The dangers of celebrity culture
At 10 in the morning, a big crowd had gathered in a market. Traders, drivers and curious people were all excited.
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The music had got to them and those who could not resist had joined the professional crowd boosters in the impromptu dancing ring to shake their bodies and show their skills.
The MC was whipping everyone into a frenzy. Everyone was in the mood except the organisers of the gig. The advertised time for the programme to start had already gone past but they had delayed the start and were now getting anxious.
The sun was not hanging about; it was moving higher and getting hotter. The invited guests under the canopy were beginning to feel the heat. The programme start was now an hour late. The organisers were now in frantic mode. Why had the programme delayed?
The answer was that the BIG MAN for the occasion had not arrived. The big man had been given the time and in turn he had given his word. But, he was a celebrity, and in Ghana’s current mood of celebrity culture, such people are not subject to the rules of time and space.
They are bigger. In the end, the celebrity failed to turn up.
If there is one thing true of Ghana today, it is that the country is in the grip of celebrity culture. We appear to be fixated on the goings-on in ‘celebritydom’ to the exclusion of everything else.
Of course, fascination with the lives of famous people is not new. The historical development of celebrity culture can be traced back to ancient times where individuals such as rulers, warriors and philosophers gained notoriety and were celebrated for their achievements. In Ghanaian societies, women and men who had achieved or done something worth celebrating were often celebrated in poetry, song and immortalised in different kinds of folk ways.
With the rise of mass media, beginning with newspapers, a new focus on the lives of famous people began to catch the public’s imagination, but even so, this was on a limited scale and famous people were famous for something.
The advent of television widened the fascination because now we could see the famous people in action. In Ghana, from the 1980s, among the first group of people who cottoned on to this fascination were Christian preachers of the Charismatic persuasion. Politicians got onto the act as soon as the country returned to party politics in the early 1990s.
They used every means available to maximise their access and propagate their image and ideas. Naturally, the media gravitated towards them to find more information about them, especially around elections. Even at this point, politicians needed something – an idea, a promise or an event – to become visible and famous.
But it was the internet and all its works that have spawned this new phenomenon in which people have become celebrities just for being famous. Today, the term celebrity just about covers anyone who appears on social media or who has a presence in the media, including TV news presenters, broadcast journalists, film actors and musicians.
The new breed of celebrities, known as “influencers” are a curious breed. They are famous for being famous on social media; most times that is their only achievement.
These people have become the new idols and symbols of glamour and fame. They have constructed a lavish lifestyle based on their social media fame and this creates a fantasy in the minds of people, especially young people who see the lives of these people as the highest and most desirable expectations.
Today, platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and YouTube have given these celebrities unlimited access to their fans and created the image of closeness in a way that has blurred the line between the public and private lives of famous individuals.
Their fans feel as if they know them personally, while in actual fact, these people have created a life beyond reach for themselves.
One could argue that this fascination with celebrity is just a sign of the time and we should not fret about it. We can even argue that celebrity culture has not only become part of our mainstream culture, it has driven new ideas in art, fashion, film and escapism for millions of people. However, it has got an impact on society and we should be worried.
The over-focus on celebrities distract us from more serious business in our lives. The recent brouhaha over a book written by the actress and social commentator Yvonne Nelson is a case in point. Her book dominated the media space form a couple of weeks when the nation faced grave issues. This is not to say that the book was not important; unfortunately, the mention of another musician, Sarkodie, took the focus away from the important point of identity, which one would assume was the reason for writing the book.
The focus on the celebrity leads to trivialisation of important issues of much wider interest. Generally, celebrity news tends to focus on gossip, scandals and personal lives, promoting a culture of superficiality and trivialisation. This can lead to a shallow understanding of important topics and a devaluation of substantive news.
Of course, the focus on gossip, trolling and caustic relationships among celebrities results in the misallocation of media resources. Instead of investing in investigative journalism or reporting on significant events, some media outlets have prioritised sensational celebrity stories, including their own lives as journalists and bloggers to attract more viewers or readers. And, naturally, over-reliance on celebrity news can contribute to the invasion of privacy. Media outlets often invade the personal lives of celebrities, invading their privacy and causing distress.
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This can have negative effects on the mental health and well-being of those in the public eye. What happens is that in this culture of excessive attention to celebrities, even those people in public lives who do not want their private lives paraded often fall victim to this culture.
It is important for media outlets and consumers to strike a balance between celebrity news and substantive reporting, ensuring that critical issues are not overshadowed by the allure of celebrity culture.
We should remember that the Ghana media and society today did not evolve without the sacrifice of many women and men, and this celebrity trivialisation is an insult to their suffering.