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Title: Answers to Questions

Response to Question 1:

Celebrity culture in America is very common and the general public shows a very high fascination towards the celebrities. According to McNair, American celebrity culture began to develop in 1930 when Americans’ were struggling with depression. People used to go to the picture shows as a result of fascination towards the celebrities. During this time, television played its role and it became the perfect medium to the dissemination of imaginary presentation of life. The television showed young and beautiful people created an illusion of celebrities on the screens. The first reality TV show, that showed the powerful images, and live violence created the power of myth. This Kennedys myth has its strong roots in America till then and this Kennedy era steered in the current age of celebrity (The Rutherford Institute :: Celebrity Culture in America: Has Personality Finally Replaced Reality? |).

Response to Question 2

According to McNair, in the book Intimate Strangers: The Culture of Celebrity in America, he believes the tension that has created in the society as a result of the famous celebrity culture is due to the “illusion of intimacy” between the infamous majority and the famous elite class. Due to the illusion of intimacy and celebrities being all over the news, internet and every single moment of their lives are shared like the headlines, the perceived gap between the famous society and the infamous ones is reduced. Fisher states in Shockaholic that people are fascinated by the shine of celebrities and they want to get some of their shine. They like to discover about the lives of celebrities and in what way their life is related to them (Fisher, 66).

Response to Question 3

The long-term impacts of making connections with the people who are unknown to us in real life might have over a certain period of time. We make them part of our consciousness unconsciously. The relationship between celebrities and public figures becomes psychotic and even aggressive in nature. The assassination attempt of John W. Hinckley, Jr. on Ronald Reagan was owing to the obsession he had an obsession with the character played in the movie Taxi Driver by Jodie Foster. In that, a lunatic about to murder a politician got fame for protecting the life of a youngster prostitute. Similarly, the influence Michael Jackson’s image could potentially influence children in a way that they would find certain adults easier to trust and hang out with and act disorganized around them.

Response to Question 4

Although modern celebrity culture profoundly influenced people, the culture also significantly influenced the lives of the celebrities themselves. This culture influenced Michael Jackson to the extent that he could not do many of the things that normal people could, as whenever he would become involved with them, they would start acting strangely from his influence (Fisher, 79). He would often remove himself from people and listen to music all night or would use drugs to escape the celebrity-obsessed world. Eventually, he began to feel that he did not have a comfortable place in the world, hence, the children he hang out with were his own little community to provide solace to him.

Response to Question 5

In my opinion, our fascination with celebrities has no positive aspects. It is becoming intense day by day that we live vicariously through celebrities. We are connected with the lives and activities of celebrities with the help of a device that we keep with ourselves all the time. This intimacy breeds a disconnection with the real people in our lives. The celebrity obsession that was mere escapism has gone beyond this, these celebrities are our role models and make us do whatever they want ranging from bodybuilding programs to the cars and mocha lattes. This culture of celebrity obsession seems to impact children greater than the younger generations. There is a dire need to find a way to get rid of this obsession else it would harm the coming generations adversely.

Works Cited

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Fisher, Carrie. Shockaholic. Simon and Schuster, 2011.

The Rutherford Institute :: Celebrity Culture in America: Has Personality Finally Replaced Reality? |. https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/oldspeak/celebrity_culture_in_america_has_personality_finally_replaced_reality. Accessed 2 June 2019.