Why do we obsess over celebrities?

Meetali Asiwal

Thinker | Posted on 29-Jun-2018

Cambridge dictionary defines a celebrity as someone who is recognizable in the crowd of thousands and someone who is famous particularly in entertainment industry. We as audience and viewers, and more importantly as consumers, have increased the horizons of this liminal definition. Celebrity for us is someone whom we can go crushing over, who sets latest trends for us, and whose romantic partners we often curse because we want to see us in their place. All of this takes no time in transforming itself in an obsession.

We have often find ourselves sticking the posters of Emma Watson in our room walls and trying to copy the style statement of Alia Bhatt or Chris Hemsworth. We more than often are not a celebrity’s fan because of their talents. We are more intrigued and fascinated by their larger-than-life persona that is created to support consumerism. This is the reason why Salman Khan’s movies still manage to earn crores on box office, and Priyanka Chopra could see Hollywood as an option when she was at risk of losing her chances in Bollywood. These celebrities know that people wouldn’t stop loving them, no matter how poorly their acting skills have been. Public would still go gaga over these celebrities’ senseless movies and petty Hollywood series.

The persona of a celebrity has little to do with the ability of winning hearts through skills and a lot to do with the ability of constantly being in news and rumors. The two most recent example of this fact are Melinia Trump making it to the headlines just for wearing a certain kind of jacket and Priyanka Chopra again being in talks everywhere for her link up with Hollywood Singer Nick Jonas, her latest feat being stealing the show at Akash Ambani’s pre engagement party with her rumored boyfriend.

Such are the parties where celebrities create a statement and hence who won which award in Grammy or IIFA is as important as who wore what there. Be it Sonam Kapoor’s wedding or people going crazy over Aradhya Bacchan, Taimur Khan, and the kids of Shahrukh Khan, people always find something to obsess over. The camera and paparazzi make them desirable to the eyes on flashy screens and the unimaginable distance and yet a sort of connection with them makes them achieve this status.

Obsession over celebrities also gives rise to self-criticism and self-hatred instead of encouraging the youth to dream big. We all know how well the movies of true actors like Irfan Khan and Nawazzuddin Siddique perform as compared to superstars like Salman and Shahrukh. It’s the injudiciousness of audience and viewers that transform some personalities into god.

Rohit Valiyan

Cashier ( Kotak Mahindra Bank ) | Posted on 16-Apr-2018

There is a range of reasons why many people obsess over celebrities (and politicians). Maybe because they love these individuals, maybe because the celebrities are their role models, and maybe they see themselves in their favorite stars!

The work these celebrities do and what they say and what they wear—media manages to create a larger-than-life persona for them. This captures their audience and turns them into obsessive fans. In fact, today, media is playing an extremely crucial (and concerning) role in fostering the celebrity worship culture. Showing the good (and bad) sides of the celebrities, the media outlets manage to largely influence the readers, which turn them into that star’s obsessive fan.

In India, in particular, this phenomenon is even more relevant. Indians literally worship celebrities (and politicians), like Rajnikanth, Narendra Modi, and Amitabh Bachan. While some of these fans manage to stay within an acceptable line, many do require some kind of therapy.

When talking about obsessive fans, we simply cannot go without listening to this masterpiece “Stan” by Eminem-

(So popular this song became and that Oxford actually included the word “Stan” to describe obsessive fans!)

Ritwik Singh

Manager at Amazon | Posted on 18-Apr-2018

There many factors why people are obsessed with celebrities, in my opinion it is all in their mind and the media plays a crucial role in such things. For an example, Salman Khan has a huge fan following despite the fact that he ran a car over people, but obsession of people with Salman is such extent that they ignore his wrongdoings and adore him for what he does on screen.

1. A desire to live a glam life

Many people are fascinated by their glamorous life and it is one of the reasons why people are obsessed with them. They do day dreaming about having a lot of money, huge fan following, and a glamorous life.

2. Fame and attention

A majority of people who are obsessed with this celebrity culture is due to fame and attention they get. We like to click selfies with them because we know that this one photo will hotshot give us many likes on Facebook and Instagram.

3. Sexually attracted towards them

A teenage generation gets sexually attracted to them, they fantasize about them and even in some cases, they virtually get connected to them and treat them as their life partners.

4. Low self esteem

Reality is different than reel life. People with low self-esteem get influenced by celebrities easily and they think that when they follow them on social media platforms, they are apparently living their lives and they seek for attention and fame through them.

5. Look up to them

Media plays a crucial role in the image building of a celebrity and people who are obsessed with them, start looking up to them as their model. It is okay to admire them until you start copying them. Girls copy their favorite celebrity’s hairstyles, do make up like them and even in some cases, they go for cosmetic surgeries to be like them.

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