Introduction
One might even claim that celebrities are everywhere. They are the ones who are always featured in the media. A famous person is, therefore, addressed by the term mediation. It describes the intricate ways people participate in the production, representation, and consumption processes via technology, media industries, and social interactions.
One thing has remained the same despite the proliferation of different media and methods of communication. Regardless of medium or tool, stories about people will always be the focus. When people take in media, they take in people; these individuals are celebrities, or more accurately, they become celebrities as they participate in media creation, representation, and consumption. Media attention and the personal connections people make to public figures transform ordinary people into celebrities. There is no better example of modern culture than the celebrity phenomenon.
The famous and the wealthy no longer have a monopoly on celebrities. Selfies, smartphones, and social media have leveled the playing field regarding being famous. Because of how people may now communicate with themselves, people are all a part of the celebrity culture.
Media technologies permeate every aspect of daily life, and constructing one’s identity is an activity that takes place both online and offline. People participate in what may be termed the “celebrification of ordinary life” via the numerous feeds and posts they make. Selfies are taken regularly on social networking sites, including Instagram, dating apps, Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter.
Consequently, people have all learned to pay as much attention to each other’s likes, shares, comments, and emojis as they used to do to their grins and hellos. The pervasive awareness of an audience out there watching has made conscious attention to how their lives are portrayed on social media a constant worry. People embrace the stories, photographs, and messages that flood their phones because they help them understand each other and the world. Together, these trends indicate that self-presentation and, by extension, stardom have grown ubiquitous in modern culture.
Celebrities as New Gods
As a culture, people have come to accept the notion that celebrities have usurped the role of god. It is common to speak about celebrities in terms like deity or near deity and to say that their followers treat them as if they were gods. Many people believe the collapse of institutionalized religion is to blame for the rise of celebrity worship. Examining a single person while pondering the famous person’s religious leanings is helpful. In most people’s minds, David Attenborough is not a household name.
He looks entirely unrelated to the celebrities that populate celebrity magazines and social media platforms like Instagram and YouTube, such as reality TV stars, pop singers, YouTube influencers, and game show participants. David Attenborough provides a valuable lens through which to examine the phenomenon of celebrity worship since he is rarely associated with the celebrity realm. Writing him off as unimportant, fake, or superficial is not easy. Meanwhile, he has tremendous sway, and the media he has produced has profoundly affected people’s lives and the world. This is most clear in his incredible work on the TV series Blue Planet II.
Altering the Behavior of People via Influencers
The nature documentary Blue Planet II, produced by the BBC, premiered in 2017 and was shown on BBC channels in the UK and throughout Europe. By the year’s conclusion, the show had aired in almost every country, including the United States and China. Because of Blue Planet II, people worldwide are much more aware of plastic pollution’s devastating effects on ecosystems. The seventh episode, titled “Our Blue Planet,” was a devastating look at ocean degradation and the consequences of microplastics on marine life. Animals of all shapes and sizes were shown to suffer tragically after swallowing plastic, with a focus on the devastating impact that discarded plastic bags were having.
More for the environmental cause were pictures of dolphins playing with rubbish in the ocean and an albatross feeding her young from a plastic bag, and seeing these photographs triggered a response right away. The public pressured businesses, grocery stores, and politicians to alter their practices around using plastic bags, food packaging, and single-use plastic bottles. According to an article by Imogen Calderwood (2018) published in ‘Global Citizen,’ 88% of viewers reported altering their behavior after seeing the show. This demonstrates how the role of media and celebrities is developing into actual mass influencers of people’s behavior and comprehension of priorities.
Traditional celebrities are adapting to the changing role they play due to the rise of new digital technologies. According to Zak and Hasprova (2020), traditional celebrities have transformed into online influencers by adopting digital marketing, PR, and customer service strategies. The word “influencer” was used by Montoya and Vandehey (2009, cited in Mututwa & Matsilele, 2020) to describe a person who can persuade others by outward projecting their attributes. People who gain prominence in society, either socially or economically, tend to be looked up to by others in their circles of influence for advice on how to act. Influencers engage in what is known as “influencer marketing,” in which they attempt to sway the views and behaviors of their followers via the dissemination of private information, news, images, and videos (Mututwa & Matsilele, 2020).
The information technology sector is becoming the primary engine of economic growth. According to Zak and Hasprova (2020), influencer marketing is one of the most rapidly expanding methods of attracting new customers through digital channels. As a kind of celebrity-based health communication mediation, various organizations have often hired celebrities.
People as the Core of Celebrity Worship
Blue Planet II represents one of the most fundamental tenets of celebrity culture, which is the idea that human beings are the main content of media. The presenter makes this show worth watching, even though it is about marine life. The show would be the same as David Attenborough’s. People accept and welcome him since he is the one who brings new experiences and new perspectives. Even if the shows are about the natural world, the audience feels connected to the subject because of the presenter.
Even more crucial than the lesson is the presence of David Attenborough, who plays the role of the wise teacher. He does more than deliver his word; he draws the viewers into the action. He is a proxy for the audience, piques their interest, and convinces them to participate in the play. Said his presence justifies the presence of others. What people mean by “Celebrity Worship” is that his perceptions of him and his feelings about him change drastically. There is a reciprocal link between the TV show’s depiction and how viewers engage with it.
Consequently, two parties are involved in the conciliation procedure in Celebrity Worship. There is the actual presence of a person, like David Attenborough, in a media depiction. Through identification and involvement, audience members build meaning out of what they see in many ways.
A feature of media and how viewers are actively involved in crafting their meanings, the metamorphosis of celebrity Worship results in a shift in interaction dynamics that is not unique to Blue Planet II. This is because, at the core, people are interested in other people regardless of the medium they use to consume material. Celebrities are the everyday individuals people feel connected to because they are the focus of enormous attention in the media.
Egocentric Adoration
Adoration of famous people is always primarily egocentric. There is no mention of a religion dedicated to treating famous people as deities. David Attenborough is not a god to his fans, but he does stand for something profound.
His viewers feel connected to him and are more likely to take up and be inspired by his ethical and environmental challenges. This connection is a product of his celebrity status in the media alone. Millions of individuals around the globe have heard of him thanks to the media, and he has become a part of their lives because of their media consumption habits.
Therefore, David Attenborough’s significance stems not from his inherent qualities but from his fans’ interpretations of them. The media creates an electric bond between fans and their favorite stars. This vitality is produced by the production and representation processes and the many ways people and communities construct their identities in connection to Celebrities.
As a result, media processes could be more decisive and all-powerful. They get their juice from people who inject their ideas and energy into making meaning from the stories and pictures that make up most of the media’s portrayal. This vitality is figuratively communicated via the religious connection of worship.
Worshiping the Self Through Others
How invested one becomes in a celebrity varies significantly from person to person. People might find motivation in the actions of their favorite public figure, and friendships can flourish when formed via a common interest. On the other hand, some people, sometimes called “celebrity worshipers,” might develop an unhealthy obsession with a particular public figure (Zsila et al., 2019).
Some research suggests that those with fragile self-sense are likelier to idolize famous people (Zsila et al., 2019). In addition, some academics contend that a fixation with famous people is a symptom of widespread psychological distress (Zsila et al., 2019). Even though correlational evidence alone cannot prove causality, there is a link between the two.
Much research has looked at the link between the adoration of famous people and mental health issues, and they all point to a favorable correlation between the two. Empirical evidence shows that celebrity worshipers are prone to delusions, which may cause significant difficulty in integrating ordinary events across a wide range of spheres of life (Brooks, 2018). As an example of an external demand that might impede personal development and lead to diminished mental well-being, the desire for fame has been proposed as a potential mediator (Greenwood, 2018). Therefore, it is contended that such an approach is risky and should be avoided.
The media people see and hear from serve as a resource for others to identify their identities. This is especially apparent in social media, where the constant stream of photos and updates creates a virtual community. Living in this society requires constant, in-the-moment comparisons and analyses. This movement of mediated people is becoming more critical to understanding who and where people fit.
Sharing personal photos and anecdotes online allows one to participate in the conversation, and the number of likes and retweets people get provides feedback on the effectiveness of online identity constructions. The significance of social media is not limited to the specific features of any one platform but rather lies in the myriad ways in which individuals negotiate their identities and the identities they aspire to have by actively sharing in the process of making sense of who they are and how they fit into the world through their feeds.
Something comparable occurs with every kind of media. One may use celebrities as a point of reference to gauge oneself. This might include discussions about sexuality and the nature of interpersonal relationships. Individual disputes about one’s identity and social contact are increasing, and these debates might now center on celebrities. As a social mechanism, gossip is essential in this context. Media gossip provides readers with a platform to evaluate the character and taste of celebrities and, consequently, themselves.
Conclusion
In conclusion, worshiping famous people is a way to work through identity issues. The general public’s adulation of a few celebrities does not qualify as “celebrity worship.” Assuming that all fans have the same belief and are entirely devoted to it is incorrect. Celebrity worship is a person’s active pursuit of improvement, with famous people being used as a means to an end. Moreover, it was argued that the presence of celebrities is an unusual approach to society and humans as gods, which allows for global changes in behavior and approaches to the questions of the environment.
Reference List
Brooks, S.K. (2018) “Fanatics: Systematic literature review of factors associated with celebrity worship, and suggested directions for future research,” Current Psychology, 40(2), pp. 864–886. Web.
Calderwood, I. (2018) 88% of people who saw ‘blue planet II’ changed their lifestyle, Global Citizen. Web.
Greenwood, D. et al. (2018) “What’s fame got to do with it? clarifying links among celebrity attitudes, fame appeal, and narcissistic subtypes,” Personality and Individual Differences, 131, pp. 238–243. Web.
Mututwa, W. and Matsilele, T. (2020) “COVID-19 infections on international celebrities: Self presentation and tweeting down pandemic awareness,” Journal of Science Communication, 19(05). Web.
Zak, S. and Hasprova, M. (2020) “The role of influencers in the consumer decision-making process,” SHS Web of Conferences, 74, p. 03014. Web.
Zsila et al. (2019) “A Path Analytic Review of the association between psychiatric symptoms and celebrity worship: The mediating role of maladaptive daydreaming and desire for fame,” Personality and Individual Differences, 151, p. 109511. Web.