The Wall_Spring 2023_Issue 9

Victoria Urwick (she/her), LVI, discusses ‘nepo babies’ and the rise of online discussion about them.

What do Dan Levy and Rashida Jones have in common? Both have starred in famous sitcoms.The pair did a Town and Country interview together in 2021. Most importantly, both made it where they are today due to their famous parents. There is a good chance that one of your favourite actors has famous relatives. Nepotism is everywhere in the entertainment industry and always has been. Despite this being far from a new phenomenon, the term ‘nepotism babies’ is on the rise, with over 100M views on TikTok. Nepotism is the favouring of employment.A ‘nepotism baby’ refers to those in the entertainment industry, for example, with a producer mother or an actor father. The concept of a celebrity being the child of another celebrity is nothing new. Families such as the Baldwins and the Barrymores have been thriving for years.Actress Billie Lourd has roots in old Hollywood, being the daughter of actress Carrie Fisher and granddaughter of actress Debbie Reynolds. But with the recent rise of stars such as Euphoria’s Maude Apatow (daughter of actress Leslie Mann and director Judd Apatow) and Stranger Things’ Maya Hawke (daughter of actors Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke), Gen Z are starting to connect many up-and-coming celebrities to famous parents’ names (clue: blue names onWikipedia).This can result in a twinge of betrayal upon discovering that they did not achieve their success by solely relying on hard work and perseverance, but already had a foot in the door. friends and family over others, particularly when giving people

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It really drives home the reality of ‘it is not what you know but who you know’.Talent and capability may be overlooked because someone else had a recognisable surname or was related to the director or producer.All this is not to say that those who are nepotism babies have not had to work at all to achieve their fame, but their connections have made it easier for them to even be given a chance. Much of the discourse online surrounds the younger nepotism babies: Apatow, Hawke and Lily-Rose Depp (daughter of Johnny Depp) and Jaden and Willow Smith (children ofWill Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith).We have this desire to see ourselves represented in the media we consume.We see a celebrity around the same age as us and we can relate to them. Or we think we can.The reality is that most people do not live the glamorous lifestyle that the children of celebrities do. No matter how much you study or how determined you are, unless you are Sofia Coppola, you will never receive the personal guidance a famous director, producer and screenwriter such as Francis Ford Coppola. So how can nepotism babies ‘get

it right’?What most ‘good’ nepotism babies primarily have in common is a knack for their craft. Despite being nepotism babies, actors like Jane Fonda and Angelina Jolie give frequent praise-worthy performances in a range of different genres.Another way for us to warm to nepotism babies is if they acknowledge their privilege and do not try to hide it. For example, Jamie Lee Curtis, the daughter of actors Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, has been very open about the fact that this prestige helped her gain her breakout role in the movie ‘Halloween’, stating that she clearly “had a leg up”. industries. But when it comes to Hollywood, not only is it so easy to find out details about a celebrity’s life (a mere Internet search away) but also we are told that if we work hard, anything is possible.Working in entertainment is a dream for many, an often unachievable dream. Despite this, many nepotism babies are very talented. However, nepotism is not going to die out and hopefully more celebrities will acknowledge how it has benefited them. Nepotism is prevalent in all

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