Don't Believe the Hype!

This is the operative advice given Hollywood celebrities. What makes a Hollywood celebrity? What is a celebrity? What skills are necessary to become a celebrity? By definition a celebrity is someone who accomplishes a task which merits celebration. I feel that is a more accurate definition rather than just being well-known or often talked about. Almost anyone could qualify as a celebrity if they did something that brought attention to themselves. Whether that person or his actions should be universally celebrated is another matter. Therefore the definition of celebrity should really have a qualification of achieving some task or goal that is noteworthy or even artistic. It used to be actors and actresses were celebrities. Oprah is a celebrity. She acted in several major films bringing her accolades for quality acting. She exhibited something beyond the ordinary, the studying and preparation of a script resulting in an artistic achievement which was, before film and television, theater. Theater. The Theater Arts, things that happen on the stage in a theater with a live audience. Theater. This is whence most actresses and actors come, and often where they end up. Hollywood, film, and television are not so forgiving. It seems the mere qualification of being “well-known” or “much talked about” is the current media definition of celebrity. Take Paris Hilton for example. Does going to jail merit celebrity? Is going to jail something that demands celebration? I think not. Likewise getting drunk and eating a sandwich in front of your kids is not something demanding of celebration. Constantly entering and leaving re-hab is not something a celebrity makes. Media instead revels in the “falling from grace” of many celebrities. Instead of focusing on the accomplishments that create celebrity, the paparazzi are busy stalking former celebrities often in their decent back to ordinary existence. Martha Stewart. Martha is the prime example of this often severe process. Who else could better represent an angel fallen from grace than than Michael Jackson? Why is it media seems to be fascinated with this imminent occurrence? Is it because we are jealous of other’s fame? Is it because we maybe are hoping they will get their act together and re-invent themselves? What is it? I guess it is the celebrity themselves and their actions that determine the wrath of the scrutiny in the decline. Britney certainly did nothing scandalous by following her heart and adolescent hormones. Marrying someone in a stream of consciousness in Vegas is not a crime. Whereas dropping your baby or carrying them on your lap in the front seat of a car is more serious, it still doesn’t constitute a Hollywood scandal. It is easy to say the person is what determines their own fate in terms of celebrity. Videotape yourself having sex and allowing that to become visible to millions of Americans. Maybe you have what is coming to you. Luckily not everyone has the Hilton hotel chain to bail them out. Seduce and try to have sex with teenage boys? Maybe you got what is coming. Luckily the trappings of fame, fortune, Hollywood, and celebritydom, (another coined word ending in D-O-M!) don’t take the place of ordinary moral and ethical values. Don’t believe the hype! Keep it real! Both of these phrases alone are enough to dismantle American Idol, a popular television entertainment that does just this. What better premise could there be than to take a complete unknown, make them a star, and then watch them get torn apart all in the arena of American television? Don’t we have more to do?