THE CELEBRITY-FREE DIET
Last year saw me sink to depressing lows: bingeing late into the evening, consuming thoughtlessly and voraciously, searching out new sources to sate the insatiable.
New year 2012. I needed to go on the mother of all diets.
Unlike the last umpteen new years, this resolution had nothing to do with gym memberships or shrinking dress sizes. This year I would be cutting out something far more troublesome than the daily chocolate bar.
This year I would stop reading celebrity gossip.
Image via brianarondo.wordpress.com.
Of course ‘reading’ has as much to do with celebrity gossip as Europe has to do with fiscal control. It’s all about the looking. The voyeuristic pleasure of peeking into the lives of those we most admire and lust after. And I was looking far too often.
I didn’t care where I look my pleasure – from shots of celeb’s leery nights out or intrusive snaps of their kids – the pictures were all there for my titillation. I knew it was a brain drain. I knew there was more intellectual sustenance in an average episode of Two and a Half Men but, hey, it was a harmless treat, like a vodka and tonic before 3pm.
If I ever questioned the moral validity of what I was doing, the argument probably went something like this…
Famous person X is wildly attractive and successful. He/she has a flawless life. I have paid to see their films. I have played a part in their success. They owe me (kind of like a tax). I’ll claim that tax in salacious shots of their private life, thank you very much.
Repugnant isn’t it?
I’m guessing my subconscious had been screaming that all along, but it wasn’t until the UK’s Leveson Inquiry started to roll that my culpability finally gave me a slap round the chops.
Here’s an extract from Sienna Miller’s testimony from the inquiry:
“…for a number of years I was relentlessly pursued by about 10 to 15 men almost daily, and anything from being spat at or verbally abused. I think the incentive is really to get as strong a reaction as possible. They seemed to go to any lengths to try to upset you, which is really difficult to deal with.”
And another from Hugh Grant:
“One [of my] girlfriend’s six year old child was so traumatised by the constant and frightening attention of paparazzi that he ended up a nervous wreck with nails bitten down to the quick. The girlfriend had to move out of London, taking the child out of his school.”
The Leveson Inquiry may focus on UK media outlets, but its testimonies highlight the lengths tabloids the world over will go to get their “money shot”.
Not the red carpet ones. Not the ones where the subject is happy to be photographed in a professional capacity. No, the nasty ones, like those printed by The Sun of a naked Prince Harry. Rupert Murdoch’s rag posited that titillating an entire nation with Harry’s bare arse was in the ‘public interest’ (which now seems to mean throwing the doors open to anything the public may want to have a sticky beak at).
How on earth have we allowed people to be stalked and violated like this?
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12 Responses to this article
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The Huntress September 4, 2012
I LOATHE gossip magazines in all shapes and forms. I have never read and will never read them. I am a big advocate for privacy and the intrusion (and not to mention completely ballsed up speculation) upon people’s lives is abhominable.
Having worked in an area with constant media intrusion (and dirty tactics by shonky journalists to gain access to people) I can never condone “celebrity” gossip or anything like it. And while I confess to a disabling crush on Jeremy Renner at the moment, I feel no urge whatsoever to be scouring gossip magazines, or surfing gossip websites to seek him out. I’ll go see the latest Bourne movie and admire him happily from there,as it should be, rather than feeding a low-life paparazzi’s job to provide the most crap drivel to the masses.
Phew! I feel better now.
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sami September 4, 2012
Thankfully I never bought those kinds of magazines anyway. I got as far as Cleo, Madison etc and I’ve stopped reading those now too. None of them are very good for the soul.
I feel as though some people buy into the tabloid drama too much, as if they actually have a vested interest in these peoples lives. I saw stuff online about people having meltdowns over that Twilight girl cheating on that Twilight boy and it was just so foreign to me. I put it in the same basket as Big Brother- what so I care about these peoples lives? So long as people aren’t being cruel or mean to other people/animals I don’t really care what anyone does, famous or otherwise. Perhaps some people are lacking in their own lives and need to live vicariously through others? Though I still don’t see the appeal of constant drama, but horses for courses.
I’m on board with The Huntress here- I have a thing for Jason Statham but I know hardy anything about his personal life. I’m content to watch him on the big screen
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Loz September 4, 2012
Good for you. I gave up trash mags about 2 years ago and like you, have had no cravings. I finally saw how disfunctional it is to enjoy reading a two page finctional embellishment that some writer has spun out of a sleazy piece of gossip. I now spend my money on books, real quality fiction.
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Kris September 4, 2012
I haven’t bought any of these magazines for over 10 years. I just think it’s creepy that people think it is OK to take photos of “famous” people on holidays – when they aren’t even aware the photo is being taken. It’s one thing if it is a proper “publicity” photo – for a new movie etc, but when they’re on hoidays, playing with their kids, or even just trying to have lunch it is just plain wrong.
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Phil Barker September 4, 2012
I had the rather odd experience of editing both NW and Woman’s Day back in the day.
There’s only one way to stop the paps. Stop consuming celeb gossip. When Diana died there was a massive outpouring of grief, and, I believe, guilt, from consumers who could draw a direct line between their weekly gossip fix and the massive market for celebrity pictures.
If the consumers didn’t buy the mags, there wouldn’t have been any paps in the Paris tunnel that night.
(She wasn’t killed by paps, she was killed by a drunk driver and the lack of a seatbelt, but I digress).
Pre-internet, a good exclusive celeb snap could command up to hundreds of thousands of $ on the market because editors and media proprietors knew good pix = sales.
Now, when you can see any new stuff on TMZ the minute it happens, it’s not such good news for the gossip weeklies, but there’s still more than enough interest in this stuff for many photogs to make a good living out of it.
Don’t like it? Don’t buy it. Stop creating the market and it will eventually go away.
Last thing, quick note to celebs. You earn millions of dollars a year. You work about 3-6 months a year. You have an assistant, nannies, personal trainers, dieticians, a twitter writer, whatever you need. Lucky you. But the deal with the devil you make when you ask someone for their $20 to see you in a movie is you don’t get to turn their interest in you off. They love you on the red carpet and they will love you at the supermarket on a Tuesday afternoon. You don’t get to choose.
You can choose not to be famous, however. Go and work in a bookstore and sack your agent and in a month no-one will be interested in you at all. THAT’S how to get rid of the paps. -
Matt September 4, 2012
In my line of work, occasionally I find myself in a Doctor’s waiting room for lengthy periods (No I am not regularly ill but thanks for asking). Cue the trash mags.
I’ve never bought any in my life but having flicked through more than my fair share on occasion. It startles me that there is actually a market for this stuff. It’s truly the very definition of crap. -
Rose September 4, 2012
I occasionally go into a newsagent to see if there might be a mag worth buying – nope! I have diverse interests and I like to be informed but I no longer buy the papers, the mags – I won’t even watch the news. It makes me too cranky. So I cherry pick my way around all that info that is available and somehow I still know that the twilight kids broke up. Why is it so?
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Louise Smithers September 4, 2012
I have NO desire to have any knowledge of other people’s lives. It is rude intrusive voyeuristic and does not enhance my life in any way. Every minute I spend learning or being interested in other peolple’s ‘celebrity’ diminishes mine. My life is more important and worthy of the energy.
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RobynMarie September 4, 2012
Phil Barker you are right. If we all give up the celeb gossip the paps will die. I gave up the mags accidently, I sorta kinda got real busy and got super resentful that I was getting no real value from said mags that I just got out of the habit. Hard to believe but my life has not stopped because I don’t know the latest tidbit. In fact I think my life has improved, I now have informed opinions on current afffairs and can converse on many topics from asylum seekers to the reasons why we are in afghanistan. I like that very much better than being up on the latest Angelina lala…
