Celebrity Culture
Another trait which defines America’s culture and identity is the culture of celebrities. With plenty of wealth, fame, and attention, celebrities display to the middle and lower class citizens the ways of life of upper class citizens and nationwide divas. Moreover, they advance these images of themselves by exhibiting their multi-bedroom houses and mansions, multiple vehicles, designer clothing, and their extravagant jewelry. The feeling of being “on top of the world” only guides celebrities towards a path of demise and wrongdoing. Drugs, sex, and incarcerations have been the result of the celebrity mindset of immortality.
Any medium can be viewed as a vehicle for creating a celebrity culture. Celebrity culture, once restricted to royalty and biblical/mythical figures, has pervaded many sectors of society including business, publishing, and even academia. Mass media has increased the exposure and power of celebrity. A trend has developed that celebrity carries with it increasingly more social capital than in earlier times. Celebrity fame was established for an individual or group with recognition of raw talent. Celebrities in the 20th century rightfully deserved every bit of attention received due to their talents that have yet to be seen before.
Celebrity figures such as Muhammed Ali and Wilt Chamberlain received celebrity status through athletics, simply due to the fact that they were accomplishing goals in their respected sports that have never been done before. People watched Muhammed Ali fight more swiftly than any fighter before and have a great fighting career. Also, they watched all seven foot one inch, two hundred seventy five pound Wilt Chamberlain being a “one-man wrecking crew” scoring 100 points in a single basketball game, which still to this day has been accomplished.
With technological and medicinal differences in comparison from today and decades past, the actions and luxuries of celebrities were altered. Celebrities in the 20th century were introduced to the widespread of drugs, which led to the downfall of some careers. Most famously, Marilyn Monroe fell prey to the vast influential movement of drugs in America. In the peak of a great career as an actress, model, and playboy centerfold, she’d begun to lose herself to self-doubt, depression, drugs, and alcohol. Marilyn Monroe began taking sleeping pills for her insomnia.
She regularly consulted psychiatrists. She drank heavily, and began a habit of arriving late to work, and sometimes not being able to work at all. Celebrities in this era have been noticed publicly wearing expensive jewelry, very appealing makeup, and flashy attire. Among the expensive jewelry were pearl necklaces, diamond rings/ earrings, and top of the line watches. Women displayed sex appeal by wearing bright red lipstick, which Marilyn Monroe most famously wore in the movies she acted in and photo shoots she was in.
A trendy attire for celebrities was the fur coats. As outstanding as it appeared, it spoke to the public shouting “I have a lot of money”. Celebrities wore these outfits to the front row of Boxing matches, sporting events, theater openings, and nightclubs. In today’s world, a celebrity can be introduced through inheritance, skill, a bizarre action, and more. A celebrity today is equivalent to a person with a lot of money or a person who once had a lot of money. The celebrity status of today does not require any skill, talent, or any self-made accomplishments.
A child born into a wealthy family is nowadays considered a family once he or she does something to catch the attention of the media. For example, Paris Hilton, great granddaughter of millionaire Conrad Hilton, who established Hilton Hotels, is considered to be a celebrity. Hilton’s fame sprouted from her controversial appearance in a sex tape in 2003. After being noticed in her tape, she received opportunities to be come a American socialite, media personality, model, singer, author, fashion designer and actress. Drug abuse among today’s celebrities is a growing problem.
News headlines weekly feature another celebrity incarcerated for possession of drugs or other drug/alcohol related crimes. New generations of teens are deeply affected by this negative media and are taking part in the same actions. Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan are most notably in headlines about arrests for drug/alcohol related incidents and admission into rehabilitation centers. However it is not all negative news in today’s celebrity culture. There are celebrities in today’s world who use their money and wealth to make a difference in today’s world.
Stars such as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie use their money to adopt less fortunate kids without families to provide them with a family and better lives. They have several adopted children of different ethnicities to teach their children not to discriminate against people who are different. Another star, Wycliffe Jean, a musician, has donated millions of dollars to Haiti after their devastating earthquakes which left about a third of the nation dead or injured. The future for celebrity culture is unpredictable, however based on the increasing reports of drug and alcohol related crimes, the outlook seems negative.
Celebrities appear to only be getting more selfish and irresponsible with their wealth and their fame. Also the birth of celebrities is occurring too rapidly and pointlessly. For instance, reality TV is producing celebrities which have no morals for the next generation to look up to. Hopefully, celebrities will start to take notice on how much damage they are abusing on American teens. A decrease in their wrongdoing will positively effect our youth and America’s image as a whole. We will no longer be perceived as the selfish slobs we are portrayed as today, but as a friendly giving country that we strive to be.
