Tabloid Culture

I'm not even really sure where to start. Celebrities want publicity. Tabloids need pictures of celebrities to move product. Paparazzi get paid a lot to get the shots that they sell to the tabs, and the more candid, apparently, the better. People might see the photos printed by the tabs while they wait in line at the store and buy them.

It's the nature of the fame beast to lose your anonymity (which is the point), but along with that comes a disproportionate public interest in silly things like what you ate for breakfast. And what photogs do to get a photo of you eating your breakfast is appalling, and sometimes dangerous.

There are places in the U.S. that are universally known to be staked out by paparazzi. In Los Angeles alone, it's The Ivy, Robertson Blvd., and Kitson most notoriously, though there are others. (Sidenote: Do photogs get a special permit to clog up LAX or something? How is that not a "security" risk? I got harrassed there once for having an unopened bottle of root beer.) My point on this front is that this is one solution: Have places where those who want to be photographed can go, and if a photog takes a picture of a celeb anywhere else, keep it, but it's illegal to sell it. No more street chases or kids getting knocked over in the park, the photogs get some money (though likely not as much--boo hoo), and the fame-seekers get their faces in print. Still OK would be public appearances and outside studios and theaters where fans usually are anyway, premieres, you know, things related to their work.

The media tells us so much about famous people we should utterly disregard. I admit I do sometimes read entertainment mags, but I'm usually more into the interviews, where both parties have agreed on the information released. This trash-digging, rumor mill, judgmental, cliched high school nonsense that we were all supposed to have outgrown is really no good for anyone.

What is it about us that is so stunted we cannot be happy for others' success? Americans love an underdog, but once the underdog is top-dog, we kick him and take away his kibble. We exalt others because we want to believe any of us can be "great" (insert your own definition here), but once someone is exalted, we don't like to feel that this someone is actually better than the rest of us, so we send out the wrecking ball to crush the pedestal we built to make sure they don't think they are, too. It's bizarre.

So which came first in this tabloid culture? Supply or demand? Either way, demand will be the one to decide how long and how far this goes.