Williams is one of many celebrities to have jumped into this cultural current. A recent HealthDay headline asked, “How to Counter the Anti-Mask Backlash?” and then answered with, you guessed it, “Empathy.” The word has expanded in such fascinating directions that there is a Damien Hirst-designed “Empathy Suite Sky Villa” at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas - the most expensive hotel room in the world, featuring formaldehyde-preserved sea animals and a transparent bar filled with medical waste. The concept seems to have become a cure for any societal ill.
Now C.E.O.s are being encouraged by organizational psychologists and consultants to cast themselves as “Chief Empathy Officers,” in an attempt to reimagine their offices as places workers might actually desire to return to. The word saw a nearly fivefold increase as a Google search between the first inauguration of Barack Obama - who defined empathy as being able to “stand in someone else’s shoes” and famously talked of America’s “empathy deficit” - and the summer of 2020, when interest spiked to an all-time high. All the guests also teach their own, more specific Masterclasses judging by the wardrobe, they seem to have taken time in their own class shoots to drop some off-the-cuff wisdom on what Williams calls “the art and sport of considering others.” The result feels like a compilation of commodified theory of mind, generously spiked with images of pride flags, Black Lives Matter placards and people in kaffiyehs smiling warmly.Įmpathy has had a hot ride in America lately. He’s here to give a class on empathy.įor this job, he has been teamed with a brain trust that includes Cornel West, Roxane Gay, Walter Mosley and Gloria Steinem, among others.
He is not here to teach us hitmaking, or streetwear design, or even multitasking.
His skin is amazing, his head chiseled into gorgeousness, his gaze unswerving, as if blinking were for the less focused. In the first frames of his new course, he slides into a chair dressed in knee-shorts and a shrunken schoolboy blazer, as if to sartorially convey that every student is a teacher. Into this mix comes Pharrell Williams, pop star, producer, designer, reality-TV judge, guy with a skin-care line. Anna Wintour had a lockdown hit with a course on “creativity and leadership.” RuPaul’s, on “self-expression and authenticity,” touches on the craft of drag but mostly focuses on concepts like conquering your inner naysayer and cultivating stillness. Some feel like unboxing videos for admirable personality traits. Lately the topics have also edged into softer territory, bathing everyday challenges in celebrity wisdom. Jackson if you’re interested in directing, here is Ron Howard.
If you want to learn about acting, here is Samuel L. Margaret Atwood speaks on writing, Frank Gehry on design and architecture, Misty Copeland on ballet. The instructors in this nave of learning have unequivocally made it in their fields. Swells of music coalesce into momentary silence something of quality is about to start. Lighting pools warmly amid expensive-looking wood. A piano lid is confidently opened, a marble slab floured, a knife honed.
Each online course from Masterclass begins with the same introduction.