CELEBRITY. A WORLD IN DECLINE
Every time I go to a film I think two things: PLEASE let this be good (as these days most things are not - we'll get to that in future posts, trust me) and two: I know way too much about the actors in this film. I will admit that I'm partially guilty for this, as I do my fair share of pop culture surfing. But on the other hand, due to the 'vulture culture' of the celebrity machine, we are now as a public, privy to entirely way too much information when it comes to our public figures. A large part of this of course comes down to the media which has become an intrusive behemoth beyond imagination. In essence, reporters (web and print) and photographers are now essentially detectives and CIA agents rolled into one. Their mission, to expose as much as humanly possible about various people in the public eye to the point of lunacy. Obviously, it comes down to plain and simple economics, the demand is there, and they see their way fit to meet it.
For me, part of the beauty of going to the cinema or listening to an album (yes, I'm clinging to yesteryear) was - as this is clearly a thing long gone by - the mystery of the person behind the work. In the days of the old school performer (something I'm confident I know a bit about), there was glamour; there was mystique..there was that side of the person you knew you were being shown, but were never really going to know in a true sense. Take Sinatra for example, rumors swirled around him his whole life about this, that and the other. Some of which he danced around, some he'd play coy, others he wouldn't even dignify. And the best part was, it was all part of the package. He showed you what he wanted, and the rest of his life was clearly off limits. As it should be. And this is why he was about as cool as it got.
Now of course there is the emergence of the mutated celebrity. As I like to call it. This new side show of the undignified, pumped through the factory of the reality show culture. The 'Snooky's (I had to look this person up as I refuse to know any thing more than her name), and Heidi 'whatever her name is' of the world, spouting about her 3,000 surgeries. Their job description as far as I can tell is embarrassing themselves (and their families) on national television, and the kicker, they get paid for it, and damn well! And now we know everything. and I mean everything. We know about their addictions (real and fabricated), their bankruptcy, their surgeries, even their sex lives (hell, we even see them in the act). Even the mistresses of celebrities are so called 'celebs' now. [Gloria Allred you should be ashamed of yourself for perpetuating this total b.s.].
We've turned into a society that has become hooked on watching these base exhibitionists. And don't try denying it, some of you are watching this stuff. Some of you know and care who the heck Jon plus 8 is. The day I saw their divorce make the CNN ticker I knew we were a civilization in decline. I figure, the only way we can stop this madness is to stop feeding into it - myself included of course. Put down the rags, turn off the Hills series 28 (Heidi and Lauren run off to get colonoscopies), and tell yourself, do these people really deserve to be making this much money for doing absolutely nothing?