blueAlto

With my thesis defense set for less than two weeks away, posting will be relatively light until then. I am using it as a chance to finally fill up the archives with older posts. On that note, here are some ruminations from last year on the concept of North American success and celebrity.

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We North Americans are a funny bunch. The power, the trust, and the loyalty we give to mass media and pop culture opinion, is, given our relatively high educational levels and capacity for independent thought, rather perplexing. Nowhere is that dynamic more pronounced than in our perception of celebrity and fame. Just as fast as we catapult an unknown to fame, one supposed transgression will see them in a rapid descent. And expectedly, much harder and faster than the ascent.

Below, I take a look at two recent events which ask some insightful, and ultimately disturbing questions around the idea of personal domain, and the expectation of safety, for those we place on a pedestal. Before aggressively knocking them off.

The Grammy Awards is a show that, if on when I happen to be channel surfing, I'll give a cursory view to.  Not being a major fan of up to the minute popular music trends, I can take or leave the awards and self congratulatory recognition fest.

I know, I know, one should never say never.  Since last night, for a few moments anyway, I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere but sitting in front of my TV, watching The Dixie Chicks take home an unprecedented five awards.

Seeing three talented, strong, and proud women, achieve excellence and peer recognition, in spite of the PR nightmare the last few years has been for them, was inspiring. It wasn't long ago that their CD's were being burned in public venues. And while the press was engaging its arrogant mode of justified vilification, and the women were subject to relentless harassment, actually culminating in death threats, the reality based among us were left asking why.  And how, in a democratic America, could that be the response to three individuals expressing sincere, albeit harsh, criticism of our leader.

As the tide has slowly turned in our collective response to the situations we find ourselves in half a world away, public consensus has experienced a paradigm shift. If you reference what I described in the opening of this piece, and apply The Dixie Chicks five time win, broadcast live to millions, the true nature of how we form and shape popular opinion can be seen as the fickle and inherently flawed application it often shows itself to be.

In closing this thread, as far I'm concerned, The Dixie Chicks can "make nice" whenever the hell they are ready, not being guided by the current tide of popular opinion, but rather by their core beliefs. I don't really know what can be more American than that.

A more sobering example of fame, expectation, and the culpability of popular culture and media can be seen in the recent events leading up to the death of Anna Nicole Smith. In a culture that elevates one to celebrity, not on talent, but on a"market share of the minute" mentality, what role do we have, if any, as consumers and providers of that quest for the elusive fifteen minutes of fame?

As sudden and tragic as her death was, a retrospective view would suggest a woman in a serious state of unbalanced crisis.  The death of a son, the paternity of a newborn still in question, rumored heavy drug use, and the ever present on cue media intrusion add up to quite the heavy emotional tole. True, the limelight is where she wanted to be, in an almost obsessive fascination with her own celebrity. But I think the question becomes, when do we, once again as consumers and producers of that celebrity, say enough is enough?

A recent edition of Larry King Live had an almost incoherent Anna Nicole, attempting, and I stress attempting, to talk about her departed son, as well as her recent troubles. In one particularly visceral moment that was clearly not meant to see air time, a stage hand adjusted her microphone, and attempted to "prop her up", as she was literally sliding off the chair.

Do we ever reach a point as a culture, that we view examples such as these with a genuine concern, not only a morbid fascination with personal troubles? In an environment of ratings, and harsh competition for the "exclusive", is something getting lost? Would it have been so difficult to take a stand, and not provide a platform for this troubled woman's public self destruction? In a popular culture where many want a piece of the gold known as celebrity, the human in that equation is often sadly overlooked.

As consumers, questioning, looking beyond the glossy stills and sound bites, then articulating our own ethical standards in relation to what is mass marketed down our throats, is a practice that we will hopefully engage. As sensationalism at all costs, has levied quite the price.