I know exactly what J is saying. I respect her and her opinion hugely. She spends her life and her skills as a water engineer saving the lives of many more than forty people in those parts of the world where the Beverly Hills life of the rich and famous is an even more distant dream than it is for us. So this piece is nothing remotely close to a criticism of her reaction. It is though a response, a reflection on why we care so much about celebrities.
We care because of what they embody. A celebrity is an icon of our fondest dreams, a window onto the us that inhabits our dreams. Celebrities like Whitney are bright shinings of what we humans can achieve. Such a voice, what a beauty, how glamorous, so full of life. At the same time we are comforted by their frailties. They surpass our achievements but they also share our shortcomings. So comforting. And of course at times like this, Amy times, Jacko times, Bestie times, so chilling. Celebrities remind us of the us we would like to be, they haunt us with visions of the us we truly are. They are our dream, our nightmare. We care about them because we care about ourselves.
5 comments:
I think you are right to a point, "we care about them because we care about ourselves", the problem is that it is the rather self-absorbed sort of care, almost verging on the narcissistic that only us and "our type" are important.
The blanket media coverage in my opinion has nothing to do with how much we care it has to do with the media people's self-absorption that news about one of their own is somehow more important. This is no different than the rest of us than our desires are more important than those others. Of course there is also the terror of the media moguls that another channel might have a newer morsel of gossip than them and thus get ratings and thus advertising $.
There is also a danger that our society only believes something is real when it is aired on TV/streamed on You Tube/tweeted/or responded to in a blog comment! Feelings and thoughts are only valid if publicized. Thus the proliferation of low grade "reality" TV.
The fascination with celebrities and fluff in the "news" probably has more to do with the fact it is a fantasy life and it does not make us uncomfortable and force us to think or act. It also allows us to avoid the uncomfortable guilt or helplessness that comes with information about all that is really going on for most people in our world. We love not to be disturbed or challenged.
Maybe our fascination with celebrities also shows why Jesus and his gospel is so unattractive to many in our comfortable society.
Responses in less than 500 words:)
Narcissistic? Yup. No surprise there eh?
"The blanket media coverage in my opinion has nothing to do with how much we care ..."? Nope. We care about ourselves therefore we watch. Ratings, ratings, ratings - as you indicate at the end of your second paragraph.
"There is also a danger that our society only believes something is real when it is aired on TV/streamed or responded to in a blog comment!" Yup. Screen life is more real because it is hyper-real. People spend more time with those who live on the screen than with those who live next door let alone across the road. Therefore people care more when stuff happens to them.
"The fascination with celebrities probably has more to do with the fact it is a fantasy life ..." Yup. Escapism, or dream life, as I said and therefore, as you say, avoidance. The media is the opium of the people.
"Maybe our fascination with celebrities also shows why Jesus and his gospel is so unattractive to many in our comfortable society." Yup. It's also why we prefer a form of the gospel that is stripped of ethical content and then marketed as self-help, life-enhancement, plastic surgery for the soul.
There you go, 218 words. Way less than 500 and about third of them are yours!
All that sucess,acclaim,natural beauty and vocal talent and yes celebrity, for what it is worth...
a reminder to us all to look for "worth" in the right places
So does this mean we agree then Glen? Surely we can't allow that to happen too often?!
Couldn't help thinking in my only random thought time of the day which is stuck in traffic going to or from work in Manila, that it's also a pity how words get distorted. Surely a celebrity is something to be celebrated. Now in Whitney's case she did have a voice to be celebrated, but so many "celebrities" have little to celebrate, except of course that they like everyone are made in (a scarred) imagine of God.
On the day after the death of Chinese Head of State Chairman Deng, every national covered the story on its front page - errr except 1. The Sun. They carried on their front page a story about Patsy Kensit entering rehab. Now tell me this, which is the bigger story. The one about an influential political figure who was the last of the great communist figures, or the story that everything that western culture promotes as significant and meaningful, fame, wealth, looks, relationship (married to Noel Gallagher at that time), leads you into rehab?
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