Stemming from the previous discussion on gossip and its role in society, one may begin to wonder what is the fascination with celebrities and why does talking about their lives bring people together? According to Kurtzman, et al, the concept of the celebrity is relatively new (352), but one can scarcely imagine American culture without the influence of Hollywood, where the cult of the celebrity seems to have been manufactured, amongst other things. What is a celebrity, anyway? Kurtzman, et al, may have found the answer:
To be a celebrity is to be “known for [one's] well-knownness,” according to Boorstin's (1962:57) well-known definition. The roots of celebrity reach back to Alexander the Great, whose manipulation of publicity and global ambitions may make him ‘the first famous person’ (Braudy 1986:32). However, celebrity acquired new significance in the era of mass media. (352)
Mass media has made the celebrity a product to be sold and marketed to specific generations, “celebrities are a creature of capitalism: they involve the commodification of reputation.” (Kurzman, et al 353). This has its roots in the development of motion pictures, where people recognized the high marketability of actors and actresses as commodities, as dreams to be sold.
Indeed, capitalism played an integral part in making actors and actresses stars, and it has not stopped ever since:
Stars were created by public relations campaigns: the agent for a little-known actress named Rita Hayworth invented a fictitious organization to name her the best-dressed actress in Hollywood, then talked Look magazine into planning a layout on her and her clothes, then convinced the Saks department store to lend her a wardrobe for the photo shoot in exchange for her promise to proclaim that she bought all of her clothing at Saks (Gamson 1994:26). (Kurtzman, et al 353)
Though one would like to believe that celebrities are no longer being sold as commodities, any advertising campaign boasting reality-TV stars, celebutantes, famous athletes and movie stars proves the capitalist notion of the buying and selling of celebrities. Even gossip has been part of the creation of such a economically-feasible persona.
By moving from a print tabloid phenomenon to a viral one, celebrity gossip has accelerated both the creation and destruction of celebrities. The public’s fascination with celebrities has ensured that this media is a lucrative one for the celebrities and their teams, the photographers who take their pictures -also known as paparazzi, and the people who write about them. It is the latter group of people who interest me most in dealing with celebrity gossip and how it is reported. In recent years, bloggers have taken it upon themselves to deliver current celebrity gossip without any hint of objectivity. This lack of objectivity and superfluous use of subjective language makes reading celebrity gossip sites by these bloggers almost the equivalent to talking to your catty, gossipy and hilarious friend. These bloggers may sometimes prove to be vicious in attacking stars and their crafted persona, openly admitting to the crafting of a star’s image. However, sometimes even these bloggers can be bought in order to keep creating the masks celebrities hide behind.
It is the entertainment industry, after all.
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