Preview

Are We Too Celebrity Obsessed?

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1351 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Are We Too Celebrity Obsessed?
McVay 5

Ashten McVay
Professor Carpenter
English 111
27 November 2012
The Issue of Celebrity Obsession Often, people fail to remember that celebrities are just humans like everyone else. Fans put celebrities on a pedestal, idolizing them perhaps realizing it or not realizing it. If a favored celebrity makes a decision, children all across America may feel the need to make the same decision, regardless if it is morally a good or bad idea.75% of young adults idolize celebrities and consider them role models (Shaw et al. 577). This is an issue due to the heavy amount of influence a celebrity’s decision may bring to young viewers and that can impact young viewers. For example, research found that listening to explicit music can bring abrasive and harsh actions. Likewise, being consumed with a celebrity and their actions can cause people to alter and change their own behavior to resemble the celebrity more accurately (Shaw et al. 576). Celebrity obsession can cause a young admirer to make negative behavior decisions such as drug abuse or developing an eating disorder. One major influence that celebrities have on teens is drug abuse. Drug abuse alters people’s behavior and attitude in society. People often hear in the social media that celebrities are taking part in drugs and having to go to rehab in order to rid the addiction. Amy Winehouse was a musician who won 5 Grammy Awards and a widely influential individual. Unfortunately, Winehouse also abused drugs; therefore, many charges were levied against her, and she was sentenced to a rehabilitation center to cure her of her addiction. When this scandal went public, Amy’s reputation went from being innocent to society to being a threat to society due to the amount of influence she had over her young admirers (Shaw et al. 576). Similarly, Lindsey Lohan was a widespread sensation until her addiction to drugs also changed her fans behaviors. Teens look up to their favorite celebrities and hope to be just like

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Jersey Shore

    • 1354 Words
    • 6 Pages

    “Gym, Tanning, Laundry”, these three words have become increasingly popular among teenagers because of MTV’s hit reality television show, Jersey Shore. Television shows and their stars can become very influential to many of their viewers. Many of these viewers strive to be like these stars and mimic their style and attitude, in hopes of living the same careless lifestyle that has made these stars known around the world. Unfortunately, these television shows don’t always portray certain aspects of life realistically, and therefore send a false message that can be very deceiving. Studies show that television shows tend to follow several popular trends that do indeed portray the wrong reality.…

    • 1354 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Between the years of 2005- 2009 Britney Spears, Lindsey Lohan, and Paris Hilton have all been either arrested or caught in a series of erratic fits. A 2006 AOL poll asked people who the worst villain of the year was and coming in at number one was Britney Spears. The Sun, British newspaper got a private interview with Lindsey Lohan, back in 2007, when she stated, “I tried to mask my problems with alcohol, cocaine, and mind-altering substances.” These are the people that our society is looking up to and making their role models. Maybe Lindsey isn’t the only one on mind-altering substances. Why aren’t more people following educational programs and channels or people that can make a positive difference, or better yet why are we wasting away inside instead of going out and making a difference ourselves? This is exactly the point Gabler was communicating when he said that entertainment would dissolve the ties of our social…

    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Parents vs Celebrities

    • 1135 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Thesis Statement: Parents and celebrities influence the child in many ways. Parents instill the basic principles of life like personal hygiene, behavior in public, approach to studies, and respect for others while celebrities influence the major aspects of a person’s character such as the way he/she gets dressed, role in society, career, and personality development.…

    • 1135 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    “ In the twenty-first century, the world truly has become a stage, with the constant presence of cameras recording virtually every aspects of our lives” (Gales, 2010,1). Nowadays, our lives revolve around fame and the celebrity culture. In fact, being famous is a target hunted by an enormously large portion of the population. If you think about it, who wouldn’t want to be insanely rich? Who wouldn’t want to be the center of attention? We have this idea that being famous is having an idyllic life in which you get whatever you want, you go wherever you want and see whoever you feel like seeing. Put in other words, for us “originals” or should I say “non-famous” people, being famous is like the seventh heaven, a joyful and fulfilled life, a blessing. Moreover, with the mass development of media technology, the celebrity culture is now being easily widespread. One simple click on a button of a remote control or a computer is all it takes to notice that celebrity news and gossip is everywhere. For the public, the lives of the “Rich and Famous” is a form of entertainment and ongoing amusement. Nevertheless, we fail to see that “celebrity culture drowns out public discourse and encourages materialism and self-absorption”(Hedges, 2011, 1) or that “a culture built on celebrity can lead to widespread personality problems such as an obsession with the self” (Gale, 2010, 1). In my opinion, as much as “being famous” can seem like a blessing, something that promotes happiness, well-being and prosperity, it is actually a curse that pushes us away from what really matters in life and makes us obsessive about attention and appearances.…

    • 1395 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Good

    • 695 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the first place, it is apparent that media leads people pay more attention to celebrities. Since media plays an important role in people’s lives, many kinds of media, such as magazines, newspapers, Internet, all help people to focus on celebrity news. Individuals, especially young people, are curious about celebrities’ gossips, and the more they realize, the more topics that young people can talk about. These gossips are more fun than some boring ones, like the weather today. Moreover, celebrity worship syndrome happens on young girls as well. Why is so specific on girls? This is because not only gossips are attractive to people, but also some fashion tips, and the latest hair trends have a huge impact on young girls. This kind of fashionable information can be easily found on the Internet, magazines. Girls are crazy about how to make up to look beautiful, but all this fashionable things are accompanied with super stars. So, in order to copy these stars, girls start to focus every day. It can obviously cause celebrity worship syndrome. Therefore, people who often look for gossips and fashionable information will suffer…

    • 695 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Celebrity obsession

    • 1819 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Celebrity obsession syndrome is a serious concern for the society in modern times. In this paper we will describe celebrity syndrome is not good thing for individuals and as a whole for the society. Media plays a big role in our everyday lives. There are televisions [as well as magazines, movies, ads, billboards, newspapers. etc.] everywhere and media regulates every action of the public through the use of these. The idea at play is that media enters our everyday lives of to the degrees of defying who we are, what we do, how we do it, who are heroes and role models are, etc. The focus of media shapes our routines and it regulates individuals ' thoughts and opinions. (Maltby 1157-72)People that are celebrity obsessions are overly involved with an individual in the media. This study examined the relationship between individuals ' cognitive flexibility and their tendency to obsession celebrities. There appears to be a growing interest in celebrities in terms of fans and media coverage. There is also growing evidence to suggest that celebrity obsession may be of interest to social scientists. Recent research suggests that it occurs more in adolescents or young adults than older persons; celebrity obsessions are more likely to value a "game-laying" love style, and celebrity obsession is negatively associated with some aspects of religiosity. (Larson 535-50) Celebrity obsessions report lower psychological well-being than non-obsessions, particularly problems with social dysfunction, depression, and anxiety. However, celebrity obsession is at best only very weakly associated with shyness and loneliness. (Martin 58-67)So now Michael Jackson is a social scientist. Here we see demonstrated one of the most baffling of American cultural mysteries. Someone strokes 30 home runs or makes a movie that earns the ultra-bucks, or, in Jackson 's case, achieves legendary status as a high-tech troubadour, and that person naturally assumes he is a philosopher king. Fans quickly toot the…

    • 1819 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    If you asked teenagers or even children if they idolised a certain celebrity the likeliness is that they would say yes. However nowadays, a child’s obsession with any one particular celebrity has been taken to a whole new level… in fact it’s almost unhealthy.…

    • 802 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Parents and celebrities are both looked upon nowadays as idols, while teenagers decide who they want to take as role models, the fact remains that both celebrities and parents are similar in some aims and different in others. Some argue that parents are in favor of influence on kids others argue that they aren’t and that celebrities are the ones who affect teenagers the most. This young age is very critical for kids; it’s when they are affected the most by the people they look up to and the footsteps they follow. Teenagers are exposed to so many different kinds of culture and lifestyle every day that it makes it hard for them to decide who they want to set as an idol.…

    • 517 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Celebrities have a special talent that most average people can not do; they are athletes, actors, actresses, and singers. They have seen and heard by millions through television, movies, radio, and the internet. And they may be inspiring to the young who dream of singing, or acting, celebrities have the spotlight on them because of their high status. In addition, they are not treated like normal people because they have money, fame, and glory. Their popularity is worldwide, and there are millions of children look up to them. Role models can affect children life in so many ways. The young are following the celebrities not only their dress, but also the behaviors and attitude. For example, the children will want to try the smoking and drinking if the celebrities are always appearance themselves as smoker or drunker. On the other hand, if the celebrities are doing things for the environment, politician, and making the changes for the better will effect and enhance the children to have brighter mind and well-manner.…

    • 272 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    As well as parents, personalities have a meaningful presence in young lives. Appearing al the time celebrities concur with parents for children attention. Occasionally, teenagers prefer to be in front of television watching their favorite shows than spend time with family. In some cases, celebrities can have a positive influence under children. Teens might admire a disciplined athlete, a philanthropic actor and also they might be impressed by parents ethical conducts.…

    • 354 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Life and Celebrities

    • 1007 Words
    • 4 Pages

    From the day we were born, or even earlier when we were created in the uterus, we have been constantly influenced by our surroundings, whether they are living things or nonliving objects. Parental genes and nutrition influence the development of human body. Schools, teachers, peers, and TV shows help form our perspectives of the world which we live in. Among so many sources of influence, the influence of parents and the influence of celebrities are two of the most important ones. The influence of parents and the influence of celebrities share similarities in that they influence people’s choices of lifestyle, their effectiveness through imitation, and the qualities of the influence, and contrast each other in that they differ in physical distance, the subject of being influenced by a free will, and the aspects of life that they contribute to.…

    • 1007 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Today’s teens are bombarded with images and activities that don't mirror their lives from hit teen-TV shows like "The OC" and "Gossip Girl" to the multitude of entertainment programs and features in magazines. Today's media obsessed society often leads students to believe all they need to 'be cool' is be thin, blonde and wear the latest designer clothes. The UGLY program aims to help young adults self-esteem by using celebrities, as they know that young people look up to celebrities and their identity is reflected on them. Sometimes this is a good thing and other times it is a bad thing and this is why celebrities need to function as a role model to their audience because of today's celebrity-obsessed society. I plan to expand this theory and reasons behind the celebrity-obsessed society.…

    • 729 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Celebrity Effect

    • 260 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Celebrities have become a much bigger part of our society than ever before. One of the main reasons for this is the fact that celebrities have become much more widespread, they can be any one or from anywhere. Celebrities can be found on “reality” TV; in the gossip or entertainment columns; in magazines; on the radio; in sports; the list can go on and on. While celebrities do have a big influence, especially over children, I would have to say that it depends on the source or your point of view whether the influence is a positive or negative one. Any one who is influential can be affected it is up to that individual how.…

    • 260 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    First of all, younger people often spend most of their leisure time to watch shows and performances of their adoring entertainers and athletes. To be more specific, according to the Time magzine, there are more about “thirty-five percent” that juveniles utilize their relaxing time for watching television programs about their favorite entertainers and athletes than older people. For instance, I am a university student now and when I read newspaper and watch news in the television, I always concentrate on the part of entertainers and sportsmans. Moreover, during every school time, my classmates and I talk about our idols’ opinions as well as lives for a long time. Hence, I think most of the younger people are affected by their adoring celebrities imperceptibly and more essential are the sentiments of them to younger individuals than to older individuals.…

    • 562 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Actor and Role Models

    • 408 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Thanks for the development of global entertainment industry, fame has come to more and more people all over the world, making celebrities intensively become the status of role models, especially for the young. However, this trend leaves both advantages and disadvantages on teenagers. In this essay, these sides of the issue will be examined.…

    • 408 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays