In week one of this course, we explored the painting titled Famous by Jean Michel Basquet. As we viewed this painting, we would compare two different people and notice how fame changes a person and how one lives a normal life. The viewer of this painting can draw these conclusions as the artist shows this through two different heads that appear to be very similar but tell a different story. This idea of two similar people that live a different life is called a doppelganger.
A doppelganger is defined as, “an apparition or double of a living person,” (Websters).
When you google “doppelganger” the first thing that pops up is a list of celebrity doppelgangers that include celebrities like Zooey Deschanel and Katy Perry, Jennifer Lawrence and Emma Watson and even Childish Gambino and Donald Glover. To me, the doppelganger of Childish Gambino and Donald Glover most accurately mirror the painting Famous as the celebrity pairing live vastly different lives.
While Childish Gambino is Donald Glover, Donald Glover has been able to create a completely different identity as rapper Childish Gambino. Childish Gambino is a worldwide rapper who raps about his own fame and success and even the socio-economic problems in America. In recent years, Childish Gambino has become more famous than his counterpart Donald Glover. Since one is very famous and the other is very simple and low-key I believe that this mirrors the painting Famous very well. The painting represents two different people with two different problems due to the fame of one and the average life of the other, an almost identical resemblance to Donald Glover.
