Is celebrity culture evil?
It's the 10th anniversary of Heat magazine and we're taking advantage of the event to think about celebrity culture. Does it distract us from what's important or is it harmless glitter sprinkled on the top of an often drab reality? In this week's show Mark Kermode makes the case that celebrity culture is evil, while Miranda Sawyer argues that it has a positive impact on our lives.
I have to admit that I'm with Mark on this one. I find people's stories fascinating, but think that the endless hunger for celebrity gossip turns people into commodities. It doesn't really matter if the stories (or the photos) are real, it's just a way to sell newspapers, or records, or perfume. My rather austere view isn't universally held across the Culture Show team, however, and we'd be interested to know what you think of the debate.
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In the wake of Christian Bale's on set outburst, celebrity could be viewed as a degenerative disease.
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I completely agree with Mark, I have no interest in these so called celebs lives, I think it's very sad that more and more people seem more interested in these z-list celebs than they are the community around them! I am also so tired of seeing semi-naked so-called celebrities everywhere I turn. I think the likes of Heat magazine do nothing for women’s self esteem, In particular I disagree with Miranda’s comment that it’s good to see celebrity cellulite, I think pointing out these so called imperfections of celebrities bodies, only increases the pressure on them and therefore ourselves to reach even greater levels of perfection, and this then leads to more and more negativity towards perfectly normal women’s bodies. As we knock them so we knock ourselves!
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Well done Mark I despise so-called celebrity culture. Your attitude is not "snobbish" at all. One must of course be aware of the dangers of Spengler Decline of the West. Stick with good old Adorno and you won't go too far wrong. I had to try and teach around this in A level media. AS level and understanding ideology / discourse is too challnging as well as having to look at that tripe.
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Last night on the Culture Show Mark Kermode expressed confusion over the "Celebrity Culture" phenomenon. I have a theory here.
People are social because it provides an evolutionary advantage (unless you believe in Creationism, in which case you might want to skip to the next comment). One of the advantages we gain as a species is our ability to cooperate. Part of this is recognising people within our community and remembering their behaviour. These abilities evolved in a context where a fairly small number of people in ones community would be recognised as friends.
This ability is confused in a world where we see people in the media more often than people in our real communities. If we meet an actor from a soap in the street we feel we know the person and act as if there were a member of our community.
There remains the question of why Mark and others do not participate in this behaviour. My reason is face blindness (a more widespread condition than one might imagine). I do not recognise people, so I can't key in to this behaviour.
I think another reason is status. Those who have acquired status through conventional routes (eg. being successful in a valued endeavour, studying for qualifications, etc.) get irratated by those who seemed to be awarded status for simply being recognised.
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I am with you Mark.
Celebrities are placed on such high peddle stools that they cease to be human. If they are not perfect the world tears them down to shreds.
So pressure builds, they try to meet the expectations, the more they try the higher the bar society places for them. In the end it's frustration everywhere and that's evil.
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Is everyone with Mark? Is nobody swayed by Miranda's argument?
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I was elated to hear Marks heated views on Heat magazine (pardon the pun!!)and celebrity culture.
Womens magazines have become a haven for mind numbing and shocking celebrity stories:I cannot fathom why people would want to waste theyre money on such pointless trash!
The only joy I can see could be gleamed from reading (or should I say looking at the pictures) is to see the sheer desperation these wannabes have to be noticed, even to the point of ridicule!
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Mark, I completely agree with your views. It's really a matter of common sense isn't it? how did things get this grotesque?
Women of the world, boycott these useless publications and demand that hairdressers and waiting rooms across the country start offering better reads.
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poor old miranda was really trying to defend the indefensible to an audience which is clearly going to agree with Mark. Not sure if many of the Culture show audience read Heat...
her argument about how people have always been interested in celebrity is particularly full of holes. People have and always will be interested in celebrity ok, but what we are talking about now is a near obsession about the unimportant minutiae of unimportant untalented people. A little different to an interest in people of true skill, i am interested in Terry Gilliam or Danny Boyles influences, but i don't care about what Jorden has for tea!
I do disagree with mark's pessimism though. i have two teenage daughters they and most of their friends wouldn't touch comics like Heat - i think there is a silent majority of people much younger than me who are at risk of being underestimated and i take an objection to the assumption that most of them are cruising the internet for celerity gossip. Many are reading and watching quality film ect.
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The cult of celebrity has been with us for a long time - a look at the appetite for gossip about 18th-century courtesan Kitty Fisher. But has the appetite grown over the past decade, and is it a problem?
I may think celebrity magazines a waste of time, but do they actualy do any harm? No doubt some of my pleasures (such as eating chocolate or drinking wine) aren't actually good for me, but I would object to somebody preventing me indulging in them.
Sales of Heat have dropped significantly recently and the only magazine that I've noticed enjoying healthy circulation growth - that's not to say there aren't others - is the Economist. All hail the new seriousness!
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of course we are all just saying the same as Lilly Allen does far more entertainingly in 'the fear'
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Mark is my hero now, I've been thinking the same thing for ages and he managed to perfectly sum up the argument. My greatest problem with Heat and the like is that they encourage young women to conform to negative female stereotypes, the woman who likes to bitch about other women and only cares about her weight and her shoes. I particularly object to a recent issue which had the quote 'I married a slag' on the cover, directed at a contestant of Celebrity Big Brother. This sort of term has been used for decades as an insult to women who enjoy sex, and there is no eqiuvalent for referring to a male who engages in the same behaviour. I worry about how the generation of women raised on Heat will fare in the world, but I do have faith that they will grow out of being interested in these magazines and on line equivalents.
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Quite frankly I think Miranda Sawyer made a mockery of her own journalistic talent defending Heat. I can't believe she tried to defend it. Her arguement (as stated above) was full of holes, and not only that she started off the peice with a few personal pops at Mark for thinking 'he's always right'. You're setting yourself up for trouble when you make personal jabs. (Clearly she was wrong anyway though! haha)
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Watching the recent program of which you discussed the 10 year anniversary of heat magazine and whether celebrity culture
is evil.So I thought I would write a poem to express my thoughts on the
matter.
Oh how must it be to be beautiful visually you understand every door
opened with but a gentle hand.
No effort made oh but what for when there is somebody prepared to hold
open the door.
Has this almost become an unwritten law,that people now forget about
others inner flaws?
I feel that this is a genuine cause,
where celebrity seems to openly roar
No talent required oh but what for
When the public see this as almost an escapism if you will I suppose it
beats popping a pill.
But is there no will the will to succeed
or is this now are genuine need.
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