What is it about celebrities that make us want to know the details of their personal lives? Looking at the entertainment section of Stuff, there are articles about Britney and KFed, JK Rowling dreaming about Harry Potter and even a general gossip section.
But... why do we want to know these things? (And I definitely use 'we' in the general sense.) What does it matter if Harrison Ford goes partying somewhere or that Victoria Beckham was seen in a swap shop? Why (and I admit this is an ironical point) do we invite people to convention then ask them questions like "what do you think of the latest Tom Cruise movie?" Shouldn't just their work matter? Their private life is their private life.
I'm a big-time fan of Madonna, and I really like her music, but she's currently thinking that kaballah water can purify toxic waste! Does that make me not want to listen to her songs, or enjoy them any less? Nope! (Although I might hesitate to accept a glass of water at her house...)
Is this all just cults of personalities that we are getting hooked into? Do we really need to know what some Shortland Street star is going to have a baby?
Seriously?
Thursday 21 December 2006
Celebrities... why do we care?
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2 comments:
It's an eternal mystery to me too. A great example of this: recently the lead story on TV3 news was about how the Australian model who delivered the infamous line "So where the bloody hell are ya?" was having an affair with a marries Australian sportsman.
There was obviously some urgent importance attached to this story, but they didn't explain exactly why we should care. Most people don't even know her name and I imagine forgot it five minutes after the story finished airing...
What I find even more disturbing is that celebrities seem to be held up as aspirational role models, and yet the highest profile in the media seems to go to the awful antics of the likes of Mel Gibson, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, etc.
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