TheBanyanTree: Will Success Spoil Emma Watson ?

[NancyIee at aol.com]

And . .  .let her read up on the lives of such former child stars: Liz 
Taylor, Michael  Jackson, Ron Howard, Judy Garland, Shirley Temple, Deanna 
Durbin, the Nelson  boys, and all the like, some of whom went on to adult 
successes, and some to  total ruin.  That she can learn from them. Some were 
exploited, some were  robbed of any sort of normalcy as children, and fell into t
he fast-life trap,  and some achieved things greater than being a kid star. 
She has the potential  for things beyond Harry Potter.
 

Will  Success Spoil Emma Watson?

I'm a little worried about young Emma  Watson. Back in the year 2000, at 
the age 
of ten, she won the Hollywood  Lottery and was cast as Hermione Granger in 
the 
first Harry Potter film.  How does a sweet, young, innocent actress survive 
in 
the decadent  environment of the actor's profession? One hopes she received 
enough  parental oversight to guide her away from danger in that hazardous  
business.

Her overnight success (which took some ten years to  achieve)  has led to 
fame 
and great wealth, so Miss Watson is now set  for life, whether or not she 
accomplishes anything else. But the  advantages of money lead to the 
temptations 
of power, and a slide into the  realms of the Dark Lord.  Let us hope she 
has the 
strength of  character to appreciate the real lessons of  the Harry Potter 
stories  and to resist corrupting influences.  


Why am I worrying about  the welfare of this famous actress whom I will 
never 
meet? I care because  she's such a sweetheart, and we older guys have 
protective 
instincts  toward girls who remind us of our daughters and granddaughters. 
It 
would  be a terrible shame for such a talented and promising youngster to 
be  
sucked into the Hollywood whirlpool of  vice, drugs, sex, ruin and  despair.

When I saw the first Harry Potter movie, I was impressed by  the acting 
skills 
Emma brought to the role of Hermione. Her character is  smart, confident, 
maybe a 
little haughty, yet worried about her ability to  succeed in the demanding 
academic environment of Hogwarts. I think she  pulled off the performance 
brilliantly, and many of the professional film  critics agree. Where did 
the 
casting director find a youngster who could  handle such a role?

We can get a clue from her biography.* She was born  April 15, 1990, in 
Paris. 
She moved to England with her parents when she  was five, to grow up in 
Oxfordshire. By the time she turned six, Emma  decided she wanted to get 
into 
acting. She studied at a Theatre Arts  facility in Oxford and showed 
remarkable 
talent. When the casting call  went out for Harry Potter, one of her 
instructors 
advised her to try out.  She was chosen.  


Now, eleven years after her debut, she has  starred in all eight of the 
Harry 
Potter films, improving her craft with  each movie. In 2007 she accepted 
the role 
of  Pauline in the BBCs  production of  “Ballet Shoes.” I saw the film, 
and felt 
she did a  creditable job, although I'm not a fan of the genre. She did 
receive  
critical acclaim from the industry.  


Lately we have seen  her on the cover of several women's magazines, so she 
is 
starting to make  an impression on the fashion world, as well as appearing 
in 
advertising  for several products in the glamor industry.  


Her formal  education was interrupted  by her movie making obligations, so 
she  
couldn't participate in the usual classroom environment most students of  
her age 
receive. Instead, she was tutored on  the movie set for up to  five hours a 
day. 
At the end, she achieved outstanding grades on her  GCSEs.** 



As of mid-2011, Miss Watson has completed several  semesters of study in 
the 
liberal arts at Brown University, and has kept  her grades up. The fact 
that she 
has chosen to go to college is a good  sign. Now that she is an adult and 
is, 
presumably, responsible for her own  decisions, let us wish that she 
continues to 
make the right choices to  advance her career and happiness, rather than 
falling 
back into the  insidious traps of Hollywood.

Will success spoil Emma Watson? I  certainly hope not, so I will be 
watching her 
career unfold, following her  progress with interest.  


Check-back here every year or so for  updates on my analysis of  her 
progress.  

Later,  John.
September 2011






Nance