The World Belongs to Celebrities. We’re Just Background Dancers In It! — A Rant
Before I begin, let me make it clear, that I am guilty of reading some celeb gossip myself. Not the ones that is pushed into our faces by the PR, like who commented what one someone else’s post, or who did what this holiday, but the occasional who’s seeing who, or who isn’t seeing who anymore. With that out of the way, I’d like to bring up this deep, introspective philosophical question — WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH US? How did we as a society become so obsessed with celebrities lives that their arrests, airport looks, party pictures, gym visits, even hospital visits for god’s sake are all over our social media, and news. When did following a celebrity take such a toxic turn, that we seem so invested in events of their lives, that even national news forgets the blurry line between entertainment or mere headlines to fully blown debates around them? What’s worse is that the obsessions continues even in death. If it’s not trolls making theories and bullying using a celeb’s death as an excuse, it’s the insensitive paparazzi circulating pictures of the dead, or shoving their cameras into a heartbroken family member’s face in a deeply personal moment. You may blame the views and clicks such content garner, but is it really the audience who asked for it, or do the roots go back to a PR machinery that normalized the overexposure? Would audience really have a problem if they don’t get to see such heartbreaking content anymore? As someone from the other side of this circus, I can safely speak on behalf of the crowd, we wouldn’t care!
The constant pictures and updates surrounding celebrities, with every intention of making their movies popular, has become so suffocating and overdone, that the celebrity has become bigger than cinema. Sure we audience can be the culprit sometimes when we choose to watch a movie because of a star, but how does that justify creating this larger than life picture around every celebrity on social media? They can’t all be demigods can they? But come to think of how we’re all invested in discussing the constant updates their PR throws our way, engaging in content that amplifies even the smallest most insignificant action as a “befitting reply” or “the cure for our Monday blues” looks like we don’t have paid actors doing their job, as difficult as it may be, but larger than life flawless personas doing humanity a favor by their mere presence or Instagram post.
I understand the profession comes with the glitz and glamour, style and fashion, but why aren’t the discussions stopping there? Why the intrusion and normalizing of placing a microscope over every aspect of their life? How is this over familiarity not breeding contempt? Who is really benefiting from this? The celebrities who eventually are treated like they have no right to personal lives, audience whose intellect is constantly being questioned by the amount of meaningless content being pushed, or paparazzi and journalists whose lack of ethics is taking down the sanctity of the entire profession? When will this vicious cycle of brain frying content being pushed as important information, and us treating this information as scriptures end?
