Discussing Rojek's definitions of the three types of celebrity were very interesting to me, but probably somewhat outdated. He wrote about celebrity, celetoid and celeactor in 2004, when reality TV was not the beast that it is today. The Kardashians were anything but relevant at that point, and the world had not yet been introduced to the media frenzy known as Speidi (Spencer and Heidi of The Hills, if you were lucky enough to forget about them...). I think that in today's world of celebrity and pop culture, there is a fourth category of celebrity that would take in those who managed to take their 15 minutes of fame and exploit it. In one way or another, some reality stars whose fame should have been fleeting have managed to brand and position themselves in a way that keeps them relevant. The Kardashians keep turning out one scandal or another, and they've got clothing lines, makeup lines, perfumes, shoes, credit cards (or rather, kredit kards...oy), and they just don't seem to be shutting up any time soon.
It almost seems to me that the new American Dream is not that you can be anything you want, but that you can be famous for just about anything. Reality shows cost next to nothing to produce, so they'll keep turning out Honey Boo Boos as long as we will support them as viewers. And we do, clearly.
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