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Certainly a lot of truth in what you say.
I cannot believe for example all these ejits who go on programmes like Big Brother and The X Factor and all of a sudden think that they are famous and utter those immortal words "Do you know who i am" when they try to get into nightclubs and suffer from a bruised ego when the doormen have no idea and really could not care less who they are.
When i was at primary school and was asked what i wanted to be when i grow up which im not sure i have done yet i always said something like a train driver or an astronaut.
I cant remember what the girls said but im pretty sure none of them said "I want to bed a footballer,get married then divorce him and have half his million pound fortune so i can buy clothes from upmarket shops in big city centres then try and get a coloumn in a magazine offering fashion and sex advice and be photographed getting out of a car with a photographer taking a photo of my knickers if i put any on in the first place"
Yet the newspapers seem to think that people care about what these people get upto but to be fair if no news was put in about them nobody would really miss it and care.
I may not be a millionaire or have the token trophy wife or girlfriend but i do have friends of both sexes who i deeply love and care about and would hate to be ordered about and have my life organised by some lackeys and hangers on telling me who i should see and who i should be seen with just so the public will buy a newspaper or a magazine.
Also i cannot stand the so called celebs who sell things like wedding and baby photos to the likes of OK just to make a few bob, you are quite literally selling your soul.
I think this also explains it.
Neil, nobody with half a brain gives two hoots about the Z-Lister wannabe’s that you describe, but how vapid they are wasn’t really the point Marble was trying to make. If I read his post correctly, his points were:
a) Celebrity culture is the fault of Tony Blair, and,
b) Celebrity culture may be partially responsible for the global credit crisisNow, Blair may be many things (a lying, snake-in-the-grass, war-mongering sh*it, to name just one), but the blame for "celebrity culture" cannot be laid at his door.
The second suggestion is so ridiculous, it deserves it’s own wing in the Saatchi gallery.
Celebrity culture exists for a variety of reasons – the main one being that Oridnary Joe’s see other Ordinary Joe’s escaping from the confines of a mind-numbing and spiritually-bereft existence, and are fascinated by it.
The reason these Ordinary Joe’s become Z-Listers in the first place, is due to the profligacy of magazine’s and TV programmes that aggresively attempt to cash-in on this fascination amongst the great unwashed.
As a wise man once said – the public gets what the public wants.
I did think about what you said, Marble, and as far as I can make out, I’ve covered all the salient ground.
What else am I supposed to read into the following phrase:
"…..Blair ………would relish being a celebrity and promoting a celebrity world which would ultimately lead to a mental and social disease in western society".
Or the following phrase:
"This celebrity culture and worshipping of false idols may be one of the root causes of the financial crisis we are now in".?
You asked for your theory to be "discussed". I did exactly that, and offered my own view on the reasons behind the celebrity culture you described.
If you only want to hear viewpoints which agree with your own, then I suggest you make that caveat clear in future posts.
Yes, i’m talking about modern day celebrity’s. As humans, i’m sure we all wish to be a celebrity sometimes. No matter what ethnic, religious, racial, economic, or age background, there’s always someone we aspire to be or someone we’re (in some small way) jealous of.
I’ve never wished to be a celebrity, ever. Sometimes I’ve wanted to have a celebrity’s money but not there fame. I’m sure many are the same.
It’s patronising to think that all children or teenagers want to be famous. I have a 15-year old cousin who is intrigued by the lives of the famous, finds the spectacle of it all rather amusing – but ultimately know that it’s abstract, far removed from her and her world, and instead concentrates on getting an education. Not every person who passively watches Pop Idol on a Saturday night wants to be famous.
The last person to truly deserve they’re fame was Princess Diana, who helped with many charites and was a role model for the way she looked after her children; she was not a scavenger.
I don’t agree. Nearly every celebrity helps charities, so if that’s a barometer for what makes a celebrity ‘deserving’ or not – then nearly all celebrities are deserving!
Maybe if you changed the criteria to if they helped charities before they were famous (so that fame was a kind of reward). Say, did volunteer work on a weekend while working Monday-to-Friday in a 9-5 job. I wonder if Princess Di did that.
And surely she can’t be a ‘role model’ for the way she looked after her children? You’re supposed to look after children. It’s what millions of decent parents do! It’s not extraordinary.
Yes, celebrity culture did grow during Labour’s reign but I’m inclined to think it was a co-incidence (not Tony Blair’s fault).
I think it’s more complex. I think it (debt) is more to do with a culture of hedonism, a ‘live for the day’-spirit. In the 1990s, hedonism (wasting £100s on a weekend out, superclubs, drugs, holidays in Ibiza) was sold to people who couldn’t afford it. Low-earners who should joylessly scrimp and save but said **** it all and rebelled against the self-imposed caution that previous generations believed in (rightly).. or perhaps the rise of aspirational middle-class types spending above their means on schools, ponies, weird organic vegetables, to compete with their neighbours.
I propose to fellow forum members that celebrity has caused society to go insane and malfuction, both financially and socially, discuss….
To be honest, I think this point should have been made a few years ago because, if anything, it’s dying down now – and something far less tenuous has definitely caused society to malfunction (I’m speaking of the collapse of the mortgage market).
at least Kate Moss and Amy Winehouse have talent; the ‘celebrity’ that really got me mad was that fat woman from wife swop who had loads of kids and lived on benefit and swore a lot….maybe in the past people looked up to the royal family and politicians, and when that bubble burst they had to look elsewhere…or maybe it’s the fault of the tabloids and glossy magazines.
but not that it could turn you into a complete superficial idiot.
Haha yes. There is rampant anti-intellectualism in popular culture – and it doesn’t help that there are so many semi-intelligent people (say, in the broadsheet’s review sections) who respond by ironically celebrating the moronic inferno rather than criticising it, distancing themselves from it. I’m not a snob but there is little difference now between the television and films aimed at teenage girls and that aimed at women, that aimed at hormonal boys and that aimed at men (Transformers anyone? Jason Stratham’s latest beat-em-up?). I’d like to see things aimed at grown-ups for once and leave the idiots to dribble and watch the washing-machine spinning around. I think mainstream music is growing-up a bit though…
"moehat" wrote: at least Kate Moss and Amy Winehouse have talent; the ‘celebrity’ that really got me mad was that fat woman from wife swop who had loads of kids and lived on benefit and swore a lot….maybe in the past people looked up to the royal family and politicians, and when that bubble burst they had to look elsewhere…or maybe it’s the fault of the tabloids and glossy magazines.
What talent has kate moss got?
hope you are not counting her talent for picking dodgy blokes and managing to walk down a catwalk as criteriaWhen i was at primary school and was asked what i wanted to be when i grow up which im not sure i have done yet i always said something like a train driver or an astronaut.
The perfect cue for this piece of aceness;
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=l8UfvHnna38
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
at least Kate Moss and Amy Winehouse have talent; the ‘celebrity’ that really got me mad was that fat woman from wife swop who had loads of kids and lived on benefit and swore a lot….
That’d be Lizzie Bardsley – put on this earth to make Jade Goody look urbane, cultured and of discernible purpose. Now that takes some doing.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
The global credit crunch was caused by political correctness, because US mortgage firms were forced to give loans to people who would never be able to afford to pay it back. Not by celebrities, unless you include Clinton in that group. Polly Peck was even threatened with a legal action because it wasn’t lending enough money to blacks. So, that’s not quite right Marble.
To me the celebrity culture goes hand in hand with the idea behind the national lottery, ie. you can get quite a good life even if you don’t have any talent or skills, you just need to be lucky. They used to say religion was the opium of the masses, in this day and age it has to be hope.
Saying that you don’t see the people at the top of the food chain pulling their kids out of private school and buying lottery tickets insetad do you?
Of course, the cult of celebrity isn’t new; Victorians used to travel to Bamburgh in the hope of spotting Grace Darling. In my favourite book National Velvet the press try to fabricate stories about Velvet to sensationalise the story even further. I’m sure that lots of youngsters just grow up these days thinking that they will either be famous or win the lottery.
Amy Winehouse has talent.
Bit worrying when people want to draw her instead of Prince Philip or Nelson Mandella in the yearly Celebrity Death List.
Amy Winehouse has talent.
Bit worrying when people want to draw her instead of Prince Philip or Nelson Mandella in the yearly Celebrity Death List.
I don’t know – I would suggest she is a decent odds-on shot.
This is what the "American Dream" form of capitalism has been leading to throughout it’s existence – the promise that we’re all going to make it big – you can’t become a captain of industry nowadays, because there is none, so it’s either Dragon’s Den for budding entrepreneurs, or reality TV for the rest.
Amy Winehouse has talent.
Bit worrying when people want to draw her instead of Prince Philip or Nelson Mandella in the yearly Celebrity Death List.
If there’s a problem, surely it’s that anyone would want to draw anyone in a Celebrity Death List?
Rob
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