On Celebritism: Its Decline, and Hopeful Death

Celebritism and displays of self-deluded grandeur have been a staple of American culture for quite some time, at least since the advent of the mass press and success of the Hollywood Golden Age from the 1950’s onwards. Red carpets, flash photography and glitz and glamour have captured audiences hearts and hypnotized their minds into believing that actors, singers, fashionistas and the like are somehow above the average man or woman, and are to be put on a pedestal to be gawked at and worshiped by the general public - despite the fact that working in the entertainment is just that; working in entertainment.

Celebrity worship is nothing new, and it exists across the Western world due to the exposure entertainers have had in people’s lives; we consume products plastered with their faces, we watch them on television, we read about celebrity drama and the “who’s who” and “what’s what” gossip that is fed to us through tabloids and newspapers. We have been conditioned to accept this - after all, in most of our lives it has always been around, and somewhat topical as a way to break the ice or connect with each other through mutual knowledge or interests - but nevertheless it doesn’t make our obsession with the entertainment industry and its employees any less strange.

In an alternate reality where the entertainment industry is less valued than, say, coal mining for example, would we be reading gossip columns about which A-list miners are dating each other, or what they’re up to in the bedroom? Would we be crowding the entrances of mine-shafts with red-carpet displays as soot-faced workers wave and smile for the cameras and the crowds, with their latest designer pickaxes and overalls being the hot topic talked about at gatherings and parties? Would little girls have posters of men operating industrial power drills on their walls? Would we set our standards based on what’s popular in the world of ore, rather than the world of movies and television?

It’s a funny thought, but the point still stands. In no other industry do we see this level of worship and praise for people who are, in reality, just doing a job to pay the bills.
Of course, it’s easy to understand why the entertainment industry in particular has had this influence over the public for the last hundred or so years. Entertainment - whether that be film, music, or any other form of performance or display artistry - provides a level of escapism for most people to latch on to in order to get away from the common drudgery of modern mundane bureaucracy and industrialized, standardized life.

It’s easy to forget one’s own problems and struggles when you can read about someone else’s - especially someone you are familiar with, but don’t really know. For decades at least, celebrities such as actors or singers acted as a way for us to live vicariously the lives that we wanted. We like to see ourselves in these strangers, as we consume the stories they portray, or sing along to the music they make, wear the same clothes as they do, or try and emulate their public personalities to “express ourselves”. It’s quite oxymoronic that to “express yourself”, you emulate or imitate someone else - but, such is the irony of the human condition, especially in a consumerist world where individuality is essentially a myth created to sell you shit. 

Originality is hard, if not almost impossible, to create. Especially so in an ever growing mass-connected world. Few people are ever actually put on these societal pedestals, and celebrities are simply the new elite class taking the place that was once occupied by monarchs, nobility, warriors and religious figureheads. 

Celebrities, at the very least, used to at least look like the prime versions of us, have the same sorts of human attitudes and had a level of social responsibility that was characterized by the old world morals that they were raised with. Alphas of their respective fields rise to the top, the beautiful and the strong are admired, and the talented are celebrated. 

Now, not to anyone’s surprise in the clownish world we find ourselves in, this elite is growing to be ever-more out-of-touch and out of reach - not due to their objective strengths, beauties, or rich personalities, but rather their lack thereof. Deluded by the make-believe worlds and personas that they have either adopted or had thrusted upon them by advertising sycophants and morally bankrupt network producers looking to “destigmatize” unhealthy or antisocial behaviors, these new celebrities can never seem to break character. Especially so thanks to the advent of social media, hungry eyes of their ever consuming audiences are being constantly fixated on them to see what’s the next publicity stunt. Keeping up appearances and being ever more outrageous is what keeps their equally pitiful fans loyal - reinforcing egos and feeding the beast until exhaustion.

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One has to look no further than the Met Gala that occurred this past month. Whether it is the increasingly effeminate attitudes and fashion statements that African American men such as rapper Lil Nas X seem to be the vector of - in some sort of weird quasi-”Buck Breaking” humiliation ritual that the press can’t seem to get enough of. Or the literal fashion “statements” worn by the “powerful” female role-models of today’s era; namely Cara Delevigne’s “Peg the Patriarchy” stab vest, or the “In Gay We Trust” getup from the US Women’s Soccer team Captain Megan Rapinoe. While the cameras and press fawned over these outfits and the vapid personalities that embodied them, I sensed a level of exhaustion from most normal viewers watching.

A charity Gala, like all other ceremonies from the Oscars to the Grammys and beyond, has become less about the events themselves and celebrating the work of people within the industry, and more a multi-million dollar activist rally. In all senses of the word, “activism” loses its meaning when it is being co-opted and contorted by the elites of society, and turned into mere objects of consumption for the disgruntled masses to enjoy. It has been argued by scholars both Left and Right that revolutionary socialism has essentially lost its effectiveness to uproot the system it advocates against, as it has become more and more indistinguishable from the mainstream of society. The commodification of far-Left activism by neoliberal capitalists has essentially neutered its power to actually revolt - one may argue this is a good thing, but it seems that despite the castration of the violent revolutionary attitudes that we once saw during the Occupy Wall Street days, we are still subject to the backwards morality and rejection of fundamental civilizational values that come with Marxist and Nihilist culture. 

What better example of this do we have than the “revolutionary” figurehead in Congress, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez? As she stunned the cameras with her glistening white ball gown with chaotic red scrawl embroidered on the backside stating “TAX THE RICH”. Rather ironic that an outspoken socialist sees no issue with rubbing shoulders with the rich at a $30,000 per ticket event, wearing the dress of a designer, Aurora James, who has been known to exploit her staff with long underpaid hours, not providing workers comp insurance, and taking around $41,000 in pandemic relief aid while owing well over $62,000 in taxes that are still yet to be paid, and being sued for $5000 for not paying rent for one of her facilities. If the “socialist” label can be applied to either of these women in any way, it’s due to their economic illiteracy and hypocrisy. 

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It amazes me that these stunning and brave individuals, who are all of course advocates for mass vaccination, mask wearing, and restrictions were seen gathering together unrestricted while the staff working the event were forced to be gagged up in face-masks. More and more the distinction of “we are better than these lowly peasants” becomes clearer. I can imagine being served hors d'oeuvres by staff in face masks makes it easier to distinguish oneself as above the common man. After all, you’ll never be held to the same standard as these people, so long as you are playing for the elite team, so why bother even hiding it?

As for celebrities that don’t tow the line, or question the narrative, or have the audacity to call out the double standards that are so blatantly in front of everyone’s eyes, what happens to them?

Nicki Minaj, an artist who herself has been for many years another one of these outrageous characters thrust on the celebrity stage, with hit singles like “You a Stupid Hoe” or “Anaconda”, has felt the effects of what it is like to go against the regime. Her questioning the validity or effectiveness of the vaccines after hearing from friends and family about potential side-effects - more specifically, swollen testicles from her cousin’s friend - earned her a ban from Twitter, and the de-platforming enjoyed by others such as former President Donald Trump. 

How quick the regime is to turn on those it once propped up if they speak or think for themselves! To Minaj’s credit, she hasn't taken the blacklisting lightly, moving her messaging to other platforms and hitting back at journalists trying to intimidate her for comments and interviews. If only more people working in the entertainment industry had the sort of balls that can be found from a Trinidadian rapper - albeit potentially swollen.

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The one takeaway I can gather from the last few years of the gradual merging of celebritism and activist morality is how quickly it has become exhausting. While we were once amazed when our stars were “taking a stand” or throwing their opinion into the mix to spice things up, it quite rapidly became an annoyance. Nobody gives a shit anymore, quite frankly. The entertainers and artists that have fared the best have been the ones who don’t pipe up every five seconds - and that goes for both sides of the political aisle. The ones that have been overt and loud have suffered greatly in their careers - the excitement that people once felt about consuming new media has largely faded in the zeitgeist. And as we see Hollywood release rebooted and rehashed versions of just about every intellectual property under the sun, we can easily observe that the bottom of the barrel has well and truly been scrapped - in fact there’s no bottom of the barrel anymore, it’s hollow, and it has no meaning anymore.

While we may yearn for the celebrities and entertainers of yesteryear - where they weren’t so politicized, being simply sources of entertainment rather than moral preachers and completely disconnected from reality - I find that the death of celebritism is rather welcoming. 

Maybe, just maybe, we’ll be able to escape the cave and shadows on the wall that the entertainment industry essentially provided the masses. Perhaps we’ll replace celebritism with role models and elites of a different stock, and of a different industry. Will we see a return to older, traditional role models like politicians or cultural leaders? Nobility perhaps? Twitter and TikTok e-personalities? The possibilities are endless for what comes next, but I’m more than happy to sink the final nails into the coffin of celebritism, and you should be too.
Let’s all take a handful of dirt, throw it in the grave and be done with it.