Monday, January 16, 2017

Celebrity and Information: When are we crossing the line?

As I am sure many of you are aware, Buzzfeed is one of the most popular outlets for information online, especially with millennials. I myself actively follow Buzzfeed on Facebook and Twitter. I came across a link to a Buzzfeed quiz today that caught my attention, not because it was testing movie knowledge, but because it's focus was on gossip. This quiz was made to test fans on who celebrities are currently dating. The quiz "Do You Know Who This Celeb Is Dating RN?" is reminiscent of the quizzes teen magazines would publish when I was younger. Now that I am older, I have changed the importance I place on such information, but I think it is worth discussing the value we as a society place on such information about our celebrities.

Interestingly, all ten of the celebs included in the quiz have had a history of being in the spotlight for their relationships. One star listed on the quiz, Kristen Stewart, has had a hard time for several years dealing with the public's interest in her relationships. However, in the past year or so, she has chosen to be more open about her relationships. Even though she is not hiding her relationships, should it matter who she (or any other star) is dating?  I am not immune to reading such things (obviously), but at what point are we crossing the line?
source: http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/12/kristen-stewart-dating-celesbian-gossip-twitter.html

I am interested to know how others feel about seeing celebrities personal information (like dating history) presented like this online. 


Here is the link to the quiz for reference.


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1 comment:

  1. UnknownJanuary 17, 2017 at 11:49 PM

    Right after reading this blog post I got a text from one of my group chats updating me that Diego Luna was dating Suki Waterhouse. This lead to an immediate comparison to Waterhouse's previous relationship with Bradley Cooper. What's interesting is that none of us are particularly invovled in Luna's, Waterhouse's, or Cooper's artistic work but we all somehow managed to discuss their dating lives. It's a bizarre subject to tackle since like you mentioned, it's hard to be immune to this content.


    While reading Dyer's Introduction, I came across a line that really made me reflect on this post and the constant information that we're fed regrading star's personal lives. It read, “We never know them as real people, only as they are to be found in media texts”. We're facinated more with the idea of person, since regardless of how much insight we might have into who they are off the screen, we will never truly /know/ them.

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