Recently, I attended a concert. It was a big one—like a completely filled football-stadium-sized concert. The musicians were talented and well-known, and the line to buy t-shirts seemed to never end.
The way we as a society interact with celebrities is something I think a lot about. I often wonder why so many people care more about the lives of people they will never meet than the neighbor living next to them. Musicians, athletes, and entertainers sometimes receive more of our focus and attention than the people in our home. Why is that?
As I enjoyed the concert, I again wrestled with some of these thoughts. Celebrities, it seems to me, conjure up a number of possible responses inside us:
Indifference. No doubt, there are numerous people famous in certain segments of the world or society that you have never heard about. And neither have I. However, to others, maybe even people very close to me, they would be considered well-known. But we are indifferent toward them—for any number of reasons.
Dislike. Sometimes, for very shallow reasons, we have made a decision to dislike a specific celebrity. We boo athletes that don’t wear our colors, express disdain over a celebrity who holds a different political view than our own, or feel that a certain writer isn’t nearly as good as the one we like better. Dislike of a person you have never met, based entirely on what you perceive to be true about them, seems like a pretty unwise response when you think about it.
Thankfulness. Sometimes, gratitude towards a specific celebrity is a correct response. Musicians who move us, artists who change us, athletes who bring pride to our city, actors or actresses who portray a character that brings us hope, or maybe a writer who has changed our life in one way or another. In these cases, thankfulness is proper—just as it would be toward anyone who has influenced us positively.
Appreciation. Appreciation, similar to gratitude, is often a positive response to those who hold “celebrity” status. That’s how I felt at the concert the other night. These were talented musicians who had spent a lifetime mastering their craft. I could appreciate the talent and work and discipline that was required to become the artists they had become. Similar feelings could be appropriate towards artists in other fields, executives, industry leaders, or entertainers.
Worship. This, in my opinion, is where we as a society begin to go wrong. Among researchers, “celebrity worship” is an academic term that refers to a continuum of unhealthy personal responses to celebrity status—ranging from attraction to uncontrollable behaviors and fantasies. According to some studies, 33% of people fall somewhere on this continuum in their interaction with celebrities–although only a miniscule amount would suffer from obsessional tendencies.
For the sake of this post, I define celebrity worship not on the end of the spectrum that afflicts only a small percentage of people, but the normalized, cultural obsession that seems to define so many:
- Uncontrollable fascination, such as making special effort to read personal details about a famous celebrity’s life.
- Obsession with conversing about or being around others equally infatuated with the same celebrity.
- Daydreaming about being involved in an intimate way—even in a joking manner (“celebrity exemption” for example).
- Uncontrolled screaming or unconventional physical responses to their presence.
- Purchasing artifacts and/or souvenirs connected to the celebrity.
- Purchasing clothing or products based solely on their name, use, or endorsement.
Granted, even these actions above can be graded on a scale, but I wanted to offer a description of how I most often see celebrity worship.
Proper appreciation, even thankfulness, toward somebody in the public eye is a proper, even healthy response.
Worship, on the other hand, carries some significant dangers. Idolizing celebrities often causes us to overlook the very real, tangible mentors right in front of us. Celebrity worship, on the other hand, is often based only on public perceptions (sometimes carefully manipulated) of a person, which in turn results in incorrect assumptions about them. This is why fans can be so let down when a celebrity’s private actions end up not aligning with their public persona.
Celebrity worship can cause us to idolize and desire certain lifestyles that, at least from the outside, appear to bring greater happiness than the one we have causing us to miss some of the blessings right in front of us. It can result, too often, in watching another person’s life rather than making the most of our own.
Additionally, on a significant level, not keeping a celebrity’s role in our everyday life in proper perspective results in giving up more and more control of ourselves to them. Suddenly, the celebrity begins influencing how we spend our time, our money, and our energies. James Houran, author of Celebrity Worshippers: Inside the Minds of Stargazers said it like this:
We’re not just a media saturated society but an entertainment saturated society, and so we turn to these celebrities for all aspects of our life. Now these figures are larger than life. Celebrities just don’t sell us products anymore; it’s not just for entertainment. But now you start seeing entertainment being part of mainstream media, mainstream news shows, your everyday life. You can’t get away from it. We are bombarded by it wherever we look.
There are people in your life that you ought to look up to as role models and mentors. Some you know well, others you will never meet. And it is certainly wise to feel appreciation and gratitude when appropriate.
But when our view of celebrities begins to move past appreciation and into undeserved worship, it would be wise for each of us to catch ourselves and consider the consequences—they are not benign.
Susan says
Quite an interesting topic of discussion here it seems – many and varied replies and /or comments. I must ask, however: what in the world does all of this have to do with minimalism? People will read/comment on ANYTHING Joshua writes, I guess. But as usual, he goes off on a totally un- minimalism related tangent yet AGAIN and the masses applaud.
joshua becker says
Thanks for the feedback Susan. This has never been a blog dedicated entirely to minimalism. It has always been a space where I feel free to write about the things I am learning and noticing in life. Often times the posts are related to minimalism, but not always. People who have following my writing know (and expect) that to be the case. That’s probably why you don’t find much alarm from commenters when I do. Hope that helps.
Tom says
Fantastic article Joshua. I completely agree that we have overvalue the lives of celebrities and undervalue those closest to us, such as our neighbours.
Thank you for the insight!
Angie S says
Buying merch (clothing, cds, patches etc) from an artist / band you appreciate supports the band financially and helps to allow for more output by them.
I had a friend in highschool in the 80’s who was obsessed with Michael Jackson. The amount of money she blew on his stuff could have fed a small impoverished country. Totally different than someone simply buying a t-shirt and a patch at a concert.
Jelajah Blitar says
I couldn’t agree more Joshua.
John Wiedenheft says
I feel like celebrity worship is where we are as a country right now. There seem to be too few people who are thankful and show appreciation for those in the public eye. Too often we encounter people who are indifferent towards celebrity, or more commonly, dislike or worship.
I, myself, encounter this in my daily life. Certainly, I may dislike certain politicians or other celebrities for their political views or standpoints. I wish society as a whole and us individually could show more gratitude and appreciation.
The current debacle with the NFL is a great example. We should be showing thankfulness, gratitude, and appreciation to the players for speaking up for their beliefs. We should be showing them gratitude for placing their bodies and lives on the line for our entertainment. Yes, they get paid “big bucks” for playing a “game,” but they also have “careers” that last only a few years. Why do we demonize these individuals when we worship them for our Fantasy Football teams, or when they play for “our” team?
Part of the problem with Celebrity Worship, as the article mentions, is that we so quickly switch allegiances when people disappoint us. Tempers flare, opinions are thrown.
It’s easy to fall into Indifference when presented with the false dichotomy of celebrity dislike and celebrity worship. It’s easy to say, “I’m done. I don’t care.”
I propose, however, that it’s just as easy to fall into gratitude and thankfulness, and appreciation for those constantly in the public eye.
So, instead of punishing those celebrities who dare to speak their mind, appreciate their viewpoint, share your gratitude for their opinion, and be thankful that we live in a country that allows people to do what they want.
Caroine says
I was a teenage fangirl. When I was in high school, I was a social outcast (small school where elementary school sins haunt you in high school). The fandom was my life outside of school and I was able to build friendships out of school based on it. It gave me something to look forward to. I don’t know if I would have survived high school without it.
As an adult, I’ve outgrown it but still read the celebrity gossip rags in the supermarket checkout line. I will say that fandom today is a lot different than it was when I was a teen (graduated in the late 90s) because of social media.
To me judging someone for fandom (whether it be Star Wars, Harry Potter, or a celebrity) is no different than judging someone because they’re into hiking/knitting/photography/sports/travel/etc. It is their hobby and something that makes them unique.
Michelle Cameron says
*** A long time ago I realized, whether in person, “live” or on television, I was watching other people live their lives….. and what was it I was doing with my own when I doing that?!