Why Do You Spend So Much Time Knowing About Celebrities?

Why Do You Spend So Much Time Knowing About Celebrities?

Celebrities are everywhere these days: TV, billboards, magazines, talk-shows, products, you name it. They're everywhere, and lately, it's become something of a hip trend to suck up as much info on your favorite celebrities as possible. If one was to take a step back and look closer, we'd be asking ourselves, why is this so? Why am I so interested in the latest Tom Cruise headline, but not so much so with my studies? Why does the latest celebrity scandal grab my attention more so than the local community problems we face everyday? What follows here is a general break-down and overview of the two primary related reasons, I can think of, as to why we have such a strong fascination with celebrities?



A. Inspiration:
This is perhaps the most positive reason one can come up with for why we find celebrities so damn fascinating. Let's face it, we all love a good rag-to-riches story, we all love hearing about the guy or gal who come from so and so with little cash flow, but dreamt big and persisted enough to make it happen. We love hearing about college drop-outs who felt whatever line of business they were set up for wasn't their true calling, and they laid it all down on the line to pursue something even bigger. And obviously we love hearing this stuff, because a majority of us are rather dissatisfied with our own careers and we look elsewhere for that inspiration or change.
It is a common philosophical principle that we find it easier to project or attribute our own values to an outside model or person and follow through with finding out and modeling that person or entity. The ubiquitous presence of celebrities these days via the media pretty much insures this. And it's more so a case today, as it's become fashionable for celebrities to endorse certain causes; fashionable to be an activist that is. Given this, we will always admire those who perpetrate the change that we wish for in this world.

Make no mistake about it, celebrities are the mythical figures of the modern time, and that they are human makes them all the more appealing and identifiable. As such, it's only natural to find inspiration in such people and to learn from them, even if the images of certain people presented are in many of cases false, mis-attributed, or imperfect. But therein lies the negative flip-side to this coin; A lot of people will be quick to backlash certain celebrities at the sight of a single human flaw, no matter how small or big, because that flaw easily manages to tarnish an all too clean image.

"With great power, comes great responsibility" and no one really likes knowing that their favorite hero screwed up, cheated on their spouse, or committed a a felony that any average human being might be tempted to pull off every once in a while. That's really the reason we're so fascinated by scandal, isn't it? It's a case of, "I believed you and you let me down." No one likes knowing that those on the top of the ladder can be just as imperfect as those on the bottom, and the more cynical of us will take pleasure in that fact.

It's that fascination with what it's like to be up there on the edge that fascinates so many people, considering that many believe that such folks have reached a certain peak of human achievement, even if one was to point out that that no such ladder exists in the first place. But still, it is human nature to go ever-higher and we need models.

Entertainment:
This is most obvious factor in our fascination with the topic. To discuss this, we might as well discuss why we watch movies, listen to music, or watch sports. Plain and simple, because it's Fun! It's amusement. It fills the time, it's finding distractions in, not only the arts, but the artists themselves, who have quite uniquely developed that such that they themselves have become works of art; and in many cases we learn from this. Because like I mentioned earlier, we like to forget our own troubles and we like to project it outside, and in so doing, we attribute these feelings of good times and fun to the people involved with making these activities, and this also leads to the above-mentioned inspiration, good or bad.

How often do you find yourself, that whenever you're impressed by a good movie, a good actor, singer, basketball player etc. you surf the net for sites and videos, finding out more about that person, his/her ideas, values and life. Hell this is even something, a lot dating-gurus point out these days, that women love Brad Pitt, not primarily for his looks but for the characters he plays on-screen.

I am not, though, saying that these celebrities are void of talent; their talent is a big part of who they are; their ability to make us laugh or cry isn't something that can only be attributed to their created personas, but their real personas. It had to have come from somewhere after all. That's why it's often suggested that people emulate these characteristics and talents. It's not really pretending. One of favorite movies of the year, was "Rataouille"; I'm not going to spoil it for those who haven't seen it, but when you do, keep in mind that notion of "not pretending". Those who have seen the film must have already grasped what I'm talking about here. Just keep it mind.

In the end, our fascination with celebrities is really an observation on society, but more importantly an insight into our own human nature and ourselves. That's really why we're prone to often neglect that local community problem and instead read about the latest celebrity headline. Because we innately relate to that celebrity, in the same manner that we relate to ourselves. Knowing others, is in a sense, knowing ourselves, and this can be a good or bad thing depending on your own perspective of the world.
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