Celebrities

Topic: Celebrity(s) Gossip

Category: Culture (Modern)

Definition/description : I think for most people nowadays, seeing celebrity on TV, newspaper and the internet is definitely not a new thing. I would say is ubiquitous in our present day consciousness. From time to time, I like to wonder, if this is something that people do back in the days of old.

I think hero worship is common place in our culture, either present or in antiquity. But when we speak of heroes (or heroines), we speak of people who have done great deeds. Like Mother Teresa of her superhuman sacrifice, of Albert Einstein of his groundbreaking way of looking at the physical world, of Nelson Mandela of his unflinching nerve in facing the entire governmental machinery out to crush his bid for equality... But when we speak of celebrity, what are we speaking off?

Whenever the word celebrity(s) crosses my mind, a picture of people shouting at the top of their lungs, sharp, annoying screams... MASS HYSTERIA comes into mind, another picture is that the general public tend to be more interested about what's going on in the celebrities' private life, i.e. who's dating who, and who's doing what... gossip.

So, I'm curious to find out why some people are so interested in knowing these trivialities, and would dedicate time and resources to read up...

Research: Earlier forms of celebrities --> Apparently, one of the earliest mention of celebrity worship as we know today, dates back to one of my favorite historical empire... The Romans. The gladiators, despite being slaves, are often the attention of the masses for entertainment, to teenage boys, who would love to emulate their skills in the martial arts, and attention of ladies... hoping to attract them for a tumble...(Gladiators)

The other similar but darker instance is the Mayan Rubber-Ball game players. The winner of a game is given the respect and attention, but in the end, as tradition dictates, the lives of the winning team is sacrificed... the hearts cut out for the renewal of the sun... talk about solar power, eh? (Mesoamerican Ball Game)

As for current trend of pop-celebrity culture, it sort of started with the advent of cameras. To have a face that can be reproduced easily is one important recipe of making anyone famous... and then a celebrity.

But in the end, what is a celebrity? From the early 1600s, it means the condition of being famous, then in 1849, it was used to mean what we currently understand it as... "famous person(s)". (Define celebrity)

But I'm tempted to think that a celebrity is a person who is being celebrated by the society for something he/she has done. But then according to my definition, then many of the current day celebrities are not deserving. Then again, perhaps we should look into what fame is?

Anyway, before we change topics to look at what fame or glamor or glory (perhaps another blog), we should first look a bit more into what most people might classify as a celebrity.

1. Profession that makes a person a celebrity (involving skills), i.e. movie stars, athletes...
2. Contribution to humanity --> Literature, arts and sciences
3. Leaders, Politicians, Dictators...
4. Good looking, or rich... --> not many become famous, but some could buy a short-lived fame
   
5. So bad it's good --> erm... certain people who have tried so hard to be a singer or actor, but they are just not meant to be... but somehow, the public gives them a certain recognition for their effort.
6. Others...
   

Alright, so we might be able to classify them, but what do some of us do with this?

Interestingly, it was said that the life of current day celebrities, are a bit akin to the lives of royalties. I've heard from some friends in Europe, that there's still a certain crowd who follows on the gossips of the royalties, a quick search yields (Royalty Magazine). Oh, in any case, what I want to say is that, the public is typically curious about what these people do, and hence we get tonnes and tonnes of magazines that talk about every single detail of what these people are up to in their personal lives.

However, on a darker page of things, there are some who worship these celebrities to the point it becomes a mental health issue. (Look here).

Discussion: Celebrities have existed for a long time... I mean that people are recognized for their contribution, skills and so on. However, I think that with the advent of mass media, the focus and interest in these people have more often than not, grown way out of proportion to what they deserve.

I can understand that one appreciates the skills and contributions of certain people, and reward them the recognition, respect and honor that these people deserves. But to want to dig deeper into their personal private lives? Why?

Is it just plain curiosity? Or is there more to it than that? Perhaps one may think that the personal lives of celebrities might hold certain secret to success? So that to know it, might help one emulate the success of these celebrities? This is sometimes true of heroes, i.e. George Washington have always been attributed the character of being honest and truthful... So, it becomes sort of a role model of good values to have.

But if you look at today's celebrity gossip, I am not sure if one could easily attribute any good values to it, some perhaps.

Perhaps knowing what celebrities do in their private life, affords the gossipers a way to imagine what one can do when one is rich... sort of a day dream kind of imagination, to remove oneself from the drab of day to day life?

Or perhaps, knowing more about a celebrity's private life, yields the understanding that these people are also human, to allow gossipers a sense of consolation, that despite being famous, these people are also having day-to-day problems just like everyone else? or at times problems which the magnitude are also bigger and naturally more dramatic!

One last perhaps from me. Perhaps, people who gossip about celebrities feel that their own lives are sort of empty. Having nothing dramatic to show for, and by talking about it, and sharing the newest gossips with friends, give them a sense of recognition that are otherwise hard for them to achieve...

Conclusion: Celebrities (or whatever one calls it in different eras) have been around, and is important in a society. One of the main function is that it is sort of a role model for good values. But as in many things in our present day, overdoing it has made the celebration of people who achieved something become something of an annoyance.