Celebrity Worship and Parasocial Relationships
, • Reality TV allows viewers to share the most intimate and personal lives of TV personas, and
celebrities openly share their opinions and activities through social media outlets.
• Blogs and social media sites allows for 24-hour access to celebrities, increasing the ease with
which viewers can express their feelings towards them.
• 1/3 of the population is found to suffer from “borderline-pathological” levels of “Celebrity
Worship Syndrome,” evidencing a preoccupation with a favourite celebrity.
• Worshipping celebrities is an unstable path to go down.
Kim Kardashian has 214 million followers on Instagram alone
That’s more than the:
total number of people who live in the UK (66.7 million, 2019)
And 2/3 total number of people who live in the USA (328.2 million, 2019).
Kim only follows 130 people on Instagram
One sided relationship
Being Famous vs. Being a Celebrity
• Celebrity is the fame and public attention given by the mass media to individuals or groups.
• A celebrity can be any living person who is famous (well-known) for virtually any reason
(with or without a talent!).
• People may become celebrities from their professions, following appearances in the media,
or by complete accident.
• Someone may attain celebrity status for no particular identifiable reason, or through
association with a celebrity (“famous for being famous”).
• The essence of celebrity is “high-visibility”.
• The essence of fame is being well-known.
• All celebrities are famous people, but not all famous people are celebrities.
• Celebrities (i.e., stars / icons) are constructed to represent 'real people' experiencing real
emotions in order to relate to audiences and sell products such as films or music (Dyers star
theory)
How celebrities stay famous regardless of talent
, • Reality TV allows viewers to share the most intimate and personal lives of TV personas, and
celebrities openly share their opinions and activities through social media outlets.
• Blogs and social media sites allows for 24-hour access to celebrities, increasing the ease with
which viewers can express their feelings towards them.
• 1/3 of the population is found to suffer from “borderline-pathological” levels of “Celebrity
Worship Syndrome,” evidencing a preoccupation with a favourite celebrity.
• Worshipping celebrities is an unstable path to go down.
Kim Kardashian has 214 million followers on Instagram alone
That’s more than the:
total number of people who live in the UK (66.7 million, 2019)
And 2/3 total number of people who live in the USA (328.2 million, 2019).
Kim only follows 130 people on Instagram
One sided relationship
Being Famous vs. Being a Celebrity
• Celebrity is the fame and public attention given by the mass media to individuals or groups.
• A celebrity can be any living person who is famous (well-known) for virtually any reason
(with or without a talent!).
• People may become celebrities from their professions, following appearances in the media,
or by complete accident.
• Someone may attain celebrity status for no particular identifiable reason, or through
association with a celebrity (“famous for being famous”).
• The essence of celebrity is “high-visibility”.
• The essence of fame is being well-known.
• All celebrities are famous people, but not all famous people are celebrities.
• Celebrities (i.e., stars / icons) are constructed to represent 'real people' experiencing real
emotions in order to relate to audiences and sell products such as films or music (Dyers star
theory)
How celebrities stay famous regardless of talent
