Are Hollywood news (or gossip shows) such as "Entertainment Tonight," "Extra," "The Insider," and "Access Hollywood," among the TV programs you regularly watch? Have you ever felt almost giddy with anticipation while standing in line for tickets to the newest movie featuring your favorite actor or actress? Do you enjoy the parade of A-Listers walking down the red carpet prior to the Oscar, Emmy, and Tony award ceremonies? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you share with most Americans an appreciation for (if not a fascination with) celebrities. We love our stars! Who can blame us? They're talented, successful, famous, often beautiful/handsome, and on occasion, even inspirational. And the lives they lead are exciting, to say the least. When we focus on such individuals, it "makes a great getaway from the normal world known as everyday life" ( Abanes 10 ).
It's true; celebrities are intriguing. Millions of people are curious about their lives, and in some cases are so enamored with them that the chosen celebrity becomes an object of genuine preoccupation. The media's portrayal of celebrity life as that of glamour and success results in an infectious desire to achieve a position in the exclusive group of elites. We buy gym memberships and hire personal trainers in hopes of acquiring the celebrated abs of Brad Pitt, or the slim ˜figure eight' of Beyonce. We strive to find affordable replicas of the ridiculously priced designer clothing celebrities flaunt, and drool over the mansions they call home when they're not on exotic vacations or at movie premieres. .
Celebrity-icons are objects of worship. Social observers and the lay public alike speak of the ˜real hunger' they experience for celebrity images and information; their ˜insatiable appetite'; of how the extraordinary expansion of print, digital, and television celebrity coverage has provided an ˜opportunity to indulge', to finally ˜state the desire for celebrity news and gossip'.
