Never is our nation’s obsession with celebrity culture more apparent to me than during the two or so months that make up award season. All of these award shows, including the Golden Globes and especially the Oscars, give Hollywood yet another chance to show the world how extravagant it can be. And it’s not for nothing either. Hundreds of thousands of people, myself included, devour every last drop of this craze, feeding off the glitz and glamour as though they were required for survival. Lately, every time I turn on the television, I see a commercial pertaining to the award shows, whether it’s about the fashion aspect, the pre-shows, or the nominees themselves.
[pullquote align=”right”] There’s something so indulgent about the whole spectacle.[/pullquote]It all got me thinking about why society loves this stuff so much. I mean, why do we invest so much time and thought into a group of people who most of us don’t know and will probably never meet? I thought about this topic for a while and came to the conclusion that ultimately our society wants what they can’t have, and that desire can drive us to fixate on less-than-important matters.
I think this phenomenon can be paralleled to many other obsessions that Americans have, for example, our ever-growing obsession with the Royal Family, or even something as inconsequential as the Olympic games.
I really started to think about the whole topic of celebrity-culture obsession a few weeks ago while I was watching the Golden Globes on television. A couple of my friends joined in on the viewing and as we all sat around the living room watching the show, someone asked, “Why are we even watching this? Don’t celebrities get enough recognition as it is?”
In that moment, I raced to defend the show. I can’t recall what excuse I came up with for why we were all watching it, and why I was enjoying it so much. I do know that perhaps the main reason for why I especially love awards shows like the Oscars and the Globes is simply because I love movies and television. I can honestly say keeping up to date with current films is one of my favorite things to do.
But that reason alone doesn’t really transfer over to the awards shows. Just because I love movies doesn’t mean that I particularly love the movie industry. Watching the Golden Globes that night really brought the reasons to the surface for me. There’s something so indulgent about the whole spectacle. Whether celebrities are winning awards for film or television roles, it still doesn’t erase this idea in my mind that they’re all just giving themselves one big pat on the back, so to speak. Nevertheless, our country loves to watch every second of it, from the pre-show interviews to the overly emotional acceptance speeches to the fashion post-shows.
All of that aside, the question of, “Why do we care?” still remains. I believe that we care so much because on some level, some miniscule, subconscious level, we put ourselves into those winner’s shoes. When Bill Murray wins a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical, we feel as though we’ve won too. All of the time and money we’ve invested into stars over the years adds up, and sometimes it feels like we’ve grown up with them. So in some way all of these reasons make the obsession with celebrity-culture and awards-culture understandable.
I will definitely be tuning in to the Oscars on February 22, which may undermine the entire argument I’ve been trying to make. But I think that if I watch the show simply as a viewer who’s cheering on (and not obsessing over) my favorite actors, directors, and cinematographers, then I can’t be too hard on myself. Maybe all our society needs to do is knock these celebrities off their pedestals every once in a while by giving them one less obsessed fan. Until next time guys, so it goes.
Rachel Alfiero is a second-year student majoring in communication studies. She can be reached at RA806657@wcupa.edu.