Spring Break
Britney obsession infectious
Issue date: 10/18/07 Section: Opinions
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When I got home later that night, my parents and I sat in the living room reading the newspaper and watching TV.
"What time is it?" my dad says. "Turn it on channel five."
"Oh no," my mom says. "Your dad's got to get his Britney fix."
You cannot be serious, I thought. The cult that is celebrity culture has managed to reach everyone, even my dad? This infectious and contagious fixation with Britney Spears and company reaches way beyond the realm of The National Enquirer and bubble gum Teen Beat magazines.
Every day we are inundated with the latest updates about who is in rehab and who is pregnant, paternity tests and mud-slinging divorce cases. And this information reaches us in every medium, whether it be on TV, radio, Internet, cell phones, magazines or newspapers. The Red & Black runs a celebrity news story on most days.
Earlier this month, everyone found out about Britney's custody battle, which followed her train wreck of a performance on MTV's Video Music Awards.
Not a day goes by that I don't hear or read an update of this tabloid jewel. It seems no one with a TV or Internet access is safe from the daily saga of the trials and tribulations of stardom.
So what drives this superstar obsession? Why is it that now, every teeny bopper and homemade porno-making reality star seems to have pervasive fame, spanning across the United States?
The answer is not clear, but one thing I know for sure is that I do not care.
I do not care what club Nicole Richie went to last night. I do not care about Paris Hilton's stay in the slammer. I do not care what rehab clinic Lindsay Lohan is vacationing at this week. And I do not care whether or not Britney Spears loses custody of her children.
But whether I want to or not, I know all of the stories and the biggest celebrity gossip buzz because it is impossible to get away from.
Unless you live under a rock or pay absolutely no attention to what is going on in the world, there is little chance of missing the hottest celebrity news of the day. Whether people care or not, they know what is going on in Hollywood.
I am confident I am not the only one who feels this way.
In class lectures, my professors often use heavy sarcasm and ridicule the celebrities to which they refer. Everyone laughs in agreement because the whole celebrity thing seems like a joke we're tired of hearing. And it is.
A great deal of the media that covers celebrity news makes fun of their melodramatic soap opera lives and their constant stints in rehab. Magazines devote pages to mocking the stars and their tacky choice in clothing.
After waging my battle against toxic celebrity gossip and trying as much as possible to avoid reading and seeing it, I realize that to try this is to fail. I avoided the E! network and stopped reading tabloids in the grocery store, but failed. It is everywhere.
Acceptance is the next step for me. The acceptance that celebrity news and gossip is here to stay and will continue to invade every aspect of communication.
By the way, if you're reading this, Britney, I thought you did great at the VMAs. I can't wait to hear your new CD.
- Allie Byrd is a senior from Fayetteville majoring in newspapers.
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