FAME IN AMERICA

I was watching TV and I saw Lauren Conrad (star of MTV reality shows Laguna Beach/The Hills) getting interviewed on a talk show... and it made me think about how seriously strange American celebrity culture is. Nowhere else in the world does it quite like we do. On the talk show, she basically talks about stuff like what she's currently studying in college and what her internship is like... I guess thats what really made me stop and be like - wait a second, I'm doing all the same things she's doing, going to school and interning... why is she on a late night talk show again?! This girl's life really isn't drastically different from many other's, besides the camera crew following her around. It's not like she's "Paris Hilton-rich" either.

I don't know, it's not like I've been unaware of how fame in this country works, but in this one instance it really stood out to me. You could have closed your eyes and basically have no clue who the host was talking to... seemed like it could have been any 20 year old girl going to college. Was just weird to me.

I guess I don't really have a conclusion about it, I don't really see it necessarily as negative cultural trait... its just peculiar. How today you can become a celebrity for what seems like no reason at all. I mean shit, I would support Lauren Conrad's "celebrity status" over Paris Hilton's, because at least Conrad is where she is off her personality and charisma (well, and her looks) while Paris just lucked out into being born rich.

The one thing that does kind of... worry me, I guess you could say, is how much influence celebrity culture has over people. I'm just as affected as anyone else. But in this country, celebrities have a power over people that no politician or world leader have. I suppose the thing to remember is that the whole celebrity "world", "lifestyle", "image", whatever you wanna call it, is in many ways manufactured. It's not natural. Don't automatically subscribe to it's standards of beauty, measures of success or projected way of life. It's all entertaining, but understand it for what it essentially is while you enjoy it.