We care so much about celebrities because they have symbolic meaning-we attach greater significance to them than we do to a regular person. Having celebrities to follow does the same thing as older forms of media-it can distract us and sensitize us to the human condition. When we are having a bad day, we can look at the newest story about Lindsey Lohan getting arrested, again, and it will make us feel good about ourselves. Also, if our lives are boring and we do the same thing over and over again everyday, we get enjoyment out of watching celebrity drama that lets us escape our boring lives for even just a moment.
Also celebrities provide narrative. Narrative gives us: Verisimilitude (connection to reality), identification (connection with ourselves), stakes (feeling that this matters), and suspense (an unknown ending). We get pleasure from the presence of these narratives, because like I said earlier, it helps us get distracted from our otherwise boring lifestyle. Celebrities are followed and photographed constantly, and by having these celebrities to look after, we are able to see the celebrity lifestyle without having to actually experience all the downfalls, like having to deal with paparazzi or having to deal with your secrets getting out and creating a scandal. In other words, we can experience the drama without having to experience the consequences of the drama.
I think we all love to hear about the latest celebrity gossip and while their lifestyle appears to be all glitz and glamour it really isn't. They have daily struggles just as we do except their lives are very public. You're right. That's why we love hearing about it; to feel better about ourselves.
ReplyDelete