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Personal Development and
Human Relationship
Questions to ponder
HOW much influence does the conduct of show business celebrities have on society? Use the following
questions as a starting point for discussion:
SOCIAL
SOCIAL
(1) A hot topic on the Internet is:
“Which is the lead female
role in Heart of Greed?” Of
the three main female characters – Linda Chung (鍾嘉欣),
Lee Sze-kei and Susanna Kwan (關
菊英) – which is your choice? Your
reasons?
(2) After reading about Lee Sze-kei’s real-life story,
how do you feel? What lessons have you learned?
(3) After reading the news about Edison Chen’s misbehaviour, how do you feel?
It is fact the conduct of celebrities affects the younger
generation. How should youngsters differentiate between
the good and bad behaviour, asks Chow Suk-ping
Translated by Lon Yan
RESPONSIBILITY
RESPONSIBILITY
Monday, June 4, 2007
(4) If a teen idol issues T-shirts bearing words that
sound like foul language, would you buy them?
Do you think those T-shirts will be a bad influence?
(5) Do you think young people are
influenced by the conduct of their
idols? If yes, what kind of influence?
(6) Do you worship idols?
Have your been influenced by his or her conduct?
NE of the hottest talking points in town these
days is the TV drama series Heart of Greed
(《溏心風暴》). The development of its plot has
the audience captivated. The behaviour of its
main characters has become popular blogging themes,
and many have expressed their admiration (尊敬) for the
upright and big-hearted character played by Lee Sze-kei
(李司棋).
Clearly, the media influence on the public is big. So
when celebrities behave poorly in reality, the damage
will also be big.
O
Admirable attitude
THE way Lee Sze-kei conducted her real life is just as
admirable as the role she played. At the young age of 18,
Lee entered and won the Hong Kong Princess beauty
pageant in 1968. This opened the door for her subsequent career in the entertainment business (娛樂界). She
performed in numerous TV dramas and has remained
highly popular over the years.
Yet, her life is far from smooth. In 1984, she gave up
her career to emigrate, but her marriage soon ran into
trouble, and so was her relationship with her daughter.
In 1992, she decided to remarry, but this second marriage
did not fare much better and lasted only seven years. In
1999, she discovered she had cancer.
Ups and downs
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TWO broken marriages and bad health could have easily
crushed the will of many. However, Lee Sze-kei refused
to give up. She braved these challenges on her own and
managed to keep her spirits high.
When asked about her first marriage, Lee said: “I do
not want to say too much about him. Making public
comments about him will affect many people. Beside, he
is old and his health is not so good. I don’t want to say
anything that may upset him.”
Lee, 57, said her only worry is her daughter. “I am
working hard now, so that she will have a totally [financially] secured life.”
When asked about her illness, Lee said physical pain
was nothing compared to the anguish (痛苦) of a broken
marriage. Lee puts up a brave fight against these adversities (逆境) of life, and her health has taken a turn for the
better.
Behind her courage is a positive philosophy about life:
“Even if you have only three minutes left in your life, you
still must not give up. We should not despair. There is
always hope in our life.” Asked about her present life,
Lee said she was contented: “My life is not a miserable
one, I am lucky in many ways. I am happy. At least I am
not lacking in anything.”
Damaged image
VETERAN actress Lee Sze-kei’s positive attitude
towards life sets a good example for the young. However,
when a celebrity makes a mistake, it will exert bad influence on his or her fans. Recently, singer Edison Chen (陳
冠希) got in trouble for losing his temper. Let’s take a look
at The Standard’s report on his court appearance a few
weeks back:
“Cantopop star Edison Chen Hing-wah was put on a
one-year good behaviour bond (守行為) for kicking and
denting a taxi in a moment of anger. The magistrate put
Chen, 27, also known as Chen Kwoon-Hei, on a
HK$1,000 bond.”
The Eastern Magistrates’ Court was earlier told the
taxi company had in March received HK$4,700 as compensation for the two dents Chen had made. Chen was
said to have driven to his Magazine Gap Road home
shortly after midnight on 9 March, only to find the gate
blocked by a taxi, which was dropping off two passengers.
The 36-year-old taxi driver signalled to Chen to move
away so he could pull out. At the same time, a security
guard asked the taxi driver to pull over his taxi. The taxi
driver complied with the request but uttered some
insulting words to Chen. That sparked an argument leading to the unruly incident.
In another development, Chen was reported to be discussing with actor Stephen Chow (周星馳) on creating a Tshirt printed with rough language. Chen was reported to
have dismissed criticisms that such a product would
have a bad influence on young people.
Model role
A NETIZEN was apparently very impressed with the
personality of the character played by Lee Sze-kei in
Heart of Greed and wrote:
“In the drama, Lee Sze-kei said to her daughter-in-law
Jackie: ‘When will you change your willful (任性的)
behaviour. I’m afraid I might not live long enough to see
you change!’
“At times, I have a feeling my life is like the role
played by Lee Sze-kei. My students are as difficult as
Jackie. Yet, Lee never gave up on Jackie, until the end of
her own life, and for this, she earned the respect of
everybody in the family. She is my model in learning to
give selflessly.”
(7) Do you agree that apart
from doing their job well,
artistes have other responsibility to society?
Good and bad effect
THE Hong Kong University’s Jockey Club Centre for
Suicide Research and Prevention researched the after
effect of the suicide of popular singer Leslie Cheung (張
國榮).
The survey interviewed 2,106 people between the
ages of 20 and 59, eight to 15 months after the incident.
A total of 767 respondents (38 percent) said they were
upset by the suicide of well-known people.
The research also found that the effect of the suicide
was greater among people within the 25-39 age group
than the 40-59 age group, suggesting that young people
are more susceptible (易受影響). The study also found
the incident to have a lasting impact on the behaviour
of young people.
Idol worshipping (偶像崇拜) is common among
young people, some to the point of neglecting their
studies. As we grow older, we take up more responsibilities. The conduct of idols do influence their supporters
and such influence can, of course, be good or bad. Realising this, young people should look for good role models to learn from and avoid blindly following the misbehaviour of their idols.
E07