Celebrities, Narcissism and you (Pt. 2)

The way media portrays things is that being ordinary is drab. There always needs to be flashing neon lights of sorts, drama, larger-than-life atmosphere etc….which is consistent with celebrity culture. We love buying tabloids instead of books. They are after all, bright and full of life rather than just plain text.

Let me take a notch closer to my home, South Africa. We want to emulate our stars. We want to eat sushi off semi-clad women, drink Moet, VIP access to the hottest clubs in the country, wear Christian Louboutin heels, drive an Aston Martin and live in Camps Bay. It’s exciting and vibrant!

Let’s look at an important aspect of making a media message: Editing. I made an example of the television show “Toddlers and Tiaras”. What is it that you suppose they are NOT telling us? We all know children have temper tantrums, they show us snippets on the show. If supposedly these are normal children, why don’t they show us them playing with other children? Why do we not get to see the ‘non-glamorous’ side of their lives, them JUST ordinary children.

Now, this ‘hidden’ side of this show is not the only one. It’s a classic aspect in our reality television shows, they never show the ugly and ordinary. Even the ordinary is glamourized! So what is being imparted to us with and ‘nothing bad happens to me’ type of life? What kind of culture are we breeding?

For the person that watches these shows with a critical and questioning mind, I commend you. Being passive is the most dangerous thing you could ever do. I don’t believe that we all want to be led by the nose and be fed tubes of garbage encouraging a sort of mind control.

Therefore, as upcoming media message makers, we have a responsibility to our audiences to try and be realistic as possible and provide context for the stories we tell people.  

Celebrities, Narcissism and you (Pt. 1)

A long time ago, according to Greek mythology, there was a fellow who fell in love with his own image reflected on a pool of water. That's where the term ' narcissism came from. Mayo Clinic says “narcissistic personality disorder is a mental disorder in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance and a deep need for admiration. Those with narcissistic personality disorder believe that they're superior to others and have little regard for other people's feelings. But behind this mask of ultra-confidence lies a fragile self-esteem, vulnerable to the slightest criticism”. (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/narcissistic-personality-disorder/DS00652)

                                                  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissism)

I recently watched a British documentary titled Starsuckers  ”… as a series of five lessons on fame in the modern world: how children are persuaded that fame is something they want, how television and the media reinforces the importance of celebrity and the efforts to attain it, how the mind and body reinforces our need to follow the activities of well-known people and strive to join their number, how the press became addicted to celebrity coverage, and how the art of promoting fame has led to celebrities and their handlers controlling the press instead of the press having say”. (http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/starsuckers/). The link below is a trailer of the documentary.

Reality television is a genre which arguably sets to document real events occurring in real time, happening to real people. With the current trend of reality shows all over our televisions screens, where does that leave you?

After having watched this documentary, it cemented the questions I already had in my mind about celebrity culture and how the media portrays it and subsequently what effect it has on the human mind. I’m not a psychologist or doctor so I can’t analyze the effects thereof. What I do know is how media messages are constructed. Let’s take an example of “ Toddlers and Tiaras “ that airs on TLC. Toddler and Tiaras is show about beauty pageants for young children. The first question is does a child even fathom what she is doing? The second one is what is that particular parent trying to teach the child. The third is, what about your child that is watching that show and all of a sudden wants to take part because he/she sees other children doing it and it looks cool? I can’t deny that it has entertainment value, the children’s personalities are hilarious to say the least.

 (http://www.expressimpress.org/2013/03/18/toddlers-tiaras-what-is-our-world-coming-to/)

 

Now, with being told how ‘ cool ‘ it is to be a celebrity and the things afforded to you, does that not leave you with an inkling feeling to emulate that the more you watch these shows? I mean dress code/ fashion trends, hairstyles, attitude and behavioral patterns?

Think critically about it….where does it leave you?