"Living on a lighted stage,
Approaches the unreal,
For those who think and feel,
In touch with some reality,
Beyond the gilded cage..."
- Limelight by Rush
L
adies and gentlebeings, I owe
the Kardashians an apology.
Ok... that probably wasn’t a sen-
tence you were expecting to hear
from me my dear and long suf-
fering readers. To be fair, it’s not
a sentence I ever thought I would
seriously utter either. Regardless,
it carries with it a certain ring of
truth.
It’s not just the Kardashians that
qualify for this unusual declara-
tion of contrition on my part. This
sentiment extends to many of
those who are labeled with a term
that represents one of the most
loathed and feared aspects of late
twentieth-century life, a greater
scourge of our times than cellular
telephones and spray-on hair put
together.
Celebrity.
Even writing the word causes a
small shudder of revulsion. Its
worst incarnation as a sort of ad-
jectival descriptor in phrases such
“celebrity golf tournament,” “ce-
lebrity stock car racing” and “sur-
prise celebrity guests” tells the
whole grim story.
It’s an easy thing to dismiss and
traduce those who carry the mon-
iker of “celebrity” as being vapid,
vacuous and ridiculous. Their ev-
ery utterance, no matter how ba-
nal, is presented to the world as
if it were holy writ. It’s become a
popular (and quite lucrative) pas-
time to observe and interpret ev-
ery movement celebrities make,
from their relationships to their
choice of groceries. “Oh my! [In-
sert actress / singer / model here]
is shopping in the health-food aisle
and just passed within fifteen feet
of the baby food section. Looks
like those pregnancy rumours ar-
en’t just a rumour any more!” Ad
nauseam.
So then it seems obvious: celeb-
rities are simply overpaid, overin-
dulged parasites who have traded
self-respect and dignity for the
chance to prance across our mov-
ie and television screens correct?
Not so fast.
While it may be true that some ce-
lebrities do end up with an over-
inflated view of their own lives,
being pampered to the point of
ludicrousness, I would argue that
there’s a far more insidious culprit
here. The media.
Steady on dear reader. I know that
in recent times it's become de ri-
gueur to hoist "the media" by its
own petard and excoriate its every
deed as injurious to integrity and
simple decency. I'm not so syco-
phantic or obsequious as to latch
on to every trend that comes along.
However, I believe a case can be
made that the media plays a large
role in the intellectually corrosive
malady that is "celebrity culture."
In 2011, the New York Times re-
ported that the celebrity gossip
industry was valued at around 3
billion dollars. Sites like Radar On-
line and TMZ (names which I admit
are difficult to write with a straight
typeface) claim to be feeding the
public’s “insatiable” appetite for
celebrity news, from scandals to
relationships.
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