No, this isn’t really another post about Britney, other than as a matter of convenience — because she’s merely the most current example (still alive, at least) of this very strange cultural phenomenon that has developed in our society.
I’m not a fan, nor does Adorable Child like her; I neither know her, nor care about her personally. I do, however, care intensely about this obvious illness in our society.
The current frenzy surrounding Britney Spears is astounding — right down to an appalling website, now, that is selling the hair she shaved from her noggin (minimum bid $1 million!). No wonder she cracked up.
However, she’s not unique. This is, it seems, part and parcel of the way the famous must live these days. (See: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, baby) It’s actually her very lack of uniqueness that’s prompted this post.
Tell me — do you think the media (and paparazzi) inundate us with such ridiculous, invasive stories, images, and details about these manufactured godlets and idols because it’s what we want? Or do we want it because the media has created the frenzy upon which we now feed?
Because Polimom can’t decide whether Britney’s fans are trying to kill her, or if the media is responsible.
Who's trying to kill Britney?
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I actually think it is a bit of both – though the root cause is “human nature”, in which we like to put people (celebrities, royalty, whatever) on a pedestal – then kick the pedestal out from under them and watch them fall.
Not surprised to see Britney’s hair on eBay. However, watch out if Anna Nicole is ordered to be cremated – eBay will fall over and go *BOOM* from all the traffic that those auctions generate!
~EdT.
Seems like the media is just feeding a sector of the public that idolizes celebrity. Basic supply & demand. Were that sector to stop caring, rags like Us would dry up overnight.
machine —
That really is the simplest answer, and it’s where I started in my thought process. But it feels (to me) like the industry mags are only a drop in the bucket these days. The frenzy has gone viral, infesting the news, the internet… all aspects of normal social discourse. It’s like a cancer that’s metastasized.
I absolutely agree that the media is out of control. But even if they are the ones creating the demand, there is still a demand. People will watch whatever is put on tv or read whatever is in magazines – the more disgusting, the better. However, and please don’t take this the wrong way, by writing a post on it, you’re (in a way) feeding the frenzy, even though you’re talking about how bad it is. I feel that the only thing that can be done about the media is to ignore it.
And, as for Britney – her actions may not be the greatest, and her clothing choice may not be appropriate for young viewers, but I like her. Who cares if she shaved her head? Or got divorced (twice)? Britney is a strong woman who does what she wants to do and not what everyone tells her to. I admire her for shaving her head – she’s showing people out there that it’s okay to live outside the box and not to conform to society’s ridiculous beauty standard. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but since I can only think of a few celebrities (out of millions) that would be good role models, I don’t understand why the focus is on Britney.
I admire her for shaving her head – she’s showing people out there that it’s okay to live outside the box and not to conform to society’s ridiculous beauty standard.
She’s also showing how she refuses to live up to society’s standards for sobriety, decency, safety, marriage, parenting and even business.
That’s not some admirable form of non-conformity. That’s a failed person.
Jess — no offense taken at all. I think you’re right, actually, that the mere act of posting this adds to the clamor — yet it was that very clamor that triggered the thoughts themselves. I had a decent headache already from from the Anna Nicole foolishness, and in combination, it becomes unfathomable (to me). How does one ask these questions without naming names?
And I have to agree with Matt. She’s broken, and in ways not dissimilar from the afore-mentioned Ms. Smith.
As Stephen Colbert put it, celebrities are our nation’s most precious natural resource.
Celebrities are personifications of everything that we think is missing in our boring, uninspiring lives: beauty, sex, drugs, alcohol, parties, glamour. If we got up from in front of the idiot box and led more interesting lives we’d have no need of Britney and her ilk.
I am the father of Anna Nicole’s child!
I am the father of Anna Nicole’s child!
Hey… how ’bout that! So am I!
Along with what everyone else has said (except Jess):
I think celebrity media coverage going through the same growing pains that Presidential media coverage went through around 1996-97. The President lies? He has sex? In the Oval Office!! There was a big debate over whether the President was allowed to have a personal life, and yet celebrities went about their drug-addled, closeted ways with no one else the wiser. And we were shocked, SHOCKED, when Kurt Cobain put a gun in his mouth or Chris Farley died of a drug overdose. Who knew?
Thanks to more immediate media coverage, we know everyone’s dirty secrets. Watch Lindsay coming out of rehab and head straight for the clubs! Look at the white powder residue Nicole Richie left behind in a bathroom stall!
I think it gives the average citizen a sense of foreshadowing. A sense of, “Well I saw this coming a mile away!” A sense of superiority even, “My boring life is a lot better than THAT!”