Looking at television and magazines today, it seems that the majority of news is focused on celebrities and their appearances and lifestyles. Covers of tabloids are wrought with photos of celebrity cellulite or celebrities displaying bad habits to the public. They are often criticized by the media for any bad traits or behavior they may display, as if they will inevitably influence the men, women, and youth who dote on them. But instead, we choose to view celebrity lifestyles as an unobtainable goal. As Daniel Harris states in Celebrity Bodies “The dreamer imagines an existence as unlike his own as possible and is content to admire this world from afar...” (428). But celebrities aren’t just admired from afar, they are criticized for being too thin, too fat, health-obsessed, or just unhealthy. They are criticized for the clothes they wear, the movies and television shows they choose to star in, the way they conduct their personal relationships, and even the way they raise their children. It is like they cannot catch a break. They are under constant scrutiny and have every decision picked apart by the media. This is the reality of stardom, not so glamorous and wonderful. But Americans have a plethora of problems that require immediate attention. It seems that the media should focus less on the supposed shortcomings of celebrities and focus instead on how they can be a good influence on the American people. Although people tend to villianize celebrities, Americans should try to be more like them because they are healthier, more charitable, and more active than typical Americans.
To begin, America has one of the highest obesity rates in the world (Finklestein 15). The vast majority of celebrities are very thin and toned. Celebrities...
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... portrayed as a negative one and anyone can turn a positive into a negative. We should look at the way celebrities live their lives as an achievable goal, not as something to be criticized. If Americans would focus more on eating healthier diets, being more benevolent, and staying active, we would probably be a lot happier than if we spend our days on the couch watching television, reading trash magazines about the who, what, and where of celebrities, and criticizing people of being too vain and selfish.
Works Cited
Finklestein, Eric and Zuckerman, Laurie. The Fattening of America. New Jersey: Wiley & Sons, 2008. Print.
Harris, Daniel. “Celebrity Bodies.” The Writers Presence: A Pool of Readings. Eds. Donald McQuade
and Robert Atwan. 6th ed. Boston: Bedford, 2009. Print. (425-433)
Pringle, Hamish. Celebrity Sells. New Jersey: Wiley & Sons, 2004. Print
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Marshall P. David (1997). Celebrity Power; Fame in Contemporary Culture. May 16, 2010. Electronically retrieved from
The irony is the fact that a majority of Americans are fat by national standards. Over 90 percent of women don't conform to the diet standards developed by insurance companies in the 60s. The media create a need to lose weight because they realize most Americans aren't statistically thin. By creating a standard of what is "normal" and then creating a need to achieve this normality, an industry of dependence is born - dependence upon diet pr...
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