$ellebrity

The role of the media in creating fame and in turn, celebrities, is probably its second most important task, coming right behind “reporting the news.” Why are people considered famous? The media deems them important enough for a feature. If these persons of interest are lucky enough, they may get more than just fifteen minutes of fame and become more than “that guy that had his local news interview auto-tuned on YouTube.” Whether or not these “celebrities” would like to be famous is another story. These “fifteen minute” stars usually love the limelight for the time being, and try to drink the fame dry. However, most people fade off into obscurity faster than a straight-to-DVD movie.
For those personalities that do become household names, they have a love/hate relationship with the media. In order to stay in business, they must keep doing their job, which involves promoting their work. This means that they need the media to get the word out about their new project. Although it is not as prevalent today in this new age of social media, celebrities are indentured to the media, and in turn the media gets the “right” to have an intensive interest in the life of the star. This can lead to high-pressure situations and alleged privacy invasion. All in all, for the time being, the media is reliant on celebrities (plural), and the individual celebrity is more so reliant on the media monster.