Every public figure has an image. Sometimes the image is very good, like Stephen King’s image, and sometimes the image is very bad, like Adolf Hitler’s image. The image, whatever its approval rating, is a combination of a real basis and an illusory patina sprinkled upon it.

Let’s talk about what makes a good image. Stephen King has been entertaining the masses for 5 decades now, and has been fairly successful at it. Even though he’s slumped in recent decades, he’s still markedly better than the average novelist (which shows you how high he started off at). He’s also a liberal, firmly in line with the dominant ideology of our Time. These two snake-wrapping-around facts give him a major positive rating in the scales. King has a good image.

Adolf Hitler instigated World War 2 and the Holocaust against the Jews, among other minorities. Genocide is, obviously, a major no-no in our dominant ideology, and Hitler’s German-centric approach guaranteed that non-Germans would view him hostilely. As Americans make the World Culture, everything about America mitigates against a fair hearing for Herr Hitler. (This may sound like I’m on his side — I’m on no one’s side; I’m on the side of the truth). Hitler has a bad image.

An image is grounded in reality, always. You cannot escape the misty tendrils of the real. But other forces come into play once an image is spun out there, like a red frisbee floating in the air, and these forces modify and condition the image.

For example, in King’s case, his children used to say “Daddy’s going out to be Stephen King” when he went to do interviews. King was under enormous pressure to be a certain way in public, and his own kids saw that he was a different person when exposed to public scrutiny. It takes a near-god to resist the force of the public eye. Even look at me, I hasten to add I’m not on Hitler’s side. This is a pussy addendum to make, in certain ways, and yet I feel compelled to make it — that’s public image at work, and right now I barely have any image or public notice at all.

*inhaling through the nose* With the real as the foundation-stone of the image, and the illusion coming in on top, is there any possibility of getting to the core of who someone is? Yes, make them angry. Make them emotional in some way. When Richard Nixon was hurt and beleaguered at his treatment in the media, he complained, “You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore.” (paraphrase). That was the real Nixon. He was just a guy trying to do a public service, and he felt abused by an arbitrary system that was turned against him. You could tease out a real thread from among the “We have a fine Republican cloth coat” bullshit.

What goes into making the illusion of a public figure? Let’s take Ozzy Osbourne biting the head off a bat. This incident has been overblown, indelibly marking Ozzy in a way he cannot shake off. It paints him as a wildman, when he really is a very sedate fellow who just likes the Beatles and wants to go along to get along. This shows you how illusion can grow out of a small incident, and take on a life of its own. Even if Ozzy was biting heads off of bats at every show, who cares? What does that tell you about him? A man is more than his routines and habits. Our routines and habits are the least of us. A jogger who religiously hits the streets is not just “a jogger” — his essence may be entirely separate from what he does.

Image is a kind of corrosive acid poured over the metal of ourselves. It distorts us. It demeans us. Even a positive image, like Mother Teresa’s, is a kind of imprisonment. It makes you think Teresa never took a shit or said a swear word in anger. An image, even as it elevates, confines you to your elevated stratum of society. When the first President Bush puked his guts out at a Japanese state function, it was an unreal moment because a president is not supposed to do that. When he went skydiving to celebrate his birthdays, that was more like it — more heroic, more larger-than-life. We can accept the latter but not the former.

Image is laden with stereotypes and archetypes. Soon, like Marilyn Monroe always playing sexy, you get ensnared in the automatic circuits of pre-prescribed behavior. You feel forced to be sexy if you are viewed as sexy. You feel forced to be a tough guy and not cry in public if you are viewed as a tough guy.

The image that defines us imprisons us in the end. The only way to escape the tyranny of the image is to “shock it” on a regular basis — do things that go against the grain of your image, broadening the stereotype until it breaks. Only then are you free.