Questions for Critically Thinking about Celebrities

In questioning what we see, the motives of a celebrity, and the sources of their information, our culture, which is visually driven, can become more aware of the decisions that we are making. Here are a few questions that help get to the root of a celebrity’s intentions and can help you make better decisions in every area that celebrities affect: Who are they trying to appeal to? What are they selling (their image, an idea, a product, a belief, morals, etc.)? Why are they famous? What is their background? Do they have validity? What other viewpoints have you seen? Questioning is the first step in reclaiming your ability to choose and decide everything from what you wear to who to vote for on your own terms.

Role Models...?

There are celebrities that associate themselves or attract a particular age and/or racial group thusly becoming a visual culture role model. There are positive role models and negative role models that each group can aspire to, meaning that celebrities hold the power to portray themselves making constructive decisions or conversely, destructive ones. Each decision that they make is scrutinized by the media, which is inherent of their Star Power. Celebrities that have taken on the position of role model or negative role model have the power to shape how people act. This is primarily because the structure of our visual culture has granted them this influence.
Oprah, who has firmly adopted the role model status along with the title of superstar, appeals to a vast and diverse audience as well as her stereotypic female audience. Her show generates ideas of everything from how to interact with other people, how to have relationships, all the way to how to raise children. However wholesome and enlightening her show may seem, it is beneficial to critically examine the source of her advocated information.There are many varieties of celebrity role models, each using their Star Power either directly or inadvertently to help shape our visual culture and the way we function in our society.

From the NRA to PETA

As important as it is to examine how celebrities can affect our society through altered personas in simulated-life, it is even more imperative that a critical lens is taken to the way celebrities use themselves and share ideas in real-life. Real-life is represented through avenues such as magazines, news exposés, talk and radio shows, public service announcements, or any medium that allows the person of notoriety to be themselves and expose their own ideas. These outlets allow celebrities to use their Star Power to the fullest because society puts a celebrity’s fame on a pedestal and allows their voices, however informed they are or not, to be heard through the equivalent of a ultra bullhorn. When celebs speak out about their personal choices, their fans listen and thusly become exposed to new ideas or trends to support such as organizations, religion, what scientific theories to believe, and what politicians to support.
Celebrities speak out about what they are most passionate for (or who is paying them the most to communicate a message as their own—Star Power!). One prime example of this is a celebrity’s endorsement of an organization. Organizations seek out celebrities to speak on their behalf because they know that people will listen to the famed.
The NRA hired Charlton Heston to speak at their national convention because he appeals to a large majority of the members of that organization. This video clip shows his overwhelming support during the conference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0B_UZNtEk4&feature=related. Again, organizations hire celebrities that embody and place a recognizable face to the ideas that they sell. In a symbiotic sense, just like advertisements, this is a medium in which celebrities can grasp that ultra bullhorn to speak their own opinions, share with their audience, gain followers, and become more recognizable. Another example is Casey Affleck’s affiliation with PETA in an ad that shares his personal experience with Veganism and supporting the organization <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASdGZEv9lQo&feature=related>.
The bottom line is that organizations that preach and uphold fundamental beliefs and causes can raise awareness and money with a celebrity endorsement who can lend a recognizable face and established ideals attributed to their persona.

Simulated-Life & Symbiotic Relationships

SIMULATED-LIFE

Simulated-life is the representation of a persona created through movies, television, and advertisements. Even though it is common knowledge that the characters that actors play in these types of media do not necessarily reflect the actor’s morals, beliefs, or styles they still send a very strong message via visual perception. In essence celebrities are not only selling products but they are selling an image, an image that many want to emulate due to the popularity of the star.
These images that are being sold inundate us, as viewers, daily. Everything from body images (including style), who to be attracted to (attraction standards), what types of jobs to idolize, and how to act socially are being sold in a simulated-life. These rules and boundaries are being communicated and translated by our society into our real lives.





SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIPS

The concept of Star Power is what drives advertisement and the need to buy. Similar feelings of seeing our most adulated celeb on the street, to a lesser degree, are experienced when we see celebrities endorsing products. Marketers know that stars can attain a larger buying power. Celebs instantly become the spokesperson for that product and inherently adopt the values of that product or company. For instance Queen Latifah is the spokeswoman for Jenny Craig. She is in a commercial that can be viewed at: http://www.jennycraig.com/queenlatifah, in which she sells the diet plan through a narrative that explains her own personal journey through weight loss using this program. Jenny Craig has utilized Queen Latifah’s Star Power, which is ultimately confirmed by the fact that she does not even mention her own name. Her face has become synonymous with the Jenny Craig program and life style. Marketers know that Queen Latifah embodies the struggle with weight that many Americans are dealing with constantly. In choosing a wholesome celebrity, Jenny Craig has also given their program a wholesome look and a certain appeal. How products affect the view of a celebrity and how celebrities affect the product being sold is a symbiotic relationship, again this is very clearly demonstrated in Queen Latifah’s Jenny Craig commercial.

Star Power

Picture yourself in the bustling and busy Times Square in New York. You have just spotted (insert your absolute favorite celebrity here) exiting a ritzy restaurant. How do you feel? Most of our society would surge with adrenaline and feel an immediate sense of satisfaction or accomplishment. Why is it that an average person would act like a giddy third grader on their way to recess after lengthy PSSA testing? Are they not just people? The obvious answer is yes, they are humans but their recognition status has elevated them to having power in an usual and readily available way. This concept is slangly termed Star Power. No longer do celebs have to earn their right to notoriety through sheer talent, people are becoming more famous for their personal lives and the publicity that they generate, also known as famous for being famous. The opinions and lives that they lead are being broadcast from every avenue of our popular culture and in turn trickle down to the conscious or subconscious decisions being made by the average person. Each appearance or action taken by a celebrity, either in real life or simulated life, can resonate in our culture.

The Celebrity Concept

As we all have come to see, celebrities plaster the walls of our visual culture like couture wallpaper always ready for a fresh layer. Unnaturally white teeth, smooth faux-tanned skin, and designer clothing is the usual composite of the typical superstar drudged up by the average person; however, there needs to be a critical lens taken to the way in which culture views the idea of the celebrity and how they affect other decisions. There are many categories that celebrities fall under but the general definition of celebrity is a person who is widely known and commands a high degree of public or media attention. Few celebrities become known globally but those who do usually cross cultural and linguistic boundaries and tend to be prominent political figures, actors, artists, and musicians. However there has been rise in worldwide celebrity due to rapid globalization, such as the internet, a media in which a celebrity can reach a new and vast audience.

As mentioned previously, there are many types of celebrities not just the traditional Pop Music idols or legendary actors. Each region has its own system of celebrity due to the attention given by the media in a specific community. These celebrities may include local newscasters, local politicians, area personalities, strong leaders in the community, even regional athletes. All of which can strongly influence the decisions and the lives of that specified area because of their designated status as a role model. As much as a local celebrity can have site specific influence, the nationally or globally known celebrity can influence and shape our visual culture as a whole. Our national celebrities are seen at every convenience store and grocery store check lane in America, every time you turn on the television, and each time you pay $9 to see the next blockbuster. It almost seems that celebrity influence is inescapable. The idea of celebrity and today’s media are intermeshed in our visual culture. The dissection the role of the celebrity, how they communicate, and how they function in our society will lend to the understanding of the shaping of our culture’s decisions.