The celebrity status can accompany Chris Hemsworth wherever he travels but at home, it does not bring much weight. The Australian actor who has been recognized all over the world as Thor in the Marvel world, has made a very refreshingly candid comment on how his three children perceive his stardom. As Hemsworth describes, such a reaction is easy and embarrassing. “They don’t care. They don’t care at all.”
That is disarming when an actor with movies that wipe out box offices and whose image is associated with the power of superheroes is making such an admission. At 42, Hemsworth is a father of India, Sasha and Tristan who he shares with his wife, Elsa Pataky. As his on screen heroics are cheered by the audience all over the world, his children appear to be nonchalant. There was only a short breathing space in which his movie character astonished them.
I suppose that when they first discovered I was Thor they thought it was a cool thing. and they realised they could not fly, and they felt that it was not cool. They are now just like, Ah, Dad, whatever. Teenagers.”
There is something troublingly familiar with that mischievous candour. A profession of a parent becomes the background sound to children particularly as they mature. What seemed to be magical at one point turns out to be normal. Even playing Thor could not rival the natural changes of teenage apathy in the case of Hemsworth. It is a lesson that one should not get admiration by fame at home, but by being there.
The transformation of Hemsworth as a little Australian and Hollywood star has been well-written. But under the blockbusters and red carpet is a father who seeks to keep his children down to earth. He got married to Pataky in December 2010 in Australia after being introduced to her by his talent agent, William Ward. Their family life has been mostly out of the limelight of Hollywood since then, which they are often in Australia where they focus on the privacy and the usual.
Hemsworth has over the years been a vocal person when it comes to the issue of teaching his children the value of working hard. His childhood influenced that philosophy in itself. The family was not well off when growing up, and vacations were made easy camping trips that were saved all year round. That experience has remained with him. Trying to consider in 2017 how much his current financial situation has changed, he said, “When I was a kid, we were very poor and my parents saved all the year long only to afford two-week camping holiday. In terms of finances, we are in a different setup, but I would like to make sure that they do not think that these things are easy to come by. It takes work and you can not assume it. Success lies more in the values we possess and the kind of people we are, over the material things that we may achieve.
The fact that such words are spoken by a person who has been commercially very successful makes them weighty. Hemsworth has worked on superhero franchises, action movies, and dramatic parts, and recently, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. Nevertheless, although his projects were extremely large, he tended to revert to domestic life in his thinking. By his own confession, the fatherhood reinvented his priorities in a fashion fame never did.
In a previous interview, he narrated how he became a parent and this made him change his view completely. I believe it makes you less selfish, it does not revolve around you anymore. It can’t be. It is not about herself, something new. It is pleasant not to have all your time contemplating your own troubles and trash up there, and I simply enjoy doing it. It’s the best.”
That has a muted manliness. There are numerous actors who talk about the pressures of the industry, the being under scrutiny and the necessity to be relevant. The style of Hemsworth is different. Being a father and not weakening his ambition appears to have made it clear. Work is not as significant as it used to be but it is no longer the only measure of identity. At home, he is not a superhero. He is simply Dad.
It is possible that that difference is the reason why he does not seem bothered when his children do not show any interest. It makes him, in fact, appear to laugh. In a time when celebrities culture tends to penetrate all family segments, the experience of Hemsworth shows a down-to-earth dynamic. The fact that his children do not adore him might be taken to mean that they view him as an ever-present being as opposed to a faraway star. It was a silent victory to a great number of parents.
It is also telling that the fascination by childhood fades away so quickly. Little children might, at first, not be able to distinguish between fiction and reality and see that their father is in charge of thunder. But as they develop and learn storytelling, magic changes. What is left is not the screen character but the parent that presents himself or herself everyday. Teenagers are especially characterized by dismissing tone, and the way Hemsworth recounts Ah, Dad, whatever. with a humorous tone is a joke. captures that stage quite well.
His remarks, aside from the light humorous anecdotes, bring out a larger truth about fame. The publicity can be enormous, but a very compartmentalized one. Hemsworth is associated with power, charm and movie glory to the outsiders. To his children, he is their man who puts them to bed, provides wisdom and even humiliates them. The juxtaposition highlights the situational nature of fame and not its absolute nature.
One can easily idealize the lives of Hollywood actors, and assume that they are admired and thus easily flow into all the spaces. The thoughts of Hemsworth dispute that assumption. They propose that when being at home, genuineness is more important than fame. Even his lack of concern by his children may act as a stabilizing factor, as he should be reminded that identity goes far beyond a filmography.
His story is relatable in most aspects since it is universal. Parents in any career might not realize it until they come to know that their children do not judge them based on the titles but the consistency. These blunt words by Hemsworth give us an insight into that fact. To the world, a superhero might appear but to his children, he is just a father who has to go through homework, dinner tables and teenage eye rollings.
