Celebrity Body Obsession
‘In the world of celebrity, it is the body that is central to the individual’s success’
Critically explore this statement, using examples to illustrate your response.
Celebrity culture in the twenty first century gives the public a level of excitement and interest that seems, for one reason or another, disproportionate. Nowadays, culture privileges the momentary, the visual and the sensational over enduring, the written, and the rational. Celebrities are described by some as extraordinary individuals, with both natural and magical qualities and charisma (Turner, 2004). Daniel Boorstin says they are fabricated on purpose to satisfy our exaggerated expectations of human greatness (ibid.: 65) Celebrity culture is often superficial, based on looks and money, both of which are not in great supply for most of people. Celebrities dazzle the public with unattainable good looks and glamour, which turn dutifully into worship and/or envy. They’re supposed to be everything ordinary people are not: beautiful, thin and flawless. Celebrities are commodities in the sense that consumers desire to own them; their clothes, beauty projects and lifestyles. This is often why Celebrities bring out their own clothing lines. By becoming a brand, the public feel they have a slice of their chosen celebrity’s lifestyle and buy into this ideology. This celebrity obsession is one of the reasons why gossip magazines such as Heat or Hello have become such huge publications; their pages are filled with celebrity news and gossip. The public use these magazines to watch them and comment on their lives, as a form of escapism from their own. Mass media representation is the key principle in the formation of celebrity culture. Their presence in the public eye is comprehensively staged. “No celebrity now acquires public recognition without the assistance of cultural intermediaries. (...)This is a collective term for agents, publicists, marketing personnel, promoters, photographers, fitness
Critically explore this statement, using examples to illustrate your response.
Celebrity culture in the twenty first century gives the public a level of excitement and interest that seems, for one reason or another, disproportionate. Nowadays, culture privileges the momentary, the visual and the sensational over enduring, the written, and the rational. Celebrities are described by some as extraordinary individuals, with both natural and magical qualities and charisma (Turner, 2004). Daniel Boorstin says they are fabricated on purpose to satisfy our exaggerated expectations of human greatness (ibid.: 65) Celebrity culture is often superficial, based on looks and money, both of which are not in great supply for most of people. Celebrities dazzle the public with unattainable good looks and glamour, which turn dutifully into worship and/or envy. They’re supposed to be everything ordinary people are not: beautiful, thin and flawless. Celebrities are commodities in the sense that consumers desire to own them; their clothes, beauty projects and lifestyles. This is often why Celebrities bring out their own clothing lines. By becoming a brand, the public feel they have a slice of their chosen celebrity’s lifestyle and buy into this ideology. This celebrity obsession is one of the reasons why gossip magazines such as Heat or Hello have become such huge publications; their pages are filled with celebrity news and gossip. The public use these magazines to watch them and comment on their lives, as a form of escapism from their own. Mass media representation is the key principle in the formation of celebrity culture. Their presence in the public eye is comprehensively staged. “No celebrity now acquires public recognition without the assistance of cultural intermediaries. (...)This is a collective term for agents, publicists, marketing personnel, promoters, photographers, fitness