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Celebrity

This episode explores some aspects of the nature of celebrity in our society. Here are some points to consider for reflection or discussion.

 

A - The Origins of Celebrity

Many of the conversations in the video associate celebrity with success, fame, wealth, and the high life. These aspects of life may give us some clues about why people respect and seek celebrity themselves. Consider these opinions.

  • When people have a problem, they turn to pop stars, actors etc…

  • I need money. I have my dream.

  • This person (celebrity) doesn’t do anything for you…it’s a game, and there are rules they play to get ahead.

  • Supermodels and teenage girls — you know. That’s a sad indictment of how celebrity status is taken too far.

  1. Why do you think society has made so much of celebrity in recent times?

  2. Why do you think people either seek to be celebrities, or want to befriend celebrities?

  3. Is celebrity the product of something else?

 

B - How Celebrities Feel

A number of comments seemed to indicate that celebrity is not as great as people make it out to be. It can be overrated.

  • Some big stars find it hard to live a normal life …they are afraid of everybody thinking "they want something from me".

  • It’s depressing. There are moments I feel like crying when there’s no work.

  • At the moment I travel, but it’s not the thing of being famous. What does it mean to be famous?

  • You need luck as well as talent.

  • You can easily begin to believe your own publicity.

  • "Heavy duty" people are often alone and long to get down to street level.

  1. What truth is there in the saying that "ordinary people want to live like celebrities and celebrities want to live like ordinary people"?

  2. It seems that many celebrities think and behave like ordinary people. Does celebrity change many people?

  3. Why do you think many people seem to be grasping at straws in pursuing celebrity?

 

C - Celebrity Shapes Identity

Many comments focus on the idea that celebrity is modeled by those who are selected by the media and society, and that these models influence the way we see ourselves. Some see these models as not presenting a balanced perspective of life.

  • Definitely a place in shaping peoples’ identity.

  • People watch because they are looking for a code, trying to figure out "how I should be".

  • Society seems to be saying particularly "these are our heroes, these celebrities, these famous people who have enormous wealth, great fame, great power".

  1. In what ways do you think the life models of celebrities influence the thinking and behaviour of people?

  2. Do you agree with Peter about what qualities create celebrities? Would you change his list?

  3. Should celebrities influence us to the extent that they do?

 

D - Celebrity Can Be Manipulated

Several of the celebrities seemed to indicate that the media created celebrity and used it for their own material gain.

  • Celebrities can be "decelebritized" if they are over exposed. They can be under or over exposed.

  • Celebrities are disposable….celebrities are known for being known.

  • The media uses people, exploits people, and when they have finished they cast them to one side.

  • The media is creating new myths for us…we must create other meaning than what the media creates.

  1. Do you agree that celebrity is something created by big business and the media it uses, to promote its own ends?

  2. How does the media manipulate the way we see celebrity and pursue it?

 

E - The Meaning of Celebrity

There are many references to the idea that celebrity is shallow, empty, elusive, meaningless or short-lived.

  • A great deal of fame and celebrity is absolutely empty — nothing to it at all, straw in the wind.

  • Fame and celebrity should be to do with the inner workings of a person. We should be putting up peoples’ compassion, their love of one another as being the heroic aspects of peoples’ natures.

  • Then I found this cause that totally consumed me…. I’d found something here that was much more important (than celebrity).

  1. Do you agree that celebrity is often shallow, empty and short-lived?

  2. Do you agree with Peter that real celebrity should be concerned with the "inner workings" of people? What do you think should be emphasized most in celebrity?

 

F - Is Celebrity Spiritual?

The episode suggests that celebrity and the identities it creates are ultimately linked to peoples’ quest for spirituality.

  • I think we’ll always need icons. An icon is an idea that has a religious root. There is something about the need to worship our society through the individual achiever.

  • People are looking for a code, trying to figure out ‘how I should be’…one of the things these institutions are now abdicating to celebrities.

  • I think there is a cute side to celebrity…I think it’s OK so long as it doesn’t become worship.

  1. Do you think that the link between celebrity and religion is credible?

  2. Do you agree that there is a need to worship society through the individual achiever?

  3. In what sense do you think some people "worship" celebrities?

 

G - Overview

  1. Why do some people seek celebrity status or feel a little downcast about not being a so-called celebrity?

  2. What developments have taken place in your thinking as you have watched the episode?

  3. Do you think the idea of celebrity is overdone in society?

  4. After thinking about this episode, how would you now define celebrity?

 

 
  

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