Scout Durwood's Celebrity Culture

Pop culture, what does this term even mean? It seems to be a word that contains subjects of media, social structure, and society as a whole. According to the dictionary, pop culture is defined as “cultural activities or commercial products reflecting, suited to, or aimed at the tastes of the general masses of people”. In the society we live in today, we are constantly surrounded by pop culture, either that is with television, magazines, different sources of social media and/or exposure to others. Due to pop culture being such a dominant contribution into our world today, it has effected many parts of society. The domination of social media has created idealistic views that are stressed upon female adolescents in particular. Upon media’s influence, traditional tactics and work have been modified in order to keep up with our technology oriented society. This alters the schools and education systems. Through the use of television, social media and other means of pop culture, serious study is necessary due to the negative effects it has on the younger generation and the effects it has for their futures.

A single photograph - how it is captured, the angle in which it was shot, the context behind it - can alter the perception of reality. One image, if executed maliciously, can create such an intense pernicious effect on the individual photographed, that it can cause undue effects on their reputation, or even psychological state. Celebrities often find themselves victimized by the paparazzi in this way, and breakdowns due to a negative appearance in the spotlight have become prevalent in modern day socialite culture. Today, with everything just a click away, it is surprisingly easy to find intimate details of a celebrity’s life, and even easier to find incriminating photos with falsified headlines. The paparazzi has a negative connotation in society, and has generated an aversive effect on celebrities, because they have fabricated images with negative portrayals of celebrities, impeded on a celebrity’s right to privacy, and appropriated a celebrity’s fame in order achieve material that is deemed as newsworthy.

In the article, “The Impact Celebrities Have On Our Lives”, Deborah King, explains that celebrities are people who people obsess over, but not all of them have a positive impact. In the beginning, King points out that society is obsessed with celebrities. She explains that people are always going to the store to buy magazines or go online to look at celebrity gossip. The article also suggests that celebrities are good reflections for us. Also, the impact of celebrities can be positive as well as negative. It is also important to note, that she emphasizes, we secretly want to see them fall so that we know that even our gods have feet have clay. Finally, King concludes that we should be spending our time on something more useful than look

Celebrities expose teenagers to partying lifestyles, profanity and inequity towards each other, using each other as if they were objects, sex, drugs, discrimination and more. Let's take Lindsay Lohan for example. A star since age six, Lohan was America’s favorite child, until she turned to drugs and alcohol. She’s now famous to the younger audience for her alcohol and drug abuse, demonstrating a harmful, reckless lifestyle to teenagers. Teaching them to have fun, do what you want, and don’t be scared of regulations and consequences. Another example, according to Deborah King, is Mel Gibson’s problems with alcohol which encourages us to take it as well, thinking it’s no harm. Another, celebrity who has a bad influence on us, is Miley Cyrus. Not so long ago, she was just a sweet little girl who was playing Hannah Montana on Disney Channel. But, now she’s appearing naked in her music videos, smoking marijuana on stage, spitting on her audience, etc. All of this has became not only her normal behavior, but also her fans’ too. Although, sometimes celebrities serve as good role models, the bad ones impact us more.

As I read through this verbose chapter I began to pick up on the dominating themes of celebrity culture and their development over time. I consider myself somewhat of a celebrity super fan but as I read I realized I have never dove deeper into the meaning of celebrity but merely skimmed the surface. During my perusal of the chapter many thought-provoking concepts jumped out at me.

Most teenagers admire celebrities. Unfortunately, there are many celebrities that display negative behavior. This heavily influences teens to act in negative ways as well. King states that, “The sad fact is that we are more enthralled by celebrities who have bad reputations than celebrities who are excellent role models. As parents or mentors,

Some people say celebrities are a big waste of time. Others say they have a good impact on our lives. Colin Palmer, a high school student, offers a response that is very interesting, He said, that celebrities aren't an issue, but if you look around at our school, neighborhoods in most people you can see that there is an issue.

We are living in an age where we have more access to celebrity gossip than we’ve ever had before. Shouldn’t we ask ourselves how much influence do these celebrities truly have on our lives? You will often realize that celebrities have a bigger impact on you than you would like to admit. To most of us, this effect can seem harmless at times but to some individuals it can become a very negative thing. In the article, “The Impact Celebrities Have On Our Lives” written by Deborah King, she states that no obsession is a good thing and that we should be very cautious about our involvement in celebrity gossip. In Collin Palmer’s response to Deborah, he argues that being obsessed with celebrities is harmless and even has some benefits to it. I partially agree with Collin that being obsessed is harmless, but to some it could hinder their self esteem.

Marilyn Monroe, McDonald’s and Titanic are all prevalent figures, places, and movies in American pop culture. Pop culture consists of ideas, images and perspectives that are popular within the mainstream of a culture. American pop culture, specifically, is very influential on foreign cultures and societies. Western culture affects other societies negatively due to the unrealistic portrayal of America and foreign countries, the limited information provided about the impacts of American culture, and the diminishing of traditional ideals.

just like stardom charisma requires to be established in the particularities of the ideological structures to which it belongs, so also essentially all sociological studies of stardom disregard the particularities of another point of view of the phenomenon – the audience. (Assumptions about the audience as a generalised, homogenous collectivity abound in writings on stars) The importance of conflicts as stars relying on audience in regarding the stardom phenomenon are indicated by Andrew Tudor and Edgar Morin to the influence that specifically strong star-audience relationships happen amongst teenagers and women. They suggest some observational evidence for this aspect. These parties all share an especially strong degree of identity/role contradiction

Stereotyping is probably the most common concept used of the group’s communication concepts. We hear it all of the time like “you’re on this show so you should have this” or “you’re on this TV network so you should be friends with this celebrity”. Some celebrities will admit in interviews that some things aren’t an instant connection like you think they are. It seems to be that this age’s group is the era that things everything that is glitter is actually gold. Our age group, no matter what reality star it is, will always continue to put these stars in one category.

Although both readings were enlightening, Wilson, B. (2013) “Popular culture: Shaping and reflecting who we are”, had more of an impact on me, as I can relate to it in my own life. How has pop culture and society played a role in the evolution of acceptance and the “American Dream?

Not only celebrities have a great impact in ones personal life but also the people that we surround ourselves with. The people that we look up has a great influence on what choices we make,whether they are good or bad. People like Walt Disney,was a very hard working businessman.many people can thank Walt till this day for all his success that was left behind.he will always be a icon that many people will not forget about. Through all the bad in life he always wanted to avoid children in seeing him smoke. Yes these people have a great impact and can change the

Pop culture fills our lives today. No matter if one is interested in the topic or not, it seems as if pop culture appears everywhere whether it is on the radio, in magazines, at a grocery store, or on the Internet. Due to pop culture’s constant appearance, celebrities through their music, shows, or style, have influenced many ordinary people. The 1980s was a decade that pop culture truly beamed and its effect on us today is overlooked. Nobody seems to think about how many barriers were broken to influence today’s celebrities. The Cosby Show had a serious goal to change African American stereotypes and racial barriers that are still around today. Also, the females in Charlie’s

In the world of popular culture there are many “outsiders,” those who believe they do not belong or are not accepted by society. Many people ponder the question of what makes them diverse from others. Some people may be criticized for their situation in life. An additional reason is they can be judged on their outer appearance, and finally they can be distinguished by their mistakes. There are many faulty justifications that a person can be underestimated.