Grace Unplugged Fame

hand to promote casual drug use as a normalized life style. Aside from doing so, I

Men and women throughout the ages have desired to love others the way the greatest commandment instructs us to. However, due to our sinful nature, overshadowed by the fear of death and our limited physical and emotional vulnerabilities, the love we should have for one another turns into controlling one another, so that we have power and are in control. Instead of giving, we want. Instead of serving, we demand our rights. And scriptures like Matthew 5:48, “Be perfect, as your Father in heaven in perfect” can be frustrating

Chris Hedges’ “American Psychosis” is one author’s explanation behind the perceived degradation of America, attributing this decay mostly to a nationwide engrossment in the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Hedges further purports that the American government itself is behind making famous people front-and-center at all times, so that the populace has no chance to focus on the nation’s actual problems. He suggests that this reality TV state-of-mind turns life into a “world of unadulterated competition” where our attention-craving society discards the losers “like Styrofoam boxes that held junk food”. Those ‘excess’ human beings who cannot keep up with the endless quest for notoriety, he contends, end up unemployed, imprisoned, or homeless, because the only worth humans have in the modern world is their ability to make headlines. The final piece of his article is dedicated to fomenting some kind of vengeful revolution against celebrity culture, in which the public purges itself of inconsequential distractions so that they can once again separate illusion from reality.

Some of us would say “No”, but the majority of us would leap on the prospect of living the life of a celebrity. Who doesn’t want the perks of vacationing all over the world, having someone wait on you hand and foot, receiving freebies from designers and all the other perks that come with being a celebrity? The question is do we want the downfalls that come with fame? Can we handle vicious tabloid scrutiny, fabrications, and assumptions? Being a celebrity has its perks, but at what cost? Fame and money can be the root of all evil. Never the less, we are contributing to the madness when we purchase tabloid magazines, watch entertainment shows that follow celebrity activities and judge them for their actions.

A celebrity is not a person known for his/her talent or achievement, but an individual recognized for his/her reputation created by the media. The phase of stardom is slippery, and media may choose to represent celebrities varying from exaggerated admiration to mockery. The three texts chosen, movie "Sunset Boulevard", feature article "Over the Hilton" and television show "Celebrity Uncensored Six" are texts presenting different perception of celebrities than their usual images - either corrupted by the encircling media, overloads oneself with self-indulgence, or just mocks celebrity in a broad spectrum. Such media items empower and impresses the audience by perceiving celebrities as people who pay the price of privacy to gain well

Fame, to most, seems like a grand dream. Only a select few have experienced the spoils of fame, from the bothersome paparazzi to the masses of doting fanatics, and none have experienced fame in the same way as Betty White. For her, this dream became a fantastic reality. She is universally renowned for the charm, wit, and comedic talent that she brought to each and every scene. Betty White, dubbed “The Queen of Television,” is an award-winning actress who is adored for her memorable starring roles and countless appearances, effectively securing a place for herself in the hearts of millions.

People tend to feel the most happiness in their daily lives rather than happiness over all. For instance, if someone opens the door for you, does something outrageous, tells a funny story or simply reacts kindly to you, you can experience happiness. Laughing at someones joke can cause you to feel happy even for just a moment. Another definition of happiness in our daily lives is self appreciation such as, getting that new raise, getting an A on a test or even getting into the college you want. These examples all cause happiness in different but still rather large ways. We seem to think that happiness is so difficult to come by, we focus so hard on what happiness is that we don't even realize the simple things in life that are truly making a difference. We can become significantly happy without even noticing. Although happiness seems like it’s hard to find it’s not all that difficult. What’s hard to come by is the feeling of genuine happiness ; genuine happiness is what people truly look for.

Bordo’s observations begin with the world of celebrity and its powerful influence upon those who are followers of every nuance pertaining to fame, fashion, and fortune. She illustrates the negative and ruthless manner

4:19 in the King James Bible states, “But my God shall supply all our needs according to his

Watching reality TV shows like Keeping Up With the Kardashians where reality TV stars become famous by just living a luxurious life, teens or even adults might be encouraged that anyone can be famous by going on TV status and just “being themselves”, without any efforts or special talents. As John Humphrys points out, 'we tell kids what matters is being a celebrity and we wonder why some behave the way they do. This can build their desire of fame and to pursue celebrity status while ignoring the importance of education. Hence, reality TV discourages the value of hard work and education (IDEA,

Pop artist Andy Warhol first famously coined, “everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes” (2) in a Time article that we can now reflect and agree with the statement. Reality TV and youtube opened new doors for waves of people that could become famous overnight. Reality stars are a prime example of the type of stars that have no talent and are often times just ‘regular people’. These people get put in a living situation in which the camera keeps rolling until they get anything entertaining that can be cut and edited into a show. Kim Kardashian, Nicole Elizabeth Polizzi (also known as Snooki), Courtney Stodden and many more of these reality stars have all turned into household names in which we made famous by watching mindless reality television.

This picture is a perfect portrayal of celebrity culture in today’s era. The desire to be virtually ‘connected’ and share everything in one’s life is the new trend. And this has resulted from the constant competition from the new community of ‘microcelebrities’, which is based on achieving fame through broadcasting oneself through media. One of the demeaning aspect of the picture is the lack of genuineness and enforcement of stylish lifestyle on the audience which makes it loose the emotional quotient.

A star’s image is a concept carefully molded by the celebrity himself or herself with the aid of many factors such as audience reception and current ideological trends. Star image, by definition, given by O’Shaughnessy and Stadler, is “the qualities, ideals, and values that a star represents, based on their films and other performances, and on media information circulated about them” (430). A change of star image encompasses the sum of everything we, as in the audience, affiliate with that star. That means changing the star’s body of work, promotion, publicity, and audience practices. These factors put together is also known as star text (Professor Josh Jackson, September 8, 2016, University of California, Berkeley). Jennifer Lawrence had a particular star text before she took on the role of Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games and was instead known for her role of Ree Dolly in Winter’s Bone. This new role launched Lawrence into a different star text she was previously known for. Though it seemed like the change is solely based on her landing an already popular role, the change in her star text is still calculated in order for her to maintain a certain image that landed her at the top of the celebrity social ladder. This careful manipulation of a celebrity’s image as she takes on a role that guaranteed a big impact on her acting career demonstrates how a star’s image is important when it comes to maintaining what the celebrity, and everyone who is working with that

Happiness is what all human beings/rational beings desire. It is always the end (goal) of our activities, it is an unconditional good.

These promote not only the products, but also the moods, attitudes, and a sense of what is and is not important. Mass media makes a possible impression of celebrity. However without movies, magazines, and news media to reach across people all over the world people could not become famous. In fact, only political and business leaders, as well as the few notorious outlaws,