Catherine O’Hara on the dangers of the Internet age

Posted On October 8, 2024October 8, 2024

After a little while of living in the digital age, it’s hard to imagine a life without it; without the comforting reassurance of Google Maps, not having to go to an ATM to check your bank balance or knowing that you can track your friends if they’re on a date with a potential serial killer. There are many obvious upsides to the digital age, but simultaneously, we long for a life without it. We long for spontaneous and organic interactions with strangers where we aren’t pre-judged by our online presence, the freedom of not having constant sound bites from TikTok reels that rattle around in your brain during a quiet moment and the looming presence of technological advancements that threaten the careers of those in the creative industries. And when the spotlight has brightened on the average person, it’s not surprising that this shift has only worsened this sense of scrutiny for those already in the public eye.

Catherine O’Hara has created an illustrious and albeit creepy on-screen presence throughout her career, whether that be her role as a slightly frazzled Mother in Home Alone, a former soap opera star in Schitt’s Creek or her wonderful presence in the world of Tim Burton, and for someone who has garnered such a high level of attention and praise for her work, she recently spoke about how grateful she is for being able to do the majority of this work away from the probing eyes of the internet.

However, this statement is very interesting when comparing her career with that of her costars in the recently released sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which acts as a follow-up to the 1988 Halloween classic, Beetlejuice.

O’Hara stars alongside Winona Ryder and Jenna Ortega, both incredibly talented performers in their own right who have had fairly tumultuous and difficult experiences with fame and the media.

When discussing her career and relationship with the media, O’Hara explained that the ability to work privately and without media attention as a young actor was incredibly useful in order for her to hone her craft and be given the chance and grace to make mistakes without being publicly criticized for it. With the current social media landscape, O’Hara spoke about how difficult it is for young actors to nurture themselves and grow as artists when there is so much attention on their every move and how stifling this is for artists in the early stages of their careers.

The crossover between the experiences of O’Hara, Ryder, and Ortega highlights the shifting scrutiny that women in the public eye are subjected to and how this is manifested in three different generations.  

Ryder was one of the many women in Hollywood who was hounded by the press and given significant negative media attention for her early career choices, which even led to her being blacklisted in Hollywood before returning in the late 2000s.

Ortega has publicly spoken about the effect of the internet on her career. In a candid discussion with Elle Fanning during the Variety ‘Actors on Actors’ interview, Ortega became upset when talking about the level of attention she receives on the internet and the pressure she feels to maintain an image of perfection in order to appease the press and minimise the attention on her.

O’Hara is rightly concerned about the damaging effect of public attention and scrutiny on the creative process. To be creative is to take risks, and naturally, risks don’t always pan out. But it is imperative that artists should be allowed to fail. It is only through the process of trying that we’re able to discover our voices and understand the ideas that we want to bring into the world. And without the freedom to fail and the judgement placed on these very processes, how can we truly be creative?

All we can hope for as artists is the grace and privacy to explore our creative identities. If we can learn anything from these actors, it’s that when we are given this space, it benefits everybody: the people who create the work and the people who are allowed to enjoy it.