Vincent Kartheiser, who plays Pete Campbell on AMC’s explosive television drama Mad Men, was recently quoted to have said the following:
“I don’t have a toilet at the moment. My house is just a wooden box. I mean I am planning to get a toilet at some point. But for now I have to go to the neighbours. I threw it all out.”
The first reaction most people would likely have is one of incredulity and concern; is Kartheiser in the midst of some psychotic breakdown induced by his sudden stardom? Yet as he elaborates, his ethical standards begin to solidify:
“It started a couple of years ago,” he says. “It was in response to going to these Golden Globe type events and they just give you stuff. You don’t want it. You don’t use it. And then Mad Men started to become a success on a popular level and people started sending me stuff, just boxes of shit. Gifts for every holiday, clothes. One day, I looked around and thought ‘I don’t want this stuff, I didn’t ask for it’. So I started giving it to friends or charity stores, or if it is still in its box I might sell it for a hundred bucks. I liked it so I didn’t stop.”
In my mind, Kartheiser’s dismissal of worldly possessions is to be commended, especially considering the sprawling boulevards of nouveu riche affluence that surround him in Hollywood. This story was mostly met by sarcastic and critical user comments, accusing Kartheiser of being a self-important LA crackpot, and I acknowledge that his career may be instrumental in distorting his conception of “normalcy,” but I question whether personal lives of asceticism are not needed in order to counterbalance unfortunate cases like this.
