The Cult of Celebrity

Some are born famous (like royalty), some achieve fame (like film stars) and some have fame thrust upon them (like crime victims). Sometimes their celebrity is short-lived, sometimes it lasts a lifetime. In some rare cases, for example Diana, Princess of Wales, and Marilyn Monroe, it can be transformed by death into a sort of iconic status. But whatever the causes or circumstances, being a celebrity changes yourrelationship with the world. From being a private person, you become public property, and and everybody wants to claim a bit of you. You are the object of envy as well as admiration, fair game for criticism, interrogation, ridicule and spite. 


We make 'em, we break 'em 

We treat the famous with a mixture of reverence and brutality. We adore them, praise them. scrutinize them and destroy them. We make them unable to tell where their real selves end and the PR-manufactured images begin. We have no mercy, we show no shame. It is easy to assume that all aspects of a celebrity life are free to be examined because he or she is on show, which means he or she doesn't have the same reality as everyone else. And it is precisely because many modern celebrities are no more special than the rest of us that we feel justified in treating them with such contempt. We build them up and knock them down. 


So who are the famous?