What Do Celebrity Icons Show About Our Times?

My children follow the ups and downs of numerous "celebrity" lives: The whole Kardashian clan, of course; pop music divas and abrasive rappers; movie stars in love and sports figures in trouble; and reality "stars" from blushing bachelorettes to rich housewives. Who are these people and why should we care about them? What does it say about our society that Beyoncé has more ardent fans than any political leader or innovative thinker? An interesting book about the fame phenomenon came out in the late 1990s: The Frenzy of Renown: Fame and Its History, by Leo Braudy. Reviewing the lifestyles of the rich and famous over 2,000 years of Western culture, Braudy concludes that fame is actually a symptom of something deeper: our "ideas of what an individual is." Famous people as diverse as Alexander the Great, Abraham Lincoln, Walt Whitman and P.T. Barnum embody definitions, in sometimes quite revolutionary ways, of how an individual exists and expresses himself or herself in the world of the time. For example, contemporaries Augustus Caesar, notable during his life, and Jesus, more notable after his death, provided very different models for self-definition in their public vs. transcendental paths. But what about contemporary celebrity? Braudy sees modern American self-definition torn between our wish to embrace transcendence, uniqueness and private truths and our desire for public expression and performance that win general acclaim and acceptance. Now that's a troubling notion. Champions of "inner truth" are notably absent from the popular pantheon, I think. And consider the exemplars of public performances awarded fame today--namely "celebrities" who put glam and self-interest ahead of emotional depth and communal well-being. Are we missing more inspiring role models to crown with renown, or are we ignoring them in favor of shallow symbols of wealth, looks and pleasure? Let's hope new varieties of celebrity arise. I shudder to think of Kim Kardashian as the defining icon of the times! For Braudy's book, go to http://www.amazon.com/The-Frenzy-Renown-Fame-History/dp/0679776303