Tabloidization: Creating a New Reality for Celebrities

Throughout the semester we’ve discussed celebrity culture and how tabloids exploit popular culture in some instances. Certain celebrities go out of their way to avoid excessive attention. These are the celebrities that generally avoid controversy and the covers of tabloids as a result.

However there remains the celebrities who are constantly on the covers of tabloids for being involved in some scandal. These are the people who either seek the attention, simply don’t think before acting, or both. A current example of this situation can be shown by a photograph taken at a Jean-Paul Gaultier fashion show. This normally wouldn’t cause a stir, however the theme of the show was “pro-fighting” and the celebrity in the photo was Chris Brown. Brown is photographed with Jean-Paul Gaultier, who is in full make-up giving him a beaten appearance. Chris Brown is most recently known for assaulting his famous girlfriend, Rihanna. For someone who is in as precarious of a public relations situation, Chris Brown should be constantly aware of his actions and not allow slip ups like this to occur.

Another example of this is found in the many wardrobe malfunction pictures that have been taken of Lindsay Lohan, Tara Reid and Paris Hilton. When your life is constantly photographed by paparazzis, you should be careful to make sure your body is full covered.

Gilbert Arenas was recently slapped with a suspension from the NBA. He had made the poor decision to bring several guns into the Wizards’ locker room two weeks before his suspension. The suspension, however, was the NBA’s reaction to a gesture he made that was caught on camera. Arenas was photographed “shooting” at his teammates with his fingers. The gestures cost him the suspension.

Tabloidization in popular culture has created situations in which celebrities need to watch their actions constantly. It’s unfortunate that simple actions, that the average person wouldn’t consider a big deal, need to be guarded for fear of their images being published. It’s unfortunate but it’s still a fact of life for somebody who lives in the spotlight, and should be considered constantly.

Celebrity Post-Baby Bodies

Gossip columnists (and most men) around the country are excitedly awaiting the post-baby body pictures of Gisele Bundchen. Mrs. Tom Brady, who gave birth to her first child in December, has already arranged a photo shoot for Brazilian jeans company Colcci. Most women a month after giving birth are just beginning to be able to squeeze back into their embarrassingly large “fat pants.”

The photo-shoot is set to take place in Boston, near her home where she has been hiding out since the birth. No doubt, the cover girl has probably been hiding with a full staff of nutritionist and trainers. But this won’t help soften the blow of jealousy most women around the country will feel. Most people realize that celebrities have much more free time and resources to help them shed unwanted pounds. Unfortunately the average American woman does not have that kind of free time without children, let alone after having one.

Heidi Klum’s picture was splashed all over the internet after debuting her post-baby body. Klum rocked the Victoria’s Secret runway looking as good as ever, a mere 2 months after giving birth. These types of celebrity feats are part of what drives a normal sized woman to unhealthy dieting practices.

Another perk celebrity moms have is the time to maintain a decent pregnancy weight before giving birth. Medically speaking, the average pregnant woman should gain at least 25-35 lbs. Most women gain more and then have more to lose once the baby is born. Television is flooded with infomercials singing the praises of a variety of quick, but unhealthy, weight loss methods.

The average woman takes between 8 and 12 months to return to her pre-pregnancy weight. (WebMD) Celebrity moms bouncing back within less than 2 months creates unhealthy and potentially dangerous expectations when a new mom tries to follow suit without professional help.

Jennifer Aniston in the Media, Post Brad

Ever since Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt split up, we have seen a lot more of Jennifer in the tabloids. At first, it was all about how heartbroken she was, and how Brad betrayed her. This went on for years. However, in the last year or two, the focus on Jennifer Aniston has strayed to two different areas: babies and men. Have you noticed how the majority of the time we see Jennifer Aniston on the cover of a magazine, it either shows her with her “new man” of the moment or it claims that she’s pregnant? There have been magazines claiming that Jen’s pregnant for years now, and we still have yet to see a baby. It has come to the point where if Jennifer has a hand even close to her stomach, the media will spin it into a story about her pregnant. Or if she’s even seen talking to a guy, the media will make him her newest boyfriend.

In the past year alone, Jennifer has been rumored to have been dating John Mayer, Orlando Bloom, Bradley Cooper and Gerard Butler, only one of which was probably true. The paparazzi take the pictures that can be interpreted in a misleading way to make up a story. The public loves these stories and digest them whenever they can, but it’s important for the public to remember that these stories, more often than not, are just stories. The media can represent certain things in a certain way, making them very deceptive.
I recently saw an episode of The Simpsons that I found to be even more funny than I would have anyways, because it demonstrated a lot of what we’ve been talking about. The episode was called Homerazzi, and in it, Homer becomes one of the paparazzi and it shows the different things he goes through to get a shot of the celebrities. In one scene, Marge tells him to stop exploiting the lives of these celebrities, and Homer says that in actuality, everyone really likes reading those magazines. Then Marge tries to prove him wrong by putting the magazine away, and eventually she can’t take it anymore, and ends up picking it up and reading it. Here’s a link to a clip from the episode. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnSN68jDd70
In Jennifer Aniston’s case, since her single status was a huge factor in the tabloids after her divorce, whenever the paparazzi catches her near a guy, that’s their shot. And that’s the story the media goes with. The last couple of years, it’s been the same thing over and over again. Isn’t there anything else in the tabloid media for Jennifer Aniston besides a new man or a baby?

Give the Public What They Want!

If the public wants scandal, then that’s what they’re going to get. Whether you actually purchase tabloid magazines or not, one time or another, the cover has definitely caught your interest. If you take a look at the majority of these magazines, the words that are highlighted to catch your interest through larger font, tend to be words like: Cheated, Scandal, Rehab, Split Up, and so on. All of these words indicate something negative happening to the celebrity it’s associated with. Why is it that we find these topics to be of such interest?

Generally, the public has become almost obsessed with celebrity media, always wanting to know everything that’s going on in these people’s lives. If a celebrity gets married, wonderful! If he or she wins an Oscar, great! But the magazine covers that generate the most attention are those that are associated with some sort of scandal. When Britney Spears had her “meltdown”, it was everywhere and everyone knew about it. The same thing can be said for the more recent Tiger Woods Scandal. Brangelina/Jennifer Aniston news has been in the tabloids for years. It’s been close to 5 years, yet you’ll still see the occasional reference to that situation every once in a while. These scandals are hard times for these celebrities, and having their business plastered all over the place can’t be easy for them. However, as long as they’re celebrities, and as long as tabloidization exists, that’s exactly what’s going to happen. The public has a desire to know these things, and the tabloids are in business to give the public exactly that.

Although Cashmore focused more on scandals in relation to sex, what he said can go for all types of scandal. He states that regardless of whether the story provokes the public to feel compassion or condemnation, celebrity scandals increase the public’s interest. People enjoy reading about celebrity gossip. Perhaps, in a way, it let’s them see that these celebrities aren’t perfect, and they have to deal with problems just like everyone else. Sure, the media has an influence in creating the public’s interest through tabloidization, but it’s coupled with the public actually wanting to know about these things.

Stumbling or Procastinating

The Dictionary.com definition of Procrastinating is "to put off till another day or time; defer; delay." Many people procrastinate things like school work and other tasks that they do not want to do. I can see already that many people in this class myself included waited until the last minute to do their blog posts because until yesterday their were very few posts and today there have been sixty or seventy and the day is not over.

If you need some more help procrastinating then I am going to help you out:

WWW.Stumbleupon.COM

Just click the link and then in the top left corner click Stumble! and you will find yourself procrastinating like never before.

This website lets you click the Stumble! button and takes you to a random webpage. It can be anything from a computer game, to a puzzle, a video a funny quote, a picture or actually come to think of it anything. It is completely random unless you select what your interests are. In which case it will be limited to only the selections you make.

In the Sean Redmond reading about visual regime and how celebrities are always being followed around by paparazzi and having pictures taken of them. I think it is pretty sad that many people make celebrities lives the mainstay of their days and are always up to date of who is dating who and who went to the club last night. The biggest story in the news right now is the earthquake in Haiti but the biggest story before that was the Tiger Woods scandal. People use Tabloids and the internet to procrastinate their work and try to figure out what is going on in the lives of celebrities today.

The Tiger Woods scandal is a big deal in the sports world right now and many people look up to him, but I feel like enough is enough and let the guy have some privacy because he knows he messed up he does not need everyone reminding him of what he did wrong every second of the day.

I think we find the lives of celebrities so interesting because we look up to them and they are always around on the covers of magazines, on T.V. and on billboards. Celebrities are everywhere and they are people to and sometimes I am sure that they could use some space away from all of their fans.

This website is a way for me to procrastinate in other ways and keeps me away from all of the celebrities in music and movies. I encourage you to try it out and Stumble upon something other than famous people.

Jennifer Aniston: Cougar?

ABC has recently aired a new comedy called Cougartown. The show stars Courtney Cox as an attractive and successful 40-something divorcee on the prowl. In an interesting twist, Cox’s real-life friend and former costar is in a similar life situation. Ten years ago Jennifer Aniston was blissfully happy and married to Brad Pitt. They were the golden couple of Holywood. She was on the widely famous show Friends and he starred in hits such as Seven and Fight Club.Brad Pitt then began filming Mr. and Mrs. Smith and fell in love with his co-star Angelina Jolie. Jennifer was then left newly single and almost 40.

Since her infamous divorce, Aniston has circulated through a number of male suitors. She has been linked to several Holywood heartthrobs, young and old, and her conquests almost always end up on the front page of a tabloid. This phenomenon has left me wondering why Jennifer Aniston is given such a hard time.

A trip to the grocery store results in seeing Aniston’s face splashed across the covers of tabloids. The titles that accompany these covers use words like “desperate” and usually exploit her as a bitter woman. Our culture glorifies “cougars” in a variety of television shows, including a reality show dedicated to real-life cougars. So why is a successful and beautiful actress like Jennifer Aniston ridiculed instead of celebrated?

Johannsson’s analysis of tabloidization provides some insight. People are more interested in the crashing and burning of celebrities’ lives. The scandal is the entertainment. A good comparison of this is Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher’s relationship. Ashton Kutcher is 27, while his wife Demi Moore is 42. They have an assumedly happy relationship, which is acknowledged by their lack of presence in tabloid articles. Jennifer Aniston’s failing relationships and lack of new love is sensationalized because it sells magazines.

Hugh Hefner & Playboy Mansion: Forever Breaking Boundaries

Starting just as a writer and cartoonist for a small newspaper for the Army, in a span of only a few years, Hugh Hefner built the number one men’s magazine in the world: Playboy. Not only did he create a magazine but as well, an entire industry. During a time when there was still a lot of censorship on television, Hefner broke away all boundaries. Hugh Hefner and his empire of Playboy changed pop culture in a variety of ways.

As we have discussed, many changes began evolving in television. Jim Cullen explained how programs were beginning to explore by pushing societal boundaries, starting with television shows such as I Love Lucy and All in the Family. Each of these sitcoms took a chance and began featuring themes that were usually avoided in most programs. Producers and screenwriters were weary of the criticisms they may receive. Society wasn’t all that accepting of provocative themes including anything that included sex or illustrated racism or other societal issues.
Shows such as I Love Lucy barely pushed any boundaries compared to those that Hefner pushed. According to Cullen, I Love Lucy was controversial solely for featuring an interracial couple. Hefner created a magazine all about sex, featuring pages of naked women, starting with society’s beloved Marilyn Monroe! And when he first released the first edition, he was arrested for it!With Playboy, began an entire new perspective on sex in the media.

From when Playboy first released up until presently, it has continued to cause controversy. Many feel as though its content (including Playboy Magazine, and Girls Next Door, a reality series about the lives of the playmates in Playboy Mansion) is degrading and offensive to women. Many feminists argue that it minimizes women and presents them as simply just sex symbols. Critics additionally argue that Hefner’s magazine and television programs create misconceptions about women. As well, he popularizes the idea that dating and being intimate with several women at one time is acceptable. Although Hefner is allowed to have as many lovers as he wants, his “girlfriends” are restricted to only one – him. This as well, illustrates and enhances a male dominance and power, which many women are very unhappy about.

Whether Hugh Hefner’s morals are backwards or not, he is still considered one of the “luckiest men in the world.” The development of his magazine and the Playboy industry is an example of the changes culture has undergone in the last several decades. Our society has become more open and more accepting of certain ideas that were never accepted into the media at one point in time. Despite any opinions on his unique lifestyle, he certainly has opened many doors for the media since his first Playboy hit stands in 1963, and continues to do so today. If Hefner were arrested today for publishing an article featuring naked women, people would laugh or may even be outraged by it. Interesting how things have turned.