STRATEGIES: How did they deal? (Coping w/ Transitions)

One of the biggest stories this blog year was the Rihanna and Chris Brown beat down! Stupid, horrible, woman-beater Chris Brown found himself in quite the debacle, dealing with the repercussions of his horrific actions against Rihanna. As Chris transitioned into life in the public eye and his responsibilities for his actions, we saw his legal team pull in some big STRATEGIES to try to ease the transition that Chris was going through. In an attempt to modify the situation, Chris’s attorneys tried to talk about the situation using things like placing blame on Rihanna and alcohol and other things that would shift the paradigm of the jury. As a way to control the meaning of the problem, Chris’s attorneys were vocal to the press letting them know the “truth” about the situation, hoping that they could do some rumor control with all the supposed false statements that were going around. Similarly, Chris was obviously stressed in the transition from pop-icon to most-hated and we heard many statements from his family talking about how they were trying to help him manage his stress in the event he goes to jail for his actions. It was also evident that Chris was using a lot of coping modes as this story became so popular. Chris and his attorneys sought a lot of information from the judge, the press, and Rihanna’s lawyers to make sure the truth was actually coming out. (Let’s be real, the black eye is truthful enough!). Chris took some direct action as his public image changed and retreated from the public eye as a way to cope with the allegations and hatred from the media. At one point, we saw Chris’s inhibition of action as he actually went and visited Rihanna as the case was still pending. What a fool! Regardless, Chris has gone through quite a transition this year from soulful singer to one of the most hated in Hollywood, and PopTheory has been there every step of the way to see him cope with this change.
(Strategies: categories, coping modes).