celebrity

A celebrity is a person who is widely recognized (famous) in a society and commands a high degree of public and media attention. The word stems from the Latin celebritas, itself from the adjective celeber meaning 'famous, celebrated'. While fame is generally considered to be the major prerequisite for celebrity status, it is not always sufficient. There has to be a level of public interest in the person which may or may not be connected to the reason they are famous. For example, a public figure such as a politician, industry leader etc. may be famous but not a celebrity unless something else triggers public and mass media interest (e.g. Virgin Director Richard Branson attempting to circumnavigate the globe in a hot air balloon). Other types of fame, particularly those connected with mass entertainment are almost guaranteed to lead to celebrity even if the person deliberately avoids media attention.

Celebrity structure

Each nation or cultural community (linguistic, ethnic, religious) has its own largely independent celebrity system, e.g. individuals who are extremely well known in India, might be unknown abroad, except with the Indian diaspora.

Subnational entities or regions will also have their own 'celebrity system'. This will be largest and most independent in distinct regions such as Quebec and Puerto Rico. Locally, regional newscasters, politicians or community leaders could be considered celebrities: for example, Lin Sue Cooney is a well known television reporter in Arizona, but she is not that well known in other areas. Singers, actors (especially working in their native language) and other media celebrities from say the Netherlands are much more likely to be famous in equally Dutch-speaking Flanders, and vice-versa, than anywhere else.

Thus celebrity is relative, depending on geographic scale. A celebrity will be known only by those audiences that are reached by the media in which the celebrity features. In a smaller country, linguistic or cultural community, a figure will be less likely to gain worldwide celebrity. Shakira and Paulina Rubio are examples of individuals who were known largely in the Spanish-speaking world before increasing their global fame through English language-versions of their songs.

Some celebrities can be considered 'global' - that is, they are known across the world. These will almost all be high-powered religious or political figures, Hollywood actors, globally successful musicians and successful sports stars.

Many people will refer to celebrities as A-List, B-List, C-List, D-List or Z-List. These indicate a placing within the hierarchy, though due to differing levels of celebrity in different regions, it is difficult to place people within one bracket. In addition to this, these 'lists' do not actually exist; they are concepts whose definition will change from person to person. One method of quantitatively dividing celebrities into categories from A-List to H-List is based on their number of Google hits.^[1]

Professions that offer celebrity

Some professional activities, by the nature of being high-paid, highly exposed, and difficult to get into, automatically confer celebrity. For example, movie stars and television actors are almost invariably celebrities, as are rock stars. High-ranking politicians, television reporters, television show hosts, supermodels, astronauts, major-league athletes and musicians are also celebrities. While rare, a handful of people such as Mother Teresa have even achieved fame because of their humanitarian work.

Some film and theatre directors, producers, artists, authors, trial lawyers and journalists are celebrities, but the vast majority are not, or much less than their real importance in the business. Some people in these professions strive to avoid celebrity, while others seek it.

Any person who is able to get his own television show (or section) will usually become a celebrity: this includes chefs, gardeners, and interior decorators on shows like Trading Spaces and While You Were Out. However fame based on one program may often prove short-lived after it is discontinued.

Celebrity families

Individuals can achieve celebrity, but there are also many celebrity families, such as various royal families (often interest in these will be highest when scandal is involved, as with the House of Windsor) and artistic 'dynasties' e.g. the Barrymore, Cassidy (David and Shaun Cassidy), the Osmonds, Osbournes, Quintanilla, Redgrave, Sheen/Estevez, Stiller, Mistry, Jackson and Baldwin families, as well as the Bushes, Clintons, Luke Ellis's family, the Sweet family and Kennedys and some sports families.

Celebrity resentment

Because celebrities have fame comparable to that of royalty or gods in the past, some people exhibit curiosity about their private affairs as well as resent celebrities for their accolades. There is often a love/hate relationship that the general public has with celebrities. Many express that celebrities don't work as hard as non-celebrities and that celebrities don't deserve to be catered to as they are. Due to the high visibility of celebrities' personal lives, their failures are often made public. Therefore, "celebrities" are usually viewed as exhibiting worse personal behavior and having worse moral values than most people.

Whether this is true or not is questionable, because the exact meaning of the word "celebrity" is difficult to define, not all celebrities exhibit bad behaviour, and, sometimes, the acts that a celebrity does reflect social trends that non-celebrities might also do. A case in point may be the behavior of non-celebrities on Reality television. There seems to a be high increase of celebrity obsession with the vast expansion of celebrity tabloid magazines. Sometimes the public tries to be like celebrities even if people know they will never be exactly quite like them. This is done through by buying celebrity items, like published books, clothing lines, perfume, household items, and watching their tv shows and movies. Celebrities in the 21st century know that they must expand and become brands if they want to stay in the public eye.

Some have argued that the notion of celebrity is self-reinforcing and ultimately vacuous: some celebrities are not famous for their accomplishments, but merely famous for their fame and presumed fortune. For example, Paris Hilton would not be a public figure without her wealth, but her family's prominence has created and reinforces her fame. Hilton is in some senses a special case; she is famous at least in part for being an example of the perceived negative or shallow aspects of celebrity life, and some believe she is going out of her way to fill that role and gather further attention. But in many ways, figures like Hilton and other 21st century celebrities are just occupying celebrity niches previously occupied by stars of earlier generations.

Drawbacks

Becoming a celebrity can turn a person into a target for stalkers^{citation needed]} but are mostly stalked by mentally ill persons. Also, some celebrities have been murdered in an effort for the murderer to become famous too. Also, some celebrities such as Steve-O have been arrested for drug possession charges as some people may deceive a drug buyer who happens to be a celebrity.

References

See also

• Category:Lists of celebrities
• Celebrity branding
• List of songs about famous people

External links

• Academic website for the study of Celebrity
• Feature article on the pyschology of celebrity obsession, "Divine Trash", from Cosmos science magazine