Celebrities and Celebrity Culture

I can't for the life of me understand the public and the media's obsession with Beyonce's pregnancy and birth. People are going back and fourth debating her personal life like their livelihood depends on it - Was she really pregnant? Did she have a surrogate? Did she have a c-section? Those questions are so personal. I think people forget that celebrities are people too.

On the other hand, I sometimes think celebrities forget they are people. They expect worship from their fans and the public, and media coverage and money that they may or may not deserve because of "fame."

Celebrity culture is really something funny.

Celebrity doesn't necessarily equal talent. We live in a world where fame and celebrity trump talent when it comes to money, influence, and media coverage. This is easily exhibited by the world of reality TV stars. People who constantly work hard at their craft can't get a break, while Snooki can get endorsement deals and a best selling book. I'm not knocking her hustle, it just seems skewed to me.

It's our fault. Our being us, the people. If we didn't consume higher amounts of commercial entertainment than we did actual art things wouldn't be this way. We'll drop $150 on a pop music concert, but we'll say we can't afford a $25 ticket to support a talented local artist in performance. We put more value on celebrity culture than we do on fine arts and talent. We can SAY that isn't the case, but where we spend our money says otherwise. What we spend our time doing, watching, and talking about, says otherwise. 

I don't think there is anything wrong with pop music and reality tv, I listen to it, I watch it, and the people who produce it are working too, but I just wish the scales were a little more balanced when it came to hard working talented artists reaping from all the hard work, blood, sweat, and tears, they sow.