Celebrity Status

 

Lights...Camera..Action! From a young age, we grow up with stars in our eyes being sold the idea of fame from the television shows we watch at a young age about teen pop sensations to the front pages of tabloid newspapers talking about the latest scandals however 'Celebrity' is not what it seems. I am going to talk about what 'Celebrity' actually is and the detrimental nature of celebrity culture for both the celebrities, defined as a famous person, themselves and society as a whole. I will be applying key theories such as Richard Dyer 'Star Power', the concept of post-modernism and hyperreality and Fiske's power of the audience however the conclusions formed from my analysis on celebrity culture and online spaces will be applicable to scenarios that potentially do not reinforce or support the above theories. Before we get into it, I would like to recognise my bias as a western consumer and thus the validity of some of my conclusions may be weaker due to the fact I couldn't collect and analyse global data however I have tried to make them as informative as possible! Without further ado, lets delve into the world of Celebrity. 

Firstly, I would like to introduce the concept of Celebrity as a performance. The performative aspect of celebrity is crucial to understand as we analyse the impact of celebrity culture online- the people we perceive as celebrities are not celebrities themselves but rather 'playing the part' of a famous person. As Richard Dyer stated 'Celebrity is constructed by institutions for financial gain; stars are constructed to play the parts of real people experiencing real emotions' this links into my idea of performative stardom as we as an audience are positioned to feel empathetic towards stars as the hegemonic reading yet if you look into online consumers reaction to celebrity there is also a largely counter-hegemonic reaction to celebrity in which the audiences grow to criticise the stars and their humility due to the perception of them as brands. This is particularly interesting for me [perhaps only me] as it places constructed celebrity in the same bracket as brands and this directly links to capitalism and essentially connotes the idea that an individual's politics and beliefs will decipher how they consume celebrity news and actions. This can be as simple as having a disconnect from fandom spaces to the complete opposite, in which a celebrity completely determines their conscious decision whether it be through endorsement or ideological influence. This is directly supported by an institution's desire to provide consumable content for audiences- essentially meaning celebrities and stars are encouraged or contracted to behave in certain manners in order to make them appeal to a target audience; a practice very similar to the way businesses market products. This objectification of a 'real person' thus encourages potentially harmful or unethical behaviours from the audiences they appeal to whether it be through invasion of privacy as seen many times with leaked photos or celebrity stalkers and paparazzi or much more subtle behaviours such as the normalisation of RPF [real people fiction] and 'shipping' as the performative side of celebrity allows audience to consume these real people as if they are characters rather than human beings. Applying this to Baudrillard's theory of postmodernism, we could deduce that the contemporary celebrity experience is an example of hyper-reality as people struggle to detach the 'reality' from the 'constructed' and thus what's 'real' becomes blurred.

This leads onto my second point of Fan culture in conjunction with celebrity status particularly the idol worship of celebrity. The hyperreality of contemporary Celebrity creates a strange habitat online for fans, as they become attached to celebrities but fail to recognise and navigate ethical boundaries due to the lack of clarity between the 'actor' and the 'real person' they're portraying. I have researched specifically sexual content and fetishisation of East Asian celebrities in western platforms, particularly in online platforms, and thus will be referring to this throughout the paragraph- if this makes you uncomfortable, please skip to the third and final paragraph. Western celebrity experiences revolve solely around the simple cycle of 'Introduction - Controversy - Profit' as seen through socialites such as Paris Hilton, where she introduces a product, there is a controversial occurrence and thus a profit is made for an institution. However, online fandoms do not work directly for a profit and therefore their similar approach to discourse intrigues me to no end, one of the ways people choose to 'support' a term I use loosely, their idols is through sexual content. These are colloquially referred to as 'hard stans' in fandom spaces and to summarise their experience with celebrity is that they take a celebrity, and place them in a sexual imaginary scenario, and then share it online. This has been common practice within fandoms for a long time with some RPF [real person fiction] dating back to the late 20th century. This is directly linked to the hyperreality of celebrity status, as they place them in fictional scenarios however it directly influences their real perception of these actual human beings. On the other hand, devotion to celebrities is not unusual as the representation offered by celebrities is directly supposed to encourage audiences to be empathetic and support the people in question whether it be due to representation, they find them attractive or the art they create/content they put out is enjoyable and allows audiences to 'form bonds' with the celebrity supported by interactions through social networking sites or online content. This is innocent until it isn't- when fans begin to apply stereotypes and fetishise the cultures of the celebrities they support despite not belonging to those cultures themselves. This issue is far more complex than I have the vernacular to express but essentially relating to my ideas presented in the first paragraph, audiences take the ideas presented by the celebrity and let it consciously impact their perception of things, This is apparent with the rise of globalisation due to the digital age, but with the popularisation of cultures that do not directly reflect western ideas, comes the misrepresentation, fetishisation and isolation of the cultures especially in fandoms dominated by western stans but that surround a foreign language media text. This is one of my heaviest criticisms on celebrity culture as it fails to stress the importance of culture and language outside of the idols these fans are told to worship- I would be happy to elaborate upon this at a later date.

This brings me onto my third and final point which is contemporary celebrity culture as demonised the concept of holding people accountable by popularising the term 'cancel culture' and prioritising the careers of the accused over the unethical behaviours they've presented. Since some of the scenarios this could be applicable to are triggering I am going to omit talking about triggering content and the continuous abuse of power and sexual misconduct in celebrity spaces in detail but the following conclusion and analysis can definitely be applied to those scenarios. 'Stars' have a lot of influence and as a result they have a dedicated following or a 'loyal consumer' in business terms which is someone dedicating to supporting a brand due to their trust in the 'product' available. Although, I don't support the objectification of celebrity I feel as if this analogy is the easiest to understand; People's failure to disconnect a real person from the brand they represent is blurring the lines of ethical consumption in the creative industries. Holding someone accountable should objectively be the instinctive reaction to controversy or unethical actions however due to the rise in celebrity influence- particularly soft power in fandoms, people have adapted to the 'innocent until proven guilty' mentality rather than critically consuming the content available surrounding rumours including proofs, cultural knowledge and accounts in order to defend their favourite conventionally attractive idol. This failure to recognise that celebrities are not the characters they play but real human beings capable of misdoings is exactly what provides them with the platform and ability to abuse their power and profit off of it. This leads onto how we as a society have progressed past the need of the social status hierarchy which provides celebrities with the ability to resist accountability until it threatens their ability to make profit. There performative morality is one of the most damning aspects of stardom as we as an audience are responsible for the success or lack thereof, in alliance with Fiske's theory of Audience power, it is easy for fans to feel responsible or guilt when it comes to their idols immorality however this dilutes the blame and repercussions that come back to the celebrity. This can be combated if audiences didn't make misodings about their disappointment but rather did something about it whether it be economic deprivation through boycotting institutions or the use of social media to bring attention to the behaviours, This is completely up for discussion personally I find the lack of empathy to those impacted by idols actions [whether it be minority groups, specific people etc.] interesting as it is completely determined by one person, and it has a trickle down effect as the hypothetical hierarchy of fans and celebrity support is called into question determining on your personal morals and empathetic reaction. This could also be applied to the media's dramatisation of controversy and the traditional media's response to holding celebrities responsible for their actions and comparing this to citizen journalists roles in the spread of information also. This altered media climate still runs the same as traditional tabloid news when it comes to celebrity culture and consumption however at a more varied degree due to the introduction of multiple opinions from both celebrities themselves and others as well as traditional news allowing the creation of certain narratives and the omission of others. 

Overall, I believe that our consumption of Celebrity has to be reevaluated as well as how we approach the spread of celebrity content. The current 'all-or-nothing' model in which you either completely support an opinion leader or have a negative response is unsustainable as personal bias and online conformity impacts how we perceive the real people behind the 'stars' they perform as, there are a lot of factors to consider when it comes to this reformation of the online opinion and celebrity culture and that includes how capitalism plays a role in the creation of stars and how representation plays a role in the consumption of celebrity, I hope this piece was coherent and if you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask!  If there is any misinformation please let me know, i tried to be as objective as possible and use current research however some information available was released between 2014-2017 and could possible be outdated! 

Thank you for reading!