I found today's lecture on celebrity and fans to be quite intriguing, seeing I have always been fascinated by the celebrity world and our culture's ability to create and help maintain celebrity status. Growing up in the craze of reality TV, I have realized that many celebrities today are not celebrities based on their magnificent talent, or for their good deeds. It seems to me that many of today's celebrities are created from our culture's obsession of the "unknown lifestyle", that is different from ours and completely foreign to what we are used to seeing and experiencing. Yes, of course there are the A-list celebrities that are known for their outstanding work in the film world, or incredible voice and sensational lyrics, but I have to point out that there is a 'star system' for a reason. The B-list, C-list and D-list celebrities that we hear about are put into these categories due to the different forms of celebrity status our culture has created. However, when talking about these three forms in class today, I started to question if ascribed, achieved or attributed celebrities automatically fall into a certain tier of the star system, or if it depends more on the timing and the current trends of which our society is consumed. For example, there are many actors and actresses that we hear about who try to 'make it big' in the industry for years. Even though they continuously try to put their best work out there, it isn't until they meet the right manager, or fans begin to receive their work with a different outlook, or they start to date a certain person in the industry that they become a MEGA STAR. Would we still consider this person an achieved celebrity? I mean, Ashton Kutcher has always been a funny, talented, comedic actor, but it wasn't until he married Demi Moore that the media began to consider him a true, big time celebrity. This makes me question where it is he falls into celebrity status - did he earn this status, or has his rise to fame been on the shoulders of his older, extremely famous (ex) wife.
I also start to question where it is reality television stars fall into the star system. Yes, many of these people get their chance at fame by sending in a ridiculous audition tape to the show's producers and somehow snag a spot on some reality TV show, where they get to run around drunk and make fools of themselves. However, many of these people go on to create personal brands and capitalize on the image they have created in our reality TV crazed culture. Jersey Shore is a great example of this. Snooki and JWOWW were just young ladies, born and raised on the East Coast who loved to tan, get drunk and party. Now they both have their own reality TV show, are bringing in millions of dollars and have their own brand names, tanning lotion lines and clothing lines. How is it that our culture creates this fame for people like Snooki and JWOWW? Would Jersey Shore have been as popular ten years ago? What is it about our culture that allowed this show to become so infamous and bring these profane, drunk, overly tan clowns to the forefront of our media? It boggles my mind, however I must admit, as I write this blog post I am watching Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, another reality show that has created such media craze around these women who have done essentially nothing extraordinary to earn the fame and status that they have. It makes me wonder if the trend in reality TV, as well as the star system will ever change or if it will continue on this path of the commodification of our everyday lives.
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