preview

Stalking Celebrities Essay

Good Essays

The Stalking of Celebrities

Stalking remains Hollywood's recurrent celebrity nightmare.1 Never before have we been able to know as much about a star as we do about a close pal. Thanks to publications and TV shows that cater to the public appetite for celebrity news, there's little privacy for stars. We learn the minor details of their lives--from an early schooling, to first kiss, last divorce, drug problems, hopes and fears.2 Celebrities on their own property are not safe from high-powered lenses, I will discuss what celebrity stalking is, why we should have harsher laws against stalking, and what the difference is between photojournalism and the paparazzi. I will prove that stalking celebrities just because there rich or famous is …show more content…

Victims lose a sense of control in their lives and are plagued by self-blame, fear and a lack of self-esteem. Their privacy is destroyed, and they are constantly looking over their shoulders. They will always live in fear of them being a victim of a stalker. For a person to be accused of stalking the guidelines required that said circumstances occur on more than one occasion, with at least one including a threat of bodily harm to the victim or member of his or her family. The law decreed that this threat could come via spoken words or actions.14 The most extensive study on the stalking phenomenon was done by Dietz. Using 5,000 letters supplied by de Becker, he spent six years on the problem. He found that fans who write letters filled with threats are least likely to attempt physical contact. It is fans who write of romance and intimacy who are most likely to do so. “Many celebrities wait until there's been an over threat. They don't realize that, for them, love letters from adult strangers are the greatest risk.”15 Dietz, who theorizes that 95% of the letters were written by the mentally ill, says fans turn violent not because they hate the star but because they can't fulfill romantic delusions.16 Still, one proposed state

Get Access