[back] |
| 5/6/04 |
Fan-ing the flames of celebrity Admit it: You know far too much about Jennifer Lopez's love life. You know how quickly Reese Witherspoon lost weight after giving birth and you know about Ben Affleck's political aspirations. You know about Courteney Cox Arquette's quest for motherhood. You've got help, thanks to People Magazine and Us Weekly and the two latest entrees into the world of celebrity voyeurism, In Touch and the formerly tabloid Star. Or if you haven't picked up one of those, there's always the E! channel, as well as "Entertainment Tonight," "Access Hollywood" and a deluge of touchy-feely celebrity sit-downs with the likes of Barbara Walters and Katie Couric. This is a nation where the obscure seem increasingly outnumbered, where the discreet are an endangered species. It's a land where we know far too much about our celebrities - right down to a recent In Touch magazine article about celebrity cellulite. Beyonce Knowles, Sarah Jessica Parker and Nicole Kidman, alas, all have it. But we keep on reading and watching. "We've confused having a lot of information about some people with intimacy," said psychologist James Houran, who has studied society's fascination with celebrities. He said, based on his research, at least one-third of the population feels "intimately connected" with a celebrity. Houran and a team of other psychologists have studied the degree to which people are fascinated with celebrities. At the most elemental level, fans are vaguely interested in celebrities, gossiping about them and enjoying reading about them. At a more serious level, they will buy celebrity memorabilia or write to the stars. At the most troubling level, he said, fans feel closer to celebrities than they feel to their own family and friends. Those fans, he said, include the extreme - celebrity stalkers. Everyone, Houran said, is interested in celebrities to some degree. But there are fans who take their interest to the clinical level. Stars, he said, can be viewed as modern-day religious icons. And the interest can range from normal - think preteens hanging posters of Justin Timberlake in their room - to clinical - feeling like Timberlake is a soul mate. Houran himself is now director of psychological studies at TRUEBeginnings, an online matchmaking service that uses compatibility tests to unite couples. The fascination with celebrity makes money: According to Ad Age's semiannual ranking of magazines by paid circulation, People was 11th in December 2003, with 3.6 million readers. Us Weekly ranked 64th with 1.3 million readers, and newbie In Touch was 144th, with 569,294 readers. But Houran said fandom is not necessarily detrimental. "Celebrity worship is not necessarily a bad thing," he said. "Having role models and idols is an important part of adolescent development, when we are looking to establish who we are and what we believe in." Certainly, celebrities have long had influence over what we wear, what we eat and what causes we support. Jennifer Aniston and actor George Clooney have set hairstyle trends. Mandy Moore, rapper Nelly and actress Kim Cattrall have all been part of the nearly decade-old "Got Milk?" ad campaign. And celebrities are frequent visitors to Capitol Hill, lobbying on behalf of causes ranging from research for Parkinson's disease to stopping mountaintop coal mining. In some cases, the behavior goes further. MTV recently ran a series of documentaries about mostly 20-somethings who emulated their favorite celebrity by having plastic surgery to resemble the star. A pair of Arizona twins got nose jobs, chin implants and porcelain veneers to resemble Brad Pitt. A Texas model had breast implants, lip implants and chin liposuction to resemble Pamela Anderson. A Chicago pre-op transsexual received breast implants, cheek implants, an eyebrow lift and had her eyebrow bone shaved and hairline lowered to better resemble Jennifer Lopez. "I am her fan, I love her ... I think she's beautiful," Jessica, born Michael, told MTV.com. On the more innocuous level, MTV ran four seasons of "Becoming ...," where fans got makeovers to look like their favorite pop star, then got the chance to act like that star in a scene-by-scene reproduction of a music video. In both shows, the culture of celebrity came full-circle: fans got a chance to gain fleeting fame by acting like a favorite star. Meanwhile, the in-crowd of stars is growing, thanks to reality television. Us Weekly recently ran a cover story on "Bachelor" star Jennifer Schefft's love life: would she wind up with bachelor Andrew Firestone or "Apprentice" winner Bill Rancic? Stars of MTV's "The Real World" and "Road Rules," meanwhile, can appear ad nauseum on that network, thanks to an unending cycle of MTV Real World/Road Rules challenges. "Now fans can literally have the opportunity to join in the lifestyle of their celebrities, which I don't think is necessarily a good thing," Houran said. Others become famous for very little. Hotel heiress Paris Hilton was already famous when she appeared on Fox's "The Simple Life." "She is not known for any accomplishments at all, but nonetheless people still feel drawn to the fact that she is well-known," said David Haven Blake, an assistant professor of English at the College of New Jersey. "... Our culture has gotten very good at producing these people." Still, Blake said, celebrities come and go more quickly than before. "People rise and fall within a matter of weeks," he said. Often, they fall hard. Andrew Goldberg, managing editor of thesmokinggun.com, said some of the site's most popular features are mug shots of celebrities who have been arrested. Those pictures, he said, are a far cry from the manufactured image that fans see on the red carpet or at other public appearances. They are often surprising: sex symbol Yasmine Bleeth, for example, is photographed looking haggard and disheveled. Rapper Eminem had his picture taken in a suit. The site draws a million and a half page views on average a day. The appeal: they offer even more information about stars, more fodder for fans convinced they already know virtually everything about them. "You already know who they are before we put up the police report," Goldberg said. "Or you think you know who they are."
Christina ticket sales lagged Not coming to Vegas this month is Christina Aguilera, who, citing "strained vocal chords," was "extremely disappointed" when "forced" to cancel her North American tour, which included a May 21 appearance at the Aladdin Theatre. More likely, she (not to mention tour promoters) was extremely disappointed at sadly sagging ticket sales. The 6,000-seat Aladdin had reportedly unloaded fewer than 2,000 seats just before the cancellation, a wild departure from last summer's sold-out show with Justin Timberlake at the MGM Grand.
In Brief: Justin parodied JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE and CHRISTINA AGUILERA are parodied as Justin Timberleg and Christina Ugliera in the revived Garbage Pail Kids line of collectible cards
Plugged In: Schizo review Objectionable Content Summary Advisory |
[back] |
