Information about the lives and work of celebrities permeates everyday existence, and the celebrity news cycle runs 24 hours a day. This coverage provides a compelling narrative that increases interest in celebrities, according to Neal Gabler also see his book Life the Movie: How Entertainment Conquered Reality. Studies show that the most common leisure activity among Americans, the English and citizens of other European countries is choosing to become absorbed in imaginary experiences and social worlds provided by television, movies, books and video games, which typically feature celebrities.
Related research by Shira Gabriel and her colleagues has shown that social needs can even be met with the use of social surrogates , which are only symbolic in nature. People who have lower self-esteem have been shown to boost their self-concept by thinking of a favorite celebrity.
Similarly, people who feel rejected have had their sense of social connection restored by involvement in a favorite television show. Gayle Stever believes that parasocial relationships with both actual and fictional mediated personalities are to be expected from an evolutionary perspective, and that in most cases these non-reciprocated relationships are adaptive in helping people meet social needs for safety and security.
For this minority of fans, the empty self is more likely motivating the attraction to celebrities. There are additional reasons for the easy connections that fans have with celebrities. We experience the same emotional responses to fictional events as we do to real events, and although the former may be a bit weaker, they are, nonetheless, real emotions.
Therefore, media representations of celebrities cannot be easily distinguished from actual encounters with people. Consistent with this reasoning, Kanazawa speculates that people lower in intelligence may have a more difficult time distinguishing between their real friends and characters that they see on television.
Emerging research on social media, however, shows that fans and celebrities can have actual relationships that go beyond parasocial ones. Fans who use Twitter to communicate with their favorite celebrity feel a more intimate connection. Celebrities who tweet often reveal more candid personal information and can create feelings of closeness for fans, in addition to managing their image, although in some cases the celebrity may not actually be the one managing the Twitter account.
Lady Gaga has used a variety of social media to cultivate a large devoted fan base known as Little Monsters. Her web site gives access to her concert tickets and music, and provides a forum for fans to communicate with her on occasion and each other and to explore personal issues in a supportive online environment.
I love you little monsters 4eva. The last decades been a blast I will never forget. It was true. The increased use of social media to communicate with celebrities and the rise of reality television have led Joshua Gamson to propose that the most important trend in celebrity culture in recent years is that celebrities have become more ordinary and accessible, while many ordinary, unexceptional people have become famous.
Celebrities can reveal intimate, mundane and behind-the-scenes aspects of their lives on social media. Social media can even help fans to achieve their own measure of fame, which has been shown to be the main aspiration of many young people in recent years.
Fans who have a greater interest in fame have also been observed to be more active on social media. Reality shows also typically highlight ordinary people and provide a quick path to fame.
Strong cultural forces also promote interest in celebrities. It should not be surprising, therefore, that entertainment themes dominate much of what we think about and do in daily life. We seem to have an insatiable appetite for all forms of entertainment and the industry is happy to oblige us.
Critics of celebrity and entertainment culture seem to become more on target with each passing year. Video technology is advancing to the point where fake videos are increasingly indistinguishable from videos of real people and events. Huxley described a society obsessed with trivia and lulled into complacency with incessant pleasure and entertainment. More recent critics continue to commonly blame celebrity and entertainment culture for moral decay , loss of values and the erosion of cognitive abilities.
We are also too easily distracted from important events that really matter. In the first — the Orwellian — culture becomes a prison. In the second — the Huxleyan — culture becomes a burlesque. In order to try to keep a better perspective about these effects, however, we might adapt an old saying: Although we might keep our celebrity friends close, we should keep our real friends closer. For more than 10 years, Fair Observer has been free, fair and independent. No billionaire owns us, no advertisers control us.
We are a reader-supported nonprofit. Much celebrity obsession is intentionally cultivated, Kruger said. Talk show hosts, for example, try to foster a personal connection with their audience. Most of the time, caring about celebrities is no big deal. Even for some obsessed fans, celebrity worship can provide a social outlet they wouldn't have otherwise had, Fischoff told LiveScience. For the seriously shy , celebrity fandom can act as a "psychological prosthesis," he said.
There are lines, though. Houran and his colleagues found that it's too simplistic to divide fans into casual, healthy types and wild-eyed stalkers. In fact, celebrity worship is a continuum, Houran told LiveScience. When celebrity worship goes overboard, it usually starts out benign, Houran said. People enjoy the escapism of celebrity gossip and bond with others over a favorite star. Next, there's a shift. The person starts thinking of the celebrity constantly, withdrawing from family and friends.
Addictive and compulsive behaviors come into play. Finally, a very few people reach what's known as the "borderline pathological" stage, in which they believe they have a close relationship with their favorite celebrity and take that belief quite seriously. When asked if they'd do something illegal at the request of their favorite celebrity, these people say "yes.
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