Today I pose a question to you instead of
putting forth my views on this certain matter. Why is it so important to us what is going on in the lives of those in
the spotlight?
“We believe ourselves to be much close to
them than we are to individuals with whom we might have regular, professional
contact” (Leslie 2011, p15)
We often know more about celebrities than
we do our closest friends. Hours can be happily spent reading and gossiping
about what their latest adventures are. Whether its Kristen Steward cheating on
Robert Pattinson, John Travolta getting a massage, Charlie Sheen having a
meltdown. We are so obsessed with what is going on in the lives of these people
we have never met, even more so than our own lives. This to me is hard to comprehend
even though I find myself getting caught up in it from time to time.
The act of idolizing stems from the
religious tradition of idolizing gods and saints, and in my thoughts its quite
possible that the celebrity is acting as a substitute for this in the decline
of faith in western culture.
Don’t you think it’s time for us to stop
worrying about the turmoil’s in the life’s of those in the spotlight and start
worrying about our own lives which usually aren’t that much better held
together?
References
image from http://cheezburger.com/4533004032
Leslie, Larry Z 2011, Celebrity in the 21st
Century: A Reference Handbook, ABC-CLIO
This was a good read, nice and easy to relate to.
ReplyDeleteIn answer to you 'posed question' I think we as humans are just interested in knowing other peoples business anyway, and most of the time, people we know are not going to allow us to pry that deep into their life, with celebrities, we don't need to pry, the media does it for us, all we need to do is log on, open a magazine or chat to a friend about it and all of a sudden we seemingly 'know' things about other peoples lives.
we are a nosy bunch of people
I really enjoyed reading this blog and then thinking about the ideas it raised.
A very well written interesting blog.
Great post. The first question you asked was a mouthful... I find some celebrities absolutely fascinating and I find others so annoying I can't listen to a song, watch a show or a movie that has anything to do with them. I'm not sure why. I think we all want to aspire to something and celebrities who are good-looking, healthy, popular, rich, stylish and (sometimes) talented seem to have it all. The openness of their lives is often a way for 'regular' people to live vicariously through them. Your use of references were good and your picture was brilliant.
ReplyDeleteNice, easy to read post. It contained well referenced contain, and was broken up nicely with the use of the image. When thinking about the topic you've raised, I guess the fact that we can hear and read so much about celebrity lives makes them seem more human than some celebrities might seem. We see photos of celebrities without make-up, which makes us relate to them on a more personal level. As humans we will always be fascinated by the lives of others. Look at us always checking our Facebook news feed to hear the latest news or gossip of our friends. Celebrities have just made their lives more easily accessible for us to hear about.
ReplyDeleteMagnificent blog (sick of people using Nice) Your content is clear and easy to read and your use of images helps to lighten up the post whilst still subtly making a statement on the topic at hand. I think its just human nature to be curious and interested in what other people are doing, it is all part of our need to know. I like the point you made about religion as i agree that some people idolize celebrates the same way other do religion and "God". Next time you have a Mormon or other "religious Enthusiast" knock on your door take note of how they are incredibly similar to One Direction Fans. Good job!
ReplyDeleteGreat reed paddington
Very interesting post, immediately was engaged and was happy to see how well the references were produced. Use of image was a plus as well as a great sense of humour. I do agree that it is just apart of who we are when we want to know about others and their daily happenings, usually those with more interesting issues than ours (or more unfortunate). Once again, very funny and very witty post.
ReplyDelete