The Uncelebrity

Ever since the rise in popularity of reality tv shows and celebrity stalker blogs, the uncelebrity has come into being and now has eventually evolved into an unstoppable but pointless phenomenon. I see this as a parallel to the world of consumer goods. Stars are called stars because they are an entity that is supposed to be not of this planet, untouchable, and pretty. In this way, luxury used to mean that too (from luxus, L. "excess, dislocated"). But now, celebrity status and luxury goods have been democratized:

"Celebrities got pretty boring, once we got to know them a little better. The running feature in Us magazine titled "Stars: Just Like Us!" with its shots of Jennifer Aniston sipping a latte or Lindsay Lohan shoe shopping, only proved that stars weren't like us at all...Thus, the paid professionals who polish celebrity images to a high gloss while spackling over every unusual or unrelatable quirk that might limit a star's ability to move the maximum volume of product off the shelves have effectively retouched themselves out of a job." [salon.com]

What is considered a luxury for one generation is necessity for the next. And now that at least the appearance of luxury is available to all, everyone wants a piece. And that is the same with the once-normal, albeit, spotlight-hungry individuals who are slapped all over People and US Weekly:

"Even as uncelebrities lament being harassed by the paparazzi at every turn, they can't seem to get off that crazy conveyor belt of commodification without transforming every last scrap of their souls into consumable goods."

"And in a new media universe dominated by procrastination-fueled wandering and short attention spans, all it takes is a little intra-uncelebrity sniping to generate headlines far more popular than the now-archaic-seeming news of Mel Gibson's latest expletive-strewn meltdown...headlines as "Octo-Mom to Kate Gosselin: Stop Judging Me!" and "Spencer to Audrina: You're a Ho!""

"Sadly, these insipid stories trickle up from the gutter to so-called legitimate news sources. Chasing diminished ad revenue, uncelebrity pap is born at Radar Online or TMZ.com, then gets picked up by the San Jose Mercury News, L.A. Times or CBS in the hopes of capturing enough page views to keep these relatively serious (and therefore doomed) news outlets afloat for another day."

Yet, we can't help it. We really can't. No one is above a bit of luxury lust just as they are not immune to gossip. It's the human condition. And in a way, this new pseudo-luxury, like this faux-celebrity, is actually a rather unifying force, as we bond over the homogenizing effects of global digital culture, speaking the esperanto of branding and advertising. Today, it is luxury, and not religion, that is the opium of the masses.