Why Americans Are So Obsessed With Celebrities - Essay Example

Why Americans are so obsessed with celebrities What is this that makes them bate their breaths awaiting to hear the last gossips from the celebrity world Rhodes (2009) says that Americans are celebrity conscious culture. He read a survey which states that one third of Americans are obsessed with celebrities. The report continues that one in ten was obsessed to the point of being almost psychotic. In other articles Austin (2007) declares that approximately seven million celebrity gossip magazines are sold each week.

Why is that Why the lives of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie or David Beckham are so fascinating for Americans to drop everything and tune in There are possibly two reasons for this - media, boredom with life and new modern technologies. Media now has the power to unveil the most intimate moments of celebrities. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are not the first two celebrities to go to Namibia. However, they suddenly made headlines when decided to give birth to their child there. Very often the media is not reporting what the celebrities say, but they report on what they think has happened.

This somehow disports the whole halo around popular people. The media steals their personal lives and transforms them into gossip food for the public. News reporters prefer to broadcast a celebrity baby than to explain to the audience a nuclear bomb experiment in the Pacific Ocean. Media shapes the image of the Americans - a nation that favours gossips to news of substance. Why do the media choose such a stand They say it is about ratings. TV stations just give the audience what they demand most - more stardom.

Media simply responds to the public demands. Star-worshiping for many Americans is a way of meaningful existence. The ironic twist about celebrity obsession is our primary motivation to overcome our boredom and dissatisfaction with our own existence. We are attracted to celebrities, because they are better versions of ourselves - richer, more successful and well-known. However, they are also people like us. Apparently they make the same mistakes like everyone else and when they end up in rehabs or die in a car accident, they become even more accessible to us with their pain and grieve.

At first they seem less like to be real humans, but then realizing that they can be heart, their perfection is more real. And the process of idolization removes our daily, boring life. With all the instant access to the Internet and new technologies - IP phones and wireless, we can receive this-minute news. The selling of the product, sells not the very product, but the idea that you can get constant access to the entertaining celebrity world. With our ever increasing virtual admission, celebrities are always with us and around us.

New technologies made it possible to record every move, every word and to broadcast it numerous times. Supposedly, this creates more hunger in us and we require to be fed with more celebrity fame. Fame is the most important thing in our American life. Star-gazing fills the abyss in our mundane lives and media and new technologies create social trends of low-level culture. After being overly involved in the lives of the famous, we experience fulfillment and the troubles of Angelina and Brad seem more real than our own.

Being part of our favourite's Hollywood stars we abandon the fatigue and instill our lives with meaning. Works Cited:Rhodes, Melvin. "Why Are Americans So Obsessed with Celebrities" United Church of God, an International Association. 2009. 25 October 2009 Austin, Anastacia,Mott, "Why Are We So Obsessed with Celebrities" Buzzle Staff and Agencies. 2007. 25 October 2009