Meditations on the Celebrity Circumstance

NOTE: Originally found at: http://meditationsonmedia.wordpress.com/2012/02/19/meditations-on-the-celebrity-circumstance/

Hey friends!

It’s hard not to be seduced by the celebrity machine. Trust me, I know. I often indulge in this strange phenomenon that has evolved into something unique in our era. The celebrity has always manifested itself in different forms in our society, whether attributed to our fascination with the divine or our predisposition for idolatry. Yet, in no century has it even been possible for our obsession with that which is greater than us to play such a prominent role in our daily lives. We are constantly flooded with the inane musings and advice of teen idols, people for whom our appetites have become insatiable. It is not enough to merely listen to a song to whet the appetite of a rabid 12-year-old fan girl – no, they plaster their walls with pictures of Justin Bieber, they know where he lives and apparently his destiny is to wed his entire fan base! The media have pervaded our culture so ferociously that we spend hours poring over pictures of our favorite celebrities, reading interviews about how they stay in shape or their best love advice. Magazines scream at us from the shelves about the latest drama between Brad and Angelina, or about the sudden appearance of (gasp!) cellulite on some television star.

In a survey I conducted for my College Writing 108 class, 100% of my fifteen anonymous respondents agreed that our society places too much emphasis on celebrity news. A new study found that gossip makes up a whopping 80 percent of our conversations. Dr. Nicholas Emler, the author of the gossip study, says “language evolved to allow us to gossip and develop more complex societies … In fact it is gossip that sets us apart from other animals. It is fundamental to being human. It allows us to know about people that we have never met.” (Rotondi 4) However, Dr. Michelle Callahan, a contributor to Women’s Health, disagrees. She says that, “We put too much weight on the biological and we forget the cultural and social norms we are buying into here. It’s one thing to share information … it’s another thing to be snarky, nosy, really attacking.” (Rotondi 6) Though I take part in and understand the necessity of gossip, I tend to agree with Dr. Callahan – when you peruse celebrity blogs, people are not merely commenting for their own personal benefit; in fact, they are often wrought with disdain and hatred for people they don’t even know. Maybe it’s just me, but this overwhelming amount of criticism for people whom we supposedly admire tends to really bring me down. It’s brought out a part of me that I despise, and so I have started to refrain from it altogether. It’s one thing when a magazine calls someone fat — we have come to expect that. But it can really get to you when you read someone who is supposedly an average joie criticizing a celebrity. For instance, in a TMZ.com article titled “Selena Gomez — FINALLY gets protection from a delusional stalker,” we see photos of the gorgeous young Selena Gomez. The post has nothing to do with how she looks, but just the 9th comment down begins with “This no talent, puffy faced lil ho is f&$k!ng Justin Bieber for fame will use anything to get her name out there…” What?! “Puffy faced lil ho”?! I would give anything to look like her!

Despite my criticisms, I continue to expose myself to celebrity news.  I am guilty too. Though I refrain from any rude comments (I digress– I cannot imagine being a celebrity. I would not be able to go on the Internet without crying. Ever.), I admittedly was once one of the dreaded fan girls I spoke of earlier. Except for the Jonas Brothers. Yes, the Jonas Brothers. I have met the trio, have ten concerts under my belt and I’m quoted in a Los Angeles Times article about their success. I even helped run websites that had to do with them. Still to this day I’m not sure why I was so obsessed, to the point that I let it overtake everything I did. What is it about these people that we find so fascinating? Is it an escape from reality, a kind of coping mechanism to fill the void of the mundane? Perhaps I was compensating for something I didn’t have in my life. I needed someone there to be faithful, someone to admire, someone who wouldn’t betray me, and the Jonas Brothers gave me that. I also made some lifelong friends through that period of my life. I don’t regret it at all, but I never again want to feel so dependent on someone that doesn’t even know I exist. Amy Toffelmire of C-Health writes that celebrity gossip gives us “a common vocabulary, teaches us by their example, boosts self-esteem, and gives people an outlet to voice their feelings.” (Toffelmire 16-19) In support of this claim, and perhaps shedding light on my JB SuperFan status, a psychologist at the University of Buffalo conducted a series of studies involving the effect of celebrity idolatry on the average teen’s self esteem. She took 348 college students, made them fill out a questionnaire, and later had them write a short essay about their celebrity crush. The students then had to answer the questionnaire again. The results show that after writing about their favorite celebrities, those with the lowest self-esteems scores scored significantly higher. (Park 3)

Doesn’t it feel like celebrity idolatry has been taken to the extreme in this Web 2.0 age? People have always gossiped, but in this era of text messaging, the Internet and Facebook, never has it felt so prevalent. It was once that a rumor was a rumor, but now a snapshot could easily provide evidence on a mobile phone, uploaded to Facebook or YouTube. These things go viral, and while we sit back in revel in others’ disgrace, they are often suffering – whether they are an A-lister or just some unlucky girl “sitting on the toilet.” (If you don’t get the reference, well….http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYW6C44zo24) Celebrities didn’t used to have to cower at the idea of going to the grocery store for fear of paparazzi bombarding them with cameras and taunting them with questions. Do we, or should we, as a society, need to watch footage of someone as they just go to pick up some groceries? Our lives have become corrupted by this excess in indulgence, whether we realize it or not, and giving us a fantastic excuse to procrastinate.  I can’t fully explain why I care about these people either, but I know that I often find myself questioning it. Apparently, the brain is hardwired to remember faces and find a certain kind of comfort and intimacy in familiar faces. Perhaps we feel some sort of social bond based on this familiarity. However, the human brain is made to deal with small groups of people, and is not ready to deal with the vast amount of different faces inundating us from life, television, newsstands and the Internet alike.

Regardless, I have personally found it is more important to enrich your own personal life by worrying about your inner social circle, focusing on them and creating closer bonds with people you actually know. Go out and meet someone new and learn about them, not about that hot actor in some new TV show. You want to look as good as that celebrity, or find a guy that as hot as Nick Jonas? Girl, go to the gym. Working out and removing myself from everyday access to celebrity gossip has made a world of difference for me. I have more time to better myself, mentally and physically, complete my tasks and focus on people I can actually engage with. I have found that laughter and a good conversation with someone in real life is infinitely more fulfilling than dwelling on improbable fantasies and chance meetings. In moderation, perhaps this celebrity obsession can be good for us. It can be very beneficial to find inspiration in someone so successful. Celebrities are usually celebrities for a reason — driven, hard-working, fit, and good-looking people, and as an anonymous survey responder noted, “Because these are the people we’re told have it all. They get to do what they love, look great doing it, make tons of money, and be admired by many.”  In the same vein, Bonnie Fuller, editor in chief of HollywoodLife.com argues “Gossip is in our DNA. When we are sharing gossip, we are really sharing information,” arguing that when we look at celebrity love lives or discuss the love lives of our friends, we are using their examples in an attempt to figure out what to do in our own lives. (Rotondi 5) Callahan told CBS News “gossip is used to build status and alliances; in saying you and I are not like that – in judging others, we build up ourselves.” (Rotondi 7)

I’m not saying everyone should go cold turkey and boycott celebrities. But just that we need to realize that everything is part of a big, social media machine, churning tweets and Facebook posts and PR releases out by the minute – all to increase publicity, and ultimately, a celeb’s value. Photo ops are arranged by celebrities to give off a “certain look.” So I think it has become necessary take everything that celebrities with a grain of salt, and to try to distance myself from the negativity inherent in online celebrity news. A study conducted by Dr. James White of Cardiff University gives evidence of the negative effects too much reliance on this kind of news can have. The study’s results clearly indicated that “one of the strongest risk factors for significant increases in eating disorder behaviors was how often teenage boys and girls read gossip magazines.” (PhysOrg 3) In the survey I conducted, 66.7% of respondents believed that celebrity news can directly effect the self esteem of the general public. Another responder added that “it can really have a negative effect on young women by putting a unrealistic expectations on the value of looks and fashion.” Exposure to such harping on seemingly beautiful or average people for their apparent faults can have a negative effect – whether it’s the gossip rag doing the talking or the comments of the public on the gossip website.

Perhaps my disdain for this peak in celebrity obsessions stems from a burgeoning feeling of invasiveness that the Internet has given me; this medium has made it necessary to be constantly covering your tracks and glancing over your shoulder. What happened to freedom, and second chances? Now there aren’t any, because once something hits the web, it’s generally cached into the abyss that is the vast annals of Internet data. I find this highly unfortunate, because people change and absolutely everybody makes mistakes. And if you don’t, well I’d say you’re a bit of an anomaly.

Bibliography

Park, Alice. “Celebrity Worship: Good For Your Health?” TIME Health. Time Magazine, 15 Sep. 2008. Web. 8 February 2012.

“Reading celebrity gossip mags can encourage eating disorders.”  University of the West of England. PhysOrg.com, 16 June 2010. Web. 8 February 2012.

Rotondi Pearce, Jessica. “Gossip: Evolutionary Necessity? New Study Suggests Yes” HuffPost Women. The Huffington Post, 19 Oct. 2011. Web. 8 February 2012.

Toffelmire, Amy. “Gossip: Good or Bad?” Mental Health. C-Health Online Resource. Web. 8 February 2012.