Pros And Cons Of Celebrity

The Oxford English Dictionary defines a celebrity as a “celebrated person,” “much extolled or talked about [OED, 2014].” Wikipedia defines a celebrity as “a person who commands a significant degree of public attention [accessed May 9th, 2014]” However, these definitions are less than complete, as we don’t usually call Adolf Hitler a celebrity even though he still, to this day, is much talked about and commands public attention from the grave; the same could be said of Osama bin Laden, or Joseph Kony. A response, of course, is that even though these are commonly talked about, they are not, as the O.E.D. says, “extolled” or “celebrated.” Yet, are extolled or celebrated people actually considered celebrities, and are the people we call celebrities actually extolled and praised? Albert Einstein or the Dalai Lama are celebrated and praised, but it is unclear if they can be classified as celebrities. One thing is clear, however; celebrities are an ingrained part of our cultural discourse and day to day lives. Celebrity chefs are printed on condiment labels, celebrity actors and singers are constantly visible in daily life, and even celebrity doctors tell us how to live via daytime television. Who are these celebrities? Why (and how) do people become celebrities, and what function do they play in society (if any)? An exploration of such an integral part of our culture, will likely reveal much about ourselves as cultural participants.

The image creation of a celebrity is a bit of a causality dilemma; trying to distinguish if celebrities make their own image and decide what they’re famous for, or if the common people prescribe a celebrity's image, is likely a futile effort. The culture of celebrity can be seen as a democratized process h...

... middle of paper ...

..., 1995], and the new breed of media celebrity began to resemble simulacra in their own right. Even as far back as Plato, people were dealing with this concept, as Plato refers to statues on the top of buildings that are intentionally distorted out of proportion, in order to make them seem more real for the people on the ground looking up at them; yet, if those statues were to be seen on a real scale, they would seem ridiculous and fake [Plato, “The Sophist”]. The new celebrities of people like Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, or Greta Garbo had become represented by distorted realities, so the common people on the ground could see them in a better light; whether through conscious effort or not, whether through simple ignorance, or whether due to vast disconnects between lifestyles, the public began reducing these people down to their image alone [Marshall, 1997].