Why do we do it to ourselves?
why do we follow the lives of celebs instead of living ours??
Well…I call it escapism. Escapism from the real world, escapism from looming exams and deadlines, escapism from pesky friends and loved ones, escapism from body issues, and even more general problems like economic distress and political instability. Who would rather spend their evenings following wars and bombings, economic recessions and illness and poverty when we could easily change the channel from the news to E! and enter the bubble gum-world of what’s hot and what's not? Who wants to face the grim reality of real life when we could easily be in a fantasy world where everything is perfect and if problems do exist, they are not ours to worry about?
When celebrities do have problems, they also make headlines, who can forget the legendary rivalry between Paris Hilton and her side-kick Nicole Richie? Who can forget the leaked sex-tape of Kim Kardashian and her then-lover Ray-J? Or the more recent brawl between pop-sensation Rihanna and her beau Chris Brown? These are negative headlines, but in-the long-term they serve to benefit the stars involved as there is no such thing as too much publicity in celeb-land.
This brings us to the point that celebrities whether famous for positive or negative reasons (or somewhere in the middle), for the fact that they are given large scale attention, inspire emulation. They are ingrained into the collective psyche and before we know it, the saying “what you can’t have, you want more of” comes true. We can’t have their lives but we want to see more of what they are getting up to. We want to know as much as we can so when we discuss them with our friends, we share gossip about them like we are speaking of our mutual friends. Then we begin to feel as though we know them personally. This is where things can get dangerous.
Its not hidden that there are people who have attacked and stalked celebrities because they are inflicted with conditions such as “celebrity worship syndrome”, an illness which means an individual becomes overly involved with the details of the personal life of a celebrity.
Hmm.. I agree with some of the things u said but I think that when celebrities have 'problems' and i mean real problems (not that stupid feud between nicole and paris) it does two things.
ReplyDelete1. it brings forth the realisation that YES these people are actually human and go through the same stuff we non-celebrities go through and
2. it forces people to confront situations that they may be going trough
to expand on point 2, i know of 2 people in physically abusive relationships, and the public uproar and constant coverage of the chris brown and rihanna situation just brought it home the fact that this is something that goes on and is an issue that needs to be addressed.
The NY times covered a survey where in a group of girls aged 13-18.. 64% thought the bruises were rihanna's fault, with one 13 old girl actually commenting that "she probably walked into a door and was too embarrassed to say what she did so she blamed chris." Popular celebrity gossip site, Bossip did a survey too and got similar results.
So although more often than not, we use celebrity culture as a means of escapism, sometimes it wakes us up too.
Very true!
ReplyDeleteI never actually thought of these headlines like the one of the "Chrianna" brawl as having a positive impact! But the attention the incident brought to the issue is definitely invaluable to individuals who might be going through that...or perhaps people who know people who are...the feeling of *not being alone* when in times of difficulty can be nothing short of a gift...
I agree, I think things going on in the world of celebrities can have a positive impact. At the same time, though, much of it doesn't seem real: it has that sheen of television about it that makes it feel removed from reality.
ReplyDeleteAnd I completely agree that it's largely about escapism: the news is depressing, with death and fear and terror as the main headlines and very little light-heartedness or good news. Celebrities give us something to relate to, something to observe and follow, and occasionally something to point-and-laugh at ;)
I dont totally agree. I am a very good example of a celebrity follower and i definitely watch E! instead of news but I still have a boundary and there is a point at which their life becomes too fake to me. I do not see all publicity as good publicity because I believe people are so involved with celebrities because they can relate to them like through their lyrics but when they act badly like Chris, they will definitely lose some followers probably not as much as they should. In some cases they intentionally behave badly like Paris Hilton, i seriously do not know why people are so interested in her. Bad living styles or attitudes definitely put me off.
ReplyDeleteAminat I promise you, you are standing up not only for yourself but for me too...because whether I'd like to admit it or not, I do know what is going on with celebs and this is me not even following them on E! or Perez Hilton or bossip to name a few! Which brings me to the point I am trying to make...not all of us actually want to see or know about these people but it is almost impossible to avoid it, as their images, brands and headlines are shoved in our faces on a daily basis.. Aminat dear, lets carry out an experiment, if you decide to stop watching E! and buying celebrity magazines for a few weeks, at the end you will definitely still know what is going on with Rihanna, Lindsay Lohan, Beyonce and Jay-Z and which ever celeb does so much as leave their house during that time. Cos thats just the way life is....nowadays that is.
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