The people who know me will tell you how much I dislike celebrity news. There's just something about it that is so inane that I don't even consider it to be news. Sometimes I can't even believe that it merits its own hour long shows. Most of America, however, disagrees with me.
Many Americans readily enjoy a daily intake of celebrity gossip and news. Several of my friends and co-workers are very taken with the idea of celebrities. After hearing the subject of my last blog, my boss told me I should write about celebrity gossip, which was ironic since the night before I had made the decision to discuss America's celebrity obsession.
And it is not as if celebrity gossip isn't profitable. How many tabloids do you see while waiting in a checkout line? How many people watch TMZ or Entertainment Tonight? The answer is a lot.
Or quintessential front man of celebrity gossip, Perez Hilton and his blog. Made famous by his altered pictures and commentary of the life of celebrities has made Hilton a celebrity in his own right and with that earned celebrity status, the drama and controversy that goes with it. In his quest for celebrity, Hilton himself has gotten tangled in the golden web of fame with several spiders, a.k.a. the media, Perez Haters and the celebs he's insulted, hungrily watching him, out for blood. And according to Wikipedia, Hilton's site is one of the top 500 sites visited by the internet and 2/3 of his traffic are Americans.
I can remember being so sickened that Anna Nicole Smith's death, while no less tragic than anyone else's death, warrented three weeks of news coverage. The same thing is true with Michael Jackson's death, which overshadowed the slow painful suffering of Farrah Fawcett because of the media circus and celebrity that surrounded and still surrounds it with Dr. Conrad Murray's trial going on and awaiting a verdict.
I commented to my mother(who enjoys watching court cases on TruTV) that it was sad that Michael Jackson basically threw away his life with drugs while Farrah Fawcett fought hard to stay alive. Not only that, but it took People Magazine a month after she died to even put her on their cover.
Even people who do not like celebrity gossip, such as myself, find themselves drawn in, especially when it is engrained into the fabric of every day life. Several days ago while my mother and I were watching more details of the Conrad Murray case, one of TruTV's live updates included another celebrity. Lindsay Lohan was back in court for yet another parole violation, where she was sentenced to 30 days in jail, as well as other various requirements.
And while barely understanding the American obsession with celebrity, Americans should be outraged at the treatment these celebs get. They should be railing at the injustice of it all. And not in the favor of the celebrities. They should be upset with the fact that these people get chances that they never will when it comes to the law. If someone like me were to violate my parole several times, I'm fairly certain that I would be spending more than 30 days in prison and a mere 200+ hours of community service.
It has become common-place for the public to accept this as the status quo. That, because of their celebrity, it's okay for people like Lindsay Lohan to cheat the system. That, since they make several millions of dollars and star in movies, or sing, or play sports, that we should pity them and they cannot handle the harsh realities of real life. Unfortunately for them, they would be us if they hadn't been discovered, living middle class lives, struggling and, if ever arrested, paying the same price that us middle class citizens do.
So here are my questions to you:
Why do you believe American's are obsessed with celebrities?
What do you think makes celebrities so God-like that they deserve breaks, especially in terms of punishment?
Do you think it's dangerous to cross that line from observer to celebrity, like Perez Hilton did?
Are you a fan of celebrity gossip? If so, why? If not, why?
Do you believe that celebrities should be given harsher penalties after being given a slight break if arrested or caught violating parole?
Ugh, I've always hated celebrity "news." And I don't understand Americans' obsession with celebrities either. It makes me wonder how they're treated in other countries. (Paparazzi are illegal in Japan. Lucky them!) I remember being disgusted by the whole Polanski thing a little while back. Just because he's an "artist," people felt he should be given a free pass. Even other celebrities were taking his side. (I can respect the woman for wanting to drop the charges, but it still bothered me that people were treating him like a victim.)
ReplyDeleteThe celebrity stuff is definitely ridiculous! And as far as the Michael Jackson situation... we were watching 20/20 last night and it was all about the case - Personally, I don't know that the doctor should be held responsible since it sounds like it could have been a sleeping pill overdose. *shrug*
ReplyDeleteAnywayyyyy, the special treatment celebrities like Lindsay Lohan get is unheard of and outrages me. I am not sure how or why it became the way it is with celebrities being invincible to the law, it really needs to stop though. I imagine it all started with a movie celebrity who got a break because his punishment would interfere with the movie shoot, if I had to take a guess ... and snowballed from there.