Today, fame is now perceived as the new American Dream, which everyone aspires to. The issue is that fame is now reduced to public attention, which means, people will clearly do anything for that micro-second of fame. Celebrity-ism has become another commodity of our commodity fetishized world, where fame is no longer an attribute of success but an ulterior motive.
A study conducted by Twenge and her colleagues showed that 12% of teenagers in 1950 agreed with the statement "I am an important person" where as by the 1980s the percentage reached to 80. Twenge believed that this 'spike in narcissism is linked to an overall increase in individualism'. This increase is a result of a combination of factors, the main one being an increase in traveling. As its become more popular it has broken up traditional tight communities. Now we are brought up repeatedly being told, 'You're special' and 'You can be what you want to be'. Unfortunately advertisements have picked up on this, now feeling good about yourself is associated with commodities.
Branding, the internet and celebrity over exposure has created the impression that our normal, everyday lives are less significant and unworthy compared to a celeb lifestyle. Therefore, people believe if your not famous, your nobody. We have to remember the internet isn't completely at fault. Our culture has created famous celebrities through ALL forms of media. The internet's sole purpose is not to create micro-celebrities, but to inform and to communicate with the world.
5 comments:
Nice article.. I believe that everybody is now celeb crazy. I actually im not that much of a crazy celebaholic! This sound weird but when im travelling bak home in the train eveybody reads the front page of the newspaper and the rest fairly quickly but they spend like 20 minutes reading about ONLY celeberities and watch them with their eyes popping out. I dont know why but everybody seems so obssessed.. Maybe they rule our life but our life's are special i just dont want to look down on myself because i dont have the 'beckhams perfume' or the 'sunglasses that Lindsay Lohan wore'.. its good to make up your own trend and have your own style.
:)
Why must all the popular celebrities be horribly twisted and deformed versions of an otherwise sane and respectable person?
Wow i cant believe the figure of teens wanting to be celebrities in the 50's grew from 12% to 80% in 1980!!
That's crazy. It's sad but i can't imagine a day without youtube.
And what about all those celebrity magazines. I think the people who purchase them are crazier than the people who watch them on the internet because they're actually paying to see them. Good article!
I think that the over exposure of children to branding, internet, advertising and celebrity has created the impression that if you’re not famous, your nobody.
I think maybe its because there's really not all that much going on in the country, especially during winter, but the kids there are super celeb-crazed, especially the girls. I find it so much more pronounced when I go home now, after I've been away for so long. Thankfully I never really got into the trend, but its definitely there! Maybe they need a bowling alley or something in Forbes.
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