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Celebrity Influence on Public Behavior and Relationships Celebrity influence has modified standard behaviors and attitudes among the public and individuals. Many people don’t recognize the primary influence that accompanies these household names. People have always emulated the so-called elite of the era. The research I conducted provides information regarding the influence and relationship between celebrities and the public. There is however, debate on how much of an influence celebrities have over society. After finishing my own research I attribute the familiarity with celebrity as very influential to the behavior of members of the public. A celebrity’s body has become one of the determining factors in who gets media coverage and attention. When a celebrity gains weight or is alarmingly frail it is blasted throughout the media as if it were insurmountable news. Frequently a celebrity with a healthy physique is scrutinized and labeled as fat or overweight. Typically the celebrity labeled “fat” will undergo a transformation and lose the “unhealthy” weight. Many celebrities go to extremes to attain the perfect body. Alarmingly, female as well as male celebrities routinely deny that they follow strict diets and workout regularly. It isn’t unusual to see an underweight celebrity glorified in magazines as chic because she fits into runway and fashion forward clothing because she is so skinny. clothes hanger. More voluptuous or healthy celebrities have a difficulty wearing or fitting into fashion forward clothing. The women are also pressured to feel that they have to fit into the size zero clothing of the fashion industries. These denials cause numerous people to question their own body image. Celebrities fuel this dangerous problem by pretending they don’t work to maintain their physiques. Although celebrities create a warped view of body image, they aren’t completely responsible for our society’s distorted perception. The academic journal attributed unhealthy body image as the celebrities’ fault. In many of the sources I read it stated that celebrities were responsible for eating disorders and poor body images minimizing the underlying problem. Our media greatly emphasizes what body image our culture views as “beautiful.” Clever marketing also exacerbates the situation by creating negative views and judgments with the use of mass media. Producers create demand for their products by convincing the population they need their brand. Massive amounts of money are spent each year to make people feel bad about themselves and create demand of products such as dietary supplements, fad diets and plastic surgery. Celebrities are a large part of this problem because they endorse many of these products but directing the blame on them is discounting the real problem. The marketing companies recognize the public’s weaknesses and offer quick fixes as solutions to their problems. Those who researched celebrity worship suggested that there are different levels of celebrity worship. The mild cases were those who talked about the celebrity after watching a movie or reading a magazine. More intense cases were those who had pictures, websites and conversations all devoted to the celebrity. Fans with extreme forms of worship believe that if they were in trouble their favorite celebrity would save them or rob a bank if the celebrity asked. I don’t believe that these different levels of celebrity worship are accurate. Since people talk about celebrities or watch their movies doesn’t necessarily mean they worship them. The mild cases are really just everyday entertainment or something to carry a conversation. Some adolescents including adults are socially awkward and have limited topics of conversation. Celebrity gossip often becomes the default. The other two levels of celebrity however seem to be accurate description of celebrity worship. Celebrity worship typically starts when money and an excessive amount of time are invested in the celebrity. I have found that the relationship between fans and celebrities is often undefined and vague. As a result many fans have “relationships” with celebrities that are one-sided or nonexistent. The different levels of relationships vary greatly among the population. Although these relationships aren’t considered normal they are typical and usually not extreme. In some cases fans have been known to have “parasocial” relationships. These relationships are the more extreme cases that are explained in the scholarly articles I reviewed. The relationship isn’t reciprocal. Some researchers suggest that “parasocial” relationships may offer benefits. A few included increased patience or understanding. I find that although particular people in the study experienced better relationships it is true for the majority involved in the study. Most individuals found these parasocial relationships unfulfilling and experienced negative mental states. The behaviors exhibited in extreme cases were stalking, disassociation and fantasy proneness. In disassociation the person becomes detached from others and oneself. Those with fantasy proneness regularly imagine encounters, activities or conversations with their celebrity. Many fans don’t stalk celebrities but the few that do create a greater divide than before between fan and celebrity. Stalking often occurs when a fan gets close to a celebrity isn’t satisfied with the encounter but continues to form an attachment or pursue a relationship. People with low self-esteem are in fact less likely to have a “parasocial” relationship. All of these forms of celebrity worship typically have been found in those with a social or behavioral disorder. These are the more extreme examples of behavior. Further complicating the problem is variability of the celebrities’ interaction with the public and fans. Most celebrities love attention from fans and aspire to become household names. However, many of these same celebrities draw a thin line between what is and isn’t a violation of privacy. Information about them is readily available in interviews and official websites. Many feel lose of privacy and become fed-up with the general public. Fans feel that they may have a connection or an unspoken bond with a celebrity. They know where their celebrity grew up, his nickname as a child and other miscellaneous facts making them suppose they know the celebrity. The celebrities on the other hand feel alienated because many people think they know them personally, are well acquainted and deserve recognition. Many fans don’t know the real character of the celebrity they worship. People tend to worship the character that is personified in films rather than the actor. Actors are partly responsible for the skewed relationships with fans. Celebrities make a living off of selling themselves. Often they express contempt at the paparazzi and fans for taking pictures of their children. Yet, for a price, they will pose on the cover of a magazine for the public to observe and it is no longer considered a violation of privacy. Some celebrities are known to call the paparazzi. They want to maintain their fame and seem to always be available to the public. The public is used to the overexposure of celebrities’ personal lives and therefore expects to know all the mundane details of their elevated lifestyle. Mundane details suddenly become important when it’s concerning a celebrity. The extreme level of Celebrity worship is considered a religion by some researchers. While some forms of Celebrity worship resemble idolatry. The extreme cases come fairly close to a type religion. Fans frequently mimic and emulate a celebrity to try and become their ideal self. A great deal of people aspires to be like a celebrity, which hypothetically could be compared to Christians trying to be Christ-like and attain his qualities or attributes. The majority of people don’t view celebrities as Gods or worship them in the same manner as members of a religious sect. Many fans hold certain awe or admiration for their celebrity but to consider it religious is a misapprehension. When people fixate and emulate celebrities they aren’t trying to attain anything meaningful. Celebrity worship has no similarity with any type of established religion. Those who “worship” a celebrity are obsessed and don’t possess the same feelings a member of a religion. For researchers to state that fans admiration and adulation amounts to a religion is inexplicable. They might as well qualify that professional football is a religion and Super Bowl Sunday, a religious holiday. Worshipping a celebrity doesn’t constitute a religion. Other factors would need to be involved to add up to religious worship. The characteristics of these relationships don’t mirror any religious sentiments. Celebrities in recent years have become more famous than their predecessors. We are lulled into a sense by celebrities that they are elevated in status and in comparison the average person is inferior. Celebrities believe and act as if they have become more than VIP. Celebrities try to construct superiority over others by flaunting their money, cars and multiple houses. They wear extravagant apparel and throw outrageously expensive parties to separate themselves from the rest of society. Many want to be more extravagant than another celebrity and compete to have the bigger and better celebration. In this sense they are sometimes considered god-like in a material sense. Many celebrities possess huge flaws such as greed, substance abuse, physical or verbal abuse, eating disorder, and womanizers. Although celebrities are portrayed as perfect, many people actually know they have many flaws. A religion is often founded upon someone or something that is perfect or helps the person reach perfection. To say a celebrity constitutes a religion is unlikely and incredibly mistaken. Throughout the years Celebrities have influenced their fans. As of lately many have encouraged fans to join the causes they support. Currently becoming environmentally friendly and gay rights are some of the issues celebrities have supported. Many Celebrities have very openly expressed whom they support in elections and their political views on issues. When celebrities express their political views it can create a bias and change the views of diehard fans. Up to ten percent said they would vote for their celebrity without exception in an election. Others have used fans in the political arena. Celebrities are now running for office and are actually getting elected. Their already existing fan base becomes a huge advantage over their opponent. Government representative typically aren’t well known to the public and have to compete for recognition and approval. The celebrity has an unfair advantage over the opponent. The opponent is much more likely to be qualified for the position because it is their occupation. Celebrities have used their fame to secure positions as government representatives and officials. By using fans they secure jobs they aren’t prepared or qualified to fulfill and doing a disservice to themselves and the public. Celebrities refuse to give fans autographs often because they feel it is being misused. More than ever celebrities are guarded. This causes fans to have little contact, association or chance of any type of relationship. Many also feel that people are invading their space when asking for their autographs. Assortments of Celebrities have their fans pay for autographs on their official websites. The autographs received in fan mail and on the websites are typically unauthentic. Countless celebrities don’t read fan mail and delegate it the job to someone they hire. Although they may be very busy they should devote more time to the fans that gave them fame. Relationships between fans and celebrities are typically strained and dysfunctional because both have different expectations and standards that the other will not uphold. Fans expect their celebrity to give them some type of recognition or attention because they invested so much time in this person. Celebrities expect fans to adore them and give them attention but do not want to actually spend their valued time around them. Celebrities would rather do something else more worthwhile or exciting than sign autographs. They neglect their fans and further distance themselves. Since technological advances such as the Internet celebrities no longer feel the need to correspond with fans through fan mail. These letters were once the only way to communicate to fans. Fan letters are now considered unimportant. For celebrities to take the time to respond to all the letters would be considered a waste of time. Celebrities such as Katherine Hepburn regularly responded to fan letters and autographed the pictures herself. There is no doubt that she was a talented woman with a busy schedule. She won four Oscars for Best Actress but still found time for her fans. Fan mail was once considered a valued source of communication for both fans and celebrities. Now it is viewed with disdain and considered unimportant. Most celebrities only respond to few letters that are past directly to them by those who are hired to read the mail. The select few letters that are passed on are from children who are terminally ill. Celebrities don’t want to feel guilt for ignoring all their letters. They respond to the letters of sick children so they can return to their narcissism. The public has become overly involved in celebrity gossip. Celebrities influence society but they are not completely at fault. When society is force fed celebrity “news” on a regular basis it isn’t surprising they retain a great deal of meaningless facts. We are persuaded to believe that the celebrity life is perfect and full of glamour. This is often not the case and the public fantasizes of a false life that doesn’t exist. Even when celebrities are reckless and harming themselves it is portrayed as normal or sometimes desirable. Celebrities of the past decade have made becoming a “Bad Boy” or “It Girl” as something to be sought-after. Those with problems often won’t admit anything is wrong and find others who will encourage and participate in their fast paced lifestyle. Celebrities are often sucked into lifestyles that have many dangerous habits. It’s only a matter of time for many celebrities to enter rehab, become the next Anna Nicole or disappear from the public eye because of personal demons. Many celebrities to garner attention embrace wild behaviors. These lifestyles cannot be continued without severe short or long-term consequences. The fans that emulate celebrities for long periods of time find themselves in a great deal of trouble. The fans don’t have the same resources to get them the proper help. Celebrities can afford expensive rehab, psychologists and other specialists. The influence of celebrities has affected many of our generation and will be more apparent in the years to come. Some propose that celebrities may be good role models. While there are good role models there seem to be few and far between. The celebrities that often get the most coverage or exposure are those who are habitually getting into trouble. Society’s emulation of celebrities has continued on through the generations and isn’t showing any sign of slowing down. While there are many who don’t follow in celebrities’ footsteps many of their peers will pursue this unwise lifestyle of the rich and famous. Celebrities may not influence certain people but they may influence their peers. Peers often have a great impact or influence on many people. references Ashe, Diane, Liza Day, James Houran, John Maltby, L.E. McCuthceon. “Extreme Celebrity Worship, Fantasy Proneness and Dissociation: Developing the Measurement and Understanding of Celebrity Worship within a Clinical Personality Context.” Journal of Personality and Individual Differences. 40 (2005): 273-83. Ashe, Diane, James Houran, Rense Lange, John Maltby, Lynn E. 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