movies and tv shows and media in general lately. No one can argue that he hasn’t been very busy with several high profile projects.  Between Sherlock, Star Trek, and The Hobbit alone he has been in quite a number of high-profile projects.  Add in a stage performance of Hamlet and an upcoming television performance of Richard III, he has only to break into children’s movies to round out his resume.  In fact, even that seems not altogether impossible- I found one link that suggested he may be approached to voice act for Frozen 2 (though whether that will be made and whether he would be involved are both unknowns).

Consider many of his rabid fans, and perhaps in some ways he has been over-exposed: Somewhere between the time his fans took the nickname of “cumberbitches” (to his expressed dismay) and when he started having his picture edited onto plays on his name (see this post if you want to laugh at Benedict Numberbatch). However, what is interesting is also his reaction.

“It would be really churlish to complain about anything to be honest. I’m very fortunate to be in the position I’m in.”

Here, we see that he recognizes he seems to be complaining and is trying to amend that he is actually very happy to have done so.  But looking at the way the fame engine works like we have been in class, I personally couldn’t help but think about the idea of fame versus talent.  Looking at the roles that he has been taking on- even those as ambitious and “serious thespian”-like as Shakespeare, it is clear that Benedict has a talent for acting.  He continues to be given roles that expand his career and not only because he is good looking.  What is interesting though, is that he has addressed how his fame machine seems to be working head on.  In addressing that he is perhaps overexposed, he takes the power of that realization away from people who would turn it into something negative and instead humbles himself and expresses his gratitude and pride in all the roles that have lead to such “overexposure”. By saying so less as a reaction to negative comments and instead on his own volition, it is almost as if he is saying “yes, it’s ok, now move on.”

To me, this seems to be a way of taking the fame machine he is caught in into his own hands- of focusing on his projects and not on his media exposure.  This leads me to question how exactly then, he may continue to attempt to control the fame machine such that he comes to be taken primarily as a talented actor rather than as a celebrity.