Sternheimer states that much of American celebrity culture stems from the notions of the 'American Dream' and the idea that anyone can achieve wealth regardless of their demographics or social standing (Pg XIII, 2011) and this i believe while not the case for every culture and how the treat celebrities, certainly has a ripple effect that endures with America being the world superpower that it is, and as having the dominant contribution to Western culture.
Another point for observation in celebrity culture is the particular attention to lifestyle excesses and the paparazzi; important in determining the key differences between the 'ordinary citizen' an the 'celebrity' as an idealistic figure. There tend to be a gap in my mind between the lives lead by celebrities and those who do not, this seems to be related to media coverage of both negative stories and positive stories which indeed strips the celebrity figure of any of their personal and relatable human characteristics and places them up on a pedestal separate from the community at large.
Sternheimer contends what constitutes a 'celebrity' has been opened up in the wake of social network sites (pg 2, 2011) and the benefit (and subsequent 'explosion') of such social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter is that it allows connection to celebrity culture in a way that both is not filtered or placed in context by the media and provides people to the humanising details of everyday life that are not usually heard by regular citizens.
References-
Sternheimer, K, Celebrity Culture and the American Dream, Routledge, 2011, New York, pg XIII, pg 2
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