The Toxic Society: Celebrity Culture

Yung-Ching, Yang
Writing 140 Sec 64715
Amanda Weldy Boyd
Assignment #5
2013/04/25
The Toxic Society: Celebrity Culture
“Gangnam Style,” popular K-Pop single released by Psy, musician, received unexpected feedback from the whole world which brought up a novel trend of outrageous dancing gesture and distinguished music style that people were crazy about. Pop singers can be so influential to society boundlessly nowadays that they create a whole new fashion trend or culture for people to follow whenever they release a new album or any public delivery. However, in the past, music performers might not be considered public figures that everyone admire or look up to. For several centuries, providing singing services to entertain people was considered
As technology advanced, the easiness of access to music through television, Internet increased the exposure of the artists. The globalization and infinite boundary of mess media also reached the same result by spreading music to all over the world and connect people together, which gained more popularity to these performers. Specifically, MTV, American cable television channel which was originally served as channel that oriented in music, increased their multiplicity by having more shows about artists personal life or celebrity reality show, such as Ke$ha: My Crazy Beautiful Life. Increased number of shows about celebrity news showed people’s growing interests towards artists’ personal lives which gradually developed into an adoration and esteem. However, mass media brought people’s fond of singers into different extent, excessive admiration. In order to gain higher viewing rating, media world overly glorify performers and it urged people starting to view them as role model, hero or charity representative, etc. Instead of focusing on their talent, audiences examine and judge every aspect of music
One possible harmful influence of celebrity worship is their fascinating identity might blur or cover the wrong doings and send the wrong message to their followers. The glamorous appearance of pop stars appeals to most of the teenagers. Based on a recent Newsweek poll, it shows the 40% of nine and ten year old kids had tried to lose weight and 53% of the girls were not satisfied with their current body image; obviously, kids were influenced by the skinny images present by the star celebrities. To the extreme extend, the numbers of people suffering eating disorder have increased to over five million people in the states. Pop singers’ association with drug and alcohol is on the media from time to time. Teenagers might think that taking drugs and alcohol is a cool thing to do and makes them special. Media often reveals the luxurious life of pop celebrities such as mansions, fancy cars and jewelry. This might direct their followers to the pursuits of material desires. As a result, in order to avoid those wrong behaviors, celebrities should try to downplay their higher social status and promote healthier image. Moreover, people have to separate their performance from their behaviors. We can admire and appreciate their achievement, learn from their success and pursue our own goal in life, but overly obsess with celebrities’