Fame and Celebrity (Week 9)

Before I discuss what fame is I would like to understand who celebrities are, what defines them and why are they important in our culture. The Cambridge dictionary defines a celebrity as,

(Celebrity, n.d.) While I partially agree on the statement I believe that celebrities are anyone who’s been captured by the mass media (Dr. Taylor, 2020). In the era where social media runs rapid in our lives, it is not too hard to become a celebrity with just a camera and quality content (Tamer Mitwally, personal communication, April 1st, 2020). With this, many individuals have been able to go viral on different platforms. Albeit, luck plays a huge part too. A celebrity is one who is able to get attention and gain fame. It is quite natural for some people to be more forward and get their names out there while some struggle. Celebrities are of different levels and standards, often categorized in the branches of social-entertainment. We can think about celebrities in the film industry, music industry, the politics and media industry or even sports (Dr. Taylor, 2020). Like the general population, we chose our favorite entertainment sector and find the celebrities we like. These individuals are impactful in our daily lives, people who can inspire us and give us the motivation to create and do something. They are a part of our cultural development in our daily lives. With the responsibility of the world looking up to these individuals, celebrities must maintain a certain character and behavior to retain their fanbase and supporters. It is often that celebrities can crumble and lose their followers in a matter of hours or days. And hence, celebrities with a positive lifestyle and charm are often credited with the most inspiring and uplifting character. The history of who the first celebrity was is an unwritten chapter. According to Vox, Sarah Bernhardt was the first known celebrity in the modern era (Marcus, 2019), while Giuseppe Garibaldi was the very first celebrity to have been known (The Free Library, 2014). Furthermore, musicians were treated as artisans. It's only in the 19th century with the rise of virtuosos that musicians became celebrities, Franz Liszt is a perfect example (Burton-Hill, 2016).

(Flowchart, n.d.) The image above can describe how each celebrity is connected describing the industry as a whole unit. So, what is fame? Who is considered to have fame? According to the Oxford dictionary it is,

(Fame, n.d.) But, it is important to state that fame does not mean that the person has the adoration by the public nor money and luxury. There have been famous people who have been disliked such as Hitler and famous people like Mahatma Gandhi or Alexey Stakhanov (Philosophy Tube, 2017). Fame in a way can be quite damaging to celebrities as fame can be thought of a positive outlook such as having your voice heard, getting first in line and the respect from your peers. However, just like anything positive, it can also show a negative side to it. With fame can come hardships and lash back from the social-cultural sector of the world. According to Philosophy Tube (2017), the expectation is where the fame lies, it isn’t about people knowing about you but the way they think about you and expect you to behave and as their expectation is satisfied they latch on to you and your character and directly giving you the recognition.

REFERENCES: Burton-Hill, C. (2016). Forget the Beatles – Liszt was music's first 'superstar'. BBC. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20160817-franz-liszt-the-worlds-first-musical-superstar Celebrity. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/celebrity Dr. Taylor, J. (2020). Fame and Celebrity. Retrieved from https://moodle-dubai.axis.navitas.com/mod/page/view.php?id=142327 Fame. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/fame Flowchart [Image]. (2012). Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/forbes/2012/0604/leaderboard-celebrity-100-mogul-path-flow-chart.html#2cd62a103c4c Marcus, S. (2019). The first modern celebrity was born 175 years ago. Retrieved from https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/6/11/18644296/sarah-bernhardt-celebrity-fame Philosophy Tube. (2017, April 28th). What is Fame? | Philosophy Tube [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaMotI-jjOQ The Free Library. (2014). Garibaldi: the first celebrity. Retrieved from https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Garibaldi%3a+the+first+celebrity.-a0167511211 APPENDIX: The School of Life. (2015, May 4th). The Problem of Fame [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVDLAblwRQo The School of Life. (2015, Oct 23rd). POP CULTURE: Better Celebrities [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBPo3InAsSY