Top Secret Tuesday - I don’t care about celebrities too much
In light of Heath Ledger’s death which I’ve been watching a little more closely than I normally do when it comes to celebrities, I thought I might take this time to write about how I don’t much care about the lives of celebrities. Here’s the thing about celebrities, beyond their stardom in movies or as a musician/singer/songwriter or as an athlete or whatever makes celebrities a star, they’re normal people. They do everything that we as “normal” people do. I think that they get fucked up because of us, the normal people that don’t think that celebrities are normal people, that there’s something about them that makes their lives interesting or something. And it’s slightly frustrating to me. It’s like they’re not allowed to lead “normal” lives as the paparazzi are always around trying to get the latest story the latest angle the newest pictures to put in magazines and online so that they can feed the hungry crowds that are craving the news of some fucked up celebrity.
Why is it that we do that, what causes us to think wow, look at that person… I’ll give an example, Brittany Spears, she’s been to rehab, she’s done some crazy crap, she’s in a custody battle, she’s lucky if she gets to see her sons. What makes that so different from the people down the street that are having the same issues? Why do we care about the celebrities that are going through the same stuff as us, the normal peeps.
I mean, think about it, do you sit and talk about your best friend’s husband who left his wife in the name of being with some other woman (from a job, a friend, etc) the way Brad Pitt left Jennifer Aniston to be with Angelina Jolie.
Do you sit and talk about friend X who is single and yet yesterday was seen with person Y and three days before that was seen with person Z.
Is it so abnormal for there to be “work” romances in your jobs?
I think that celebrities are fucked up because we the “normal” people drive them to craziness. Lindsay Lohan, how many times has she been arrested for DWI or DUI, a few…now tell me that you don’t have at least one friend that has been arrested for the same thing…and when you think about it, unless you’re a really good person with really good friends, you can possibly have a couple friends that have been arrested for DWI.
Do you ever think that celebrities would lead more normal lives if we just left them alone and didn’t worry about them? That even if we were wanting to know about them there’d be less drama for us to read/watch/listen to?
It’s just something that drives me crazy, celebrities aren’t all that in my opinion, they’re just people, just like me, and they have problems just like me, and just as I don’t want all my problems to be known by everyone, there’s no reason for me to be concerned with theirs.
I also think the media feeds the frenzy. I am ready to move on, but it will still be a story for at least a week.
Firstly, I think this is an issue unique to America versus the rest of the world. I’ve heard Europe and other countries don’t devote near as much attention to celebrities.
Secondly, it’s my own personal opinion that the reason we do watch celebrities so closely is because we relate to them in some way. We know they are ordinary people–like us–that got thrown into extraordinary circumstances. By nature we humans are gossipy and enjoy being voyeurs (I don’t like gossip, though), so hence the draw.
Thirdly, you must not read my blog very often if you don’t like celebrities. :( I’m not obsessed with celebrities by any means — I think we (America) are pretty screwed-up where that’s concerned. However, I love studying celebrities, and finding the absurd humor in some of their situations!
Ah, my dear friend, you’re wrong on your third point. I do read your blog, as often as you write in fact, I just don’t always get what you’re writing about, I must say though, my favorite part of your blog is “Music Mondays” simply because you hand me something that I’ve never listened to (even if I’ve heard of the singer).
That’s awesome! If I were to want you to take away anything, I would probably prefer it be my music. Music makes my world go ’round, and one of my most favorite things is to share it with people. I like to think I have a pretty wide range of interest where music is concerned. Perhaps I should start a music blog?
You start a music blog and I’ll be your first reader :)