Larissa Essay Draft
Larissa Essay Draft
Larissa Essay Draft
individual celebrities into profitable objects(Page 353). In this light, celebrities are no longer
seen as people, but as objects used to generate profit for advertisers and box-offices. The more a
celebrity is in demand, the more media coverage they get. Joshua Gamson agrees in his book
Claims to Fame: Celebrity in Contemporary America that the public can "make people
famous"(Page 39). Gamson claims that we feel overly invested in their lives because we feel
responsible for contributing to a celebrity's fame(Page 40). A study done in Social Psychology
Quarterly helps to prove celebrity influence by examining their effects on random individuals'
social norms. The results showed that celebrities with untarnished links to success can influence
society's reaction to social norms (Page 114). This means that if an individual trusts a celebrity,
they will knowingly or unknowingly behave in a way endorsed by that celebrity. But according
to Alina Tugend the amount of trust we put into celebrities as a society, may be too much.
Tugend also mentions the capitalist concept like Kurzman by stating that we, as fans, "imbue
celebrity with traits they don't have because that's the image they are trying to sell"(Tugend).
Kurzman discusses in her article that if we do not feel personally harmed, we will continue to
forgive a celebrity. She makes claims about Lance Armstrong's drug use and Mike Tyson's rape
conviction. Both of these celebrities still have careers. And although the Social Psychology Study
exempts tarnished celebrities as influential, Kurzman's points show that as a society we do not
really care all that much. These are people who are in the media constantly, making mistakes,
and influencing our society. Society reflects their behavior because we view it as socially
acceptable. Social Pyschology Quarterly states, "Celebrities generally have prestige, and we
know from many studies that prestige makes people special, gives them extra significance and
thereby increases the weight of their opinions"(Page 102). Society is relying on celebrities as role
models, and people to turn to when we don't know what is socially acceptable. This is giving
celebrities so much power. Tugend states as well that even if we "feel let down by
them"(Tugend), we forgive them because "we feel guilty for holding them to such high standards
in the first place"(Tugend). This is a cycle that could be extremely harmful to society. Society
allows celebrities to influence us, and then when they make mistakes we feel guilty for allowing
them this influence.
According to He Xiaozhong, "The principal group of persons presently idol worship
consists of children and young people"(Page 84). Celebrity worship is strongly impacting us. The
study conducted shows that up to 77.3 percent of those in middle school and college partake in
celebrity worship(Page 85). Celebrity worship has in fact been connected to negative correlations
in cognitive factors and overly positive correlations in self-esteem. The findings of The Journal
of Psychology discuss how those with "high scores on the Celebrity Attitude Scale consistently
showed negative correlations with measures of cognitive ability"(McCutcheon). The researchers
believe that those with higher cognitive functions are less inclined to fall for the capitalistic
selling factor of celebrities(319). This shows that partaking in celebrity worship can be
detrimental. Focusing all energy on a celebrity can cause problems with focusing on our own
cognitive health. However Pat MacDonald feels that celebrity obsession has led to a more
positive correlation outward instead of inward, perhaps too positive. MacDonald states, "There is
a constant stream of celebrity news in the media fuelling a celebrity-obsessed society"(Page
147). He discusses how we are placing more value on fame than personal success. He discusses
reality show celebrities in particular and how all the attention goes into boosting self-esteem in a
narcissistic way. MacDonald claims "Young people think they are entitled to fame and will do
anything to achieve it"(Page 147). Another author who investigated reality shows and the
celebrity obsession is Timothy Caulfield who writes for The Chronicle Review. Caulfield
Overall, I really love this topic! I am someone who for sure needs a Kardashian
cleanse, so I relate to this topic immensely. I think the only problem here is that youre
trying to hard to synthesize your sources into the paper. Its a lot of other peoples opinions
and not a lot of your own. My suggestion is to keep the sources from making the argument
and have them support your opinions more.