You’re having a horrible day. You get to class and the test you crammed for last night has nothing on it that you studied. You get to work ten minutes late because Chicago drivers are out to kill you when there’s ice on the road, and your boss is livid. To top it all off, you just broke up with that special someone because they couldn’t handle you being so busy. Then, you get home and turn on the TV and there’s Paris Britney Vander-who-gives-a-crap flashing her muffin. Suddenly, your day doesn’t seem as bad as it did five minutes ago.
By following the lives of celebrities, viewers are given a humanizing look at people that would otherwise seem perfect. They seem to have it all: money, fame and perfect hair. It seems they have everything you could ask for, until you see them on TV punching a cameraman while they’re on their way to a courthouse.
The private lives of celebrities have always been anything but private to the public. This couldn’t be truer than it is today with magazines dedicated solely to their lives, as well as websites and TV shows such as perezhilton.com and TMZ. This media-based window into the lives of celebrities benefits us, not only in the form of entertainment, but also as a catalyst for discussion. Last year when singer Rihanna was found to have been physically abused by then boyfriend and fellow singer Chris Brown, it generated a lot of media attention. While most cases of domestic violence don’t receive much news coverage, Rihanna and Brown’s celebrity status caused their private issues to become public knowledge and also led to a national discussion about domestic violence, especially amongst younger couples. Talk show hosts such as Oprah and Tyra Banks tackled this serious issue on their shows following the incident. Banks’ show in particular revealed quite a bit about public consent, such as that half of the teenage girls on her show believed that Rihanna was responsible for her own beating at Brown’s hands. It was due only to their celebrity status that their incident led to the enlightening public discussions that followed.
Celebrity news can also lead to legal changes as it did with the death of Donda West, rapper Kanye West’s mother. In November 2007 West received a breast augmentation and abdominoplasty, but soon died after of a heart attack due to a preexisting health condition that should have prevented her from having the surgeries.
West’s death led to new legislation being passed that requires patients to provide medical clearance to receive elective cosmetic surgery. The law was named the “Donda West Law” in her honor.
Celebrity news offers more to society than most would be willing to admit. While a great deal of it is about as important as a fluff story about a dog raising a kitten, it does have its place. So next time you’re watching TV or pick up the newspaper and see the face of some overexposed celebrity, take it for what it is, but don’t ignore it because there may be more to benefit from it than you think.