Personally I might have a high opinion of a singer or novelist or artist, but I don't worship the ground they tread on. I see them as another human being, talented in some ways but probably deeply flawed in other ways.
There's a general tendency to idealise celebrities and put them on a pedestal as if they're somehow far superior to the rest of us.
Even when the celebrity is dead, the worship goes on. There are hundreds of people who dress like Elvis and perform like Elvis. Why oh why?
As for those people deluded enough to think they have a romantic relationship with the celebrity and badger them non-stop with love letters, I feel for the person who's on the receiving end of it all.
Meanwhile Taylor Swift mania has passed me by. What's all the fuss about?
Celebrity-worship seems to be most common among people under thirty. One rarely runs into such extreme manifestations of it among people older than that. It also seems to be commoner among females than males. (Although one could argue that the obsession of many middle-aged males about professional-sports stars and teams -- football and baseball in the US, soccer in Europe and Latin America -- is somewhat similar.)
ReplyDeleteI don't claim to understand the way some people get so caught up in it. I do feel a fascination about the truly great among humanity -- Galileo, Newton, Darwin, Einstein, Hawking, and others like them -- but I don't obsess about it, and I would not harass them with pointless fan letters and suchlike if they were alive today.
There is, however, a danger when the inability to understand celebrity-worship becomes disdain for it. Politics junkies in the US often express frustration that the latest Taylor Swift album generates so much more mass excitement than some politician's skull-grindingly boring speech about tax credits for single parents of children under 6 with an annual income of less than..... (zzzzzz). But like it or not, the power of mass culture is very real, and political movements would do better to try to harness the influence of celebrities than to sneer at people who adore them.
Infidel: Good grief, I think that comment is longer than my post! Yes, I can imagine a Taylor Swift album has to be more appealing than the latest plodding political rant. I certainly don't sneer at people who adore celebrities. I just don't understand the obsession.
DeleteI blame the internet. Most of us got over our celebrity fascination by the time we graduated high school (or before) back in the day.
ReplyDeleteBijoux: Indeed, the internet makes it so easy to follow a celeb's every move, and comment on them.
DeleteYoung girls, in particular, go through this stage. I was crazy about the Monkees, was one of the girls whooping it up when I saw them in concert. Beatle mania. As an older teen I had a crush on Shawn Phillips! It ebbs as we grow older. Then there are the disturbed, those who stalk. That's a whole other obsession.
ReplyDeleteSandra: I never came across Shawn Phillips - maybe because he's American. Yes, it seems to be mainly young girls who have total fixations on celebs.
DeleteDon’t forget Trump got his start politically by being the star of The Apprentice. He knew how “to read the room” and capitalizes on his star power.
ReplyDeleteCheerful Monk: Yes, and he relies on all those supporters who idealise him and think he can do no wrong.
DeleteI think it's safer for the republic to adulate media types than the millionaire or political types.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous: You mean the Irish Republic? I think adulating media types can be just as bad if they're vociferous reactionaries.
DeleteNo, I meant the good old US of A. I forgot you are in Belfast... Don't you just love how the wired world is flat?... As for me, with my Irish-Scottish name, I'm in America, but not in the US: I'm in western Canada, Calgary.
DeleteWell, Taylor Swift is a billionaire and the vast majority of celebs are millionaires.
DeleteBijoux: Even a lot of the top people in the Labour government are millionaires.
DeleteSean: I know Calgary, my wife and I stopped off there after a trip on the Rocky Mountaineer.
DeleteI agree.
ReplyDeleteEspecially when you realise that celebrities are a manufactured persona and there's a huge gulf between that persona and the actual human being.
Liam: Indeed, many celebs cultivate a glossy public persona that's very different from their private reality.
DeleteI don't pay much attention to the celebs.
ReplyDeleteMary: Very sensible of you. I try to avoid celebrity news but sometimes it's unavoidable.
DeleteMy favorite celeb story is when Jesse Ventura got elected governor of Minnesota. That's not his legal name, just his wrestling name, so they had to figure out how he could govern under that name. Otherwise no one would know who he was.
ReplyDeleteLinda Sand
Linda: A great story. Having two different names can make life very complicated!
DeleteYep, celebrity crushes are best left to teenagers! I can't figure it in older adults - maybe they look to these celebs for guidance? Or as a way of making life more exciting?
ReplyDeleteSx
Ms Scarlet: Both of those, I suspect. Plus getting a secret kick out of the supposedly perfect celebs making a mess of things.
DeleteI suppose if I were having a mid-life crisis I could grasp for my youth by having a celebrity crush.
ReplyDeleteSean: That's one possibility. I think extra-marital affairs are a more usual response to a mid-life crisis!
DeleteIt seems that the news media adds to the frenzy of celebrities by constant stories about their everyday events. I have no feelings about Ms Swift or similar people one way or another. Lot ls ordinary people get engaged without having all the details splashed everywhere. And, it’s not just younger people in awe of the rich and famous. My thought is that people should just appreciate their own lives and not idolize others.
ReplyDelete