Celebrity status 101

I think the meaning of a celebrity today is much different then it was 20 years ago. Now, almost anyone can become a celebrity or gain celebrity statue for at least a certain amount of time. Decades ago, celebrities where only actors and actresses or icons like Marilyn Monroe. Now, reality tv is suh a popular genre that almost anyone an become famous. Take jersey shore- none of the cast have taken acting classes yet people see them as celebrities. This is is a very interesting concept because although these shows are known as reality shows, many of the cast members are old what to say and how to act, also including product placement. This in a way is acting but if we consider that acting then the cast isn't doing a dry good job. The kardashians are famous for some unknown reason. Kim is a model- but not a supermodel, just a normal model. The rest of the family jut wanders around spending money on frivolous things and this is recorded. I one of those people that will watch the show at times but it is more for entertainment purposes than anything else.

Dragging out their 15 minutes of fame

Today in class when discussing whether a person was a celebrity or not, someone brought up a good point, that the Kardashians are more recognizable than actual actors on television shows. We see the Kardashians and other people like them as celebrities but in reality, they have done nothing to earn the ‘privilege’   of being called a celebrity. Most of the people on these shows like Keeping up with the Kardashians, or The Bachelor, or The Real World, earn stardom by doing something outrageous and getting attention. All of these people are attributed celebrities. On one of the first days of class we discussed a quote “In the future everyone will get their 15 minutes of fame”, and I think that applies to a lot of the people who get the chance to be on TV. But some of them are lucky and I guess you can say smart enough to keep the fame going and continue getting attention and getting people to want to know more about them. In our society today, the emergence of celebrities is so common because of all the social media available, so really it makes it possible for anyone to get their 15 minutes of fame.

Fans!

After talking in class about crazy fans, i started thinking about different groups of fans, there are band fans, sports fans, celebrity fans, gamer fans, tv show fans, movie fans. Yes i agree that all of these crazy fans have something in common which is a passion of interest for someone or something but i have to say there is a difference from fans and fans taking it way to far. I think that sometimes fans take it way to far by dressing in inappropriate ways and devoting there lives to these people pretending they are a "we" anyone that has a passion could convert to these crazy fans it is just how they manage there love for whatever.

I think it is kind of cool that fan groups stay connected for so much longer than the group or sport or game is around, i think it keeps people together and learning more about whats going on.

Crazy fans

In class we viewed images of fans that are made to look somewhat crazy. Although there are fans of everything and we all participate in being a fan of something, some people take it to a different level. We all wear our favorite teams shirt or jersey or see our favorite band in concert and it can be fun to feel like your a part of something. Being a fan is our societies way of connecting with each other and believing in something. In one of the pictures, girls dressed up as their favorite musician and its amusing or odd to us but they are expressing their passion and we all do it to some extent as well. The world needs fans to motivate and inspire the world.

Fandom: Cult or Commaraderie

In the discussion of fandom we talked about the lengths people go to in expressing their affinity with a particular group or celebrity. There are an endless variety of fandoms including Twilight, Harry Potter, Glee, Nikki Minaj, and Lady Gaga to name a few. Fans will even continue talking about a person or t.v. show when they are no longer famous, such as the show Friends. There are whole websites, theme parks, clothing lines, accessories, and social media pages devoted to fandoms. What is interesting is that these franchises can become huge relatively easily because we live in a time when there are so many ways to exploit a popular commodity. Is it that we love these franchises so much or more that they are so easily accessible and cross over into so many spheres of our lives? I think that people like being apart of a fan base because it makes them feel like they are apart of something bigger than themselves. Teenagers especially like being crazed fans because it lets others know their interests in an easy way. What people ultimately get out of being crazy fans is subjective, but people still like supporting things they connect with long after  those things are past.

Or discussion on fandom was very interesting to say the least. Before looking further into this idea of fandom i was very unfamiliar with what people who fall into this category did. I pretty much viewed them as a bunch of weirdos who followed people around as if they had some sort of obsession. Though some of their practices are still a bit extreme in my opinion, I do not look at this "culture" as completely obscured. Infact when I tried to relate it to something I am a fan of (sports), there were many similarities. I am a big basketball fan and I constantly getting tickets to watch NBA games. I have even traveled out of town for several.  I now feel that we are all fans of something, it just varies in degree.

Am I a Fanatic

Or discussion on fandom was very interesting to say the least. Before looking further into this idea of fandom i was very unfamiliar with what people who fall into this category did. I pretty much viewed them as a bunch of weirdos who followed people around as if they had some sort of obsession. Though some of their practices are still a bit extreme in my opinion, I do not look at this "culture" as completely obscured. Infact when I tried to relate it to something I am a fan of (sports), there were many similarities. I am a big basketball fan and I constantly getting tickets to watch NBA games. I have even traveled out of town for several.  I now feel that we are all fans of something, it just varies in degree.