Do as the Celebrities Do

Last week's reading, particularly Dyer's commentary on the contradiction of ordinariness in celebrities, had me thinking about Us Weekly's "Star's: They're Just Like Us!" segment. Dyer explains that some fans see stars as the popular figures they are because of something that makes them extraordinary, something they are better at than the rest of us. I find the whole thing a bit contradictory, and also entertaining. We enjoy putting celebrities on a pedestal, yet at the same time we like to bring them down to earth and humanize them, in the most literal instances. Part of it is just pushing a fangirling culture, but perhaps at times this can have a positive effect. With all the nasty scrutiny, invasion of privacy, and criticism celebrities receive, maybe it is important to remind ourselves that at the end of the day they are, after all, just humans too. Except Ryan Seacrest. He is definitely an alien.