So this was for my Social Theory class. Consider the stuff that works for you, forget the "academic" jargon, but remember my message. Change is not mystical, change has never been about the economy or about the climate. Its about YOU.
You are our celebrity.
What exactly does it mean to be a “celebrity”?
Much in part to the post-global media age in which we live, we are a generation that is fully and completely dedicated to the idea of “celebrity”. The term celebrity derives from the Latin verb celebrere, meaning to celebrate or to look at observationally. Seeing that mankind has always been a social being, we have consistently devised specific criteria from which to celebrate specific individuals in society. The reason we have celebrities is not the question to be answered but more so what is it that determines whom we consider “celebrateable”. The criteria for granting someone “celebrity status” has never been the same and is consistently evolving around the social conditions of the world around us. When we think of celebrities today, we instinctively conjure up images of the irresponsibility of Britney Spears or the endless partying of Tara Reid or possibly the mindless acts of heiress Paris Hilton. However, celebrity has not always been about the meaningless exploits of these forgettable figures. In ancient human societies (until Guttenberg), celebrity was more about personal bravery and occupational prestige than about the economic advantage of a westernized world. Subsequent to that, pre-mass media societies (Gutenberg-television) held political and social figures in the highest because they possessed much of the influential and economic clout to manipulate the world around them. Finally, in the post-mass media age in which we now live, (television-present) the celebrity is essentially a public figure who is deviant from what is considered normal. One is considered a celebrity simply because they have a deviating trait that differentiates them from other individuals in their field. Additionally, I hypothesize that the modern day celebrity falls somewhere on my “continuum of responsibility”. It is my hypothesis that each and every so-called celebrity in the post-mass media age can be systematically placed somewhere between responsibility and irresponsibility (fig.1). Unlike pre-mass media driven societies where celebrity status was more or less politically and economically determined, modern societies define celebrity quite broadly. Celebrity can be defined as an attractive myspace seductress (Tila Tequila) or as a religiously driven motivational speaker (Joel Osteen) or even as a musician with a conscience (John Mayer). All alternative definitions aside, a celebrity is essentially a figure who is able to develop their capacity for fame not necessarily by doing amazing things but more so by differentiating themselves from other people who are in their same field of study. I posit that you too can create your own “celebrity” however you choose.
Understanding Dramaturgical and Pragmatic Theory
After understanding my definition for what defines a modern day celebrity, I would first like to consider what other scholars have suggested about the celebrity in each and every one of us. Erving Goffman suggested that life is a stage and on that stage, we are all actors who accordingly manage our external impressions by assuming roles we deem favorable while withholding undesirable information (Goffman). Goffman also recognized that people systematically have a mode of action they perform on the front stage as well as a mode of action they withhold back stage. Goffman asserts that the individual is self-consciously conflicted between the “I” and “Me” personality. The “I” personality, also known as the backstage, is the impulsive uncontrolled self that faces no clear self-regulation. Conversely, the “Me” personality, also known as the front stage, is the social self that experiences a complex set of personal regulations (Goffman). In addition to Goffman’s theory, George Herbert Mead sheds light on pragmatic theory in stating that the individual experiences three distinct stages of the self through the social experience. The three main stages of the self are as follows; play- the individual role someone takes on, game- the idea that someone takes on various roles for various social situations, and generalized other- we take on the role of the other.
Be Your Own Celebrity: We Need You
So what do Goffman and Mead’s theories on human action contribute to a better understanding of my theory of the creation your own inner celebrity? What does it truly mean to create your own inner celebrity? I would first like you to fully understand that I feel as if the American concept of celebrity is twisted. We have slowly begun to reward the detrimental in a nation where so many great things happen everyday. That’s where you come in.
To think that people create their own creative “fingerprint-like” personalities is only a partial truth. Personality is essentially a sum of the people we surround ourselves with where we cognitively choose to subtract what we dislike about other people around us. Conversely, we are able to establish who we are based on what we like in other people. My theory suggests that we are able to create two different forms of self-identification called purposeful identification and inadvertent identification. Purposeful identification is the degree of power we possess in creating what we want to see in ourselves as a social instrument. The inadvertent identification we create is that which is out of our direct control, essentially it is what the social world determines about our self-created personality. For example, I like wearing unique Nike high top shoes because of what it says about my sense of fashion while hoping to dodge the ghetto stereotypes that come along with people who wear such a cultural piece of information. I try to create my own fashionable identity while hoping to avoid what the social world says about that identity. Some create this purposeful identity more boldly than others but all in all, we truly have the power to create whatever it is we want to create in ourselves. So in creating “your inner celebrity”, be original but much more importantly, be you. The world has seen enough cookie cutter personalities that have filled the world with enough insignificance. Be significant and feel empowered to create your own significance.
In relating the creation of a purposeful identity to another side of my social theory, I also assert that much like so-called celebrities, we too have the power to advertise a product for all to purchase. Celebrity product endorsement has gone global and because of such a grand scale social development, you too can represent yourself as a product for the entire world to see. Our ability to “sell” ourselves starts with how we decide to differentiate ourselves from others by making our own unique, and sellable product. I assert that “selling ourselves” as a unique product is dependent on three social factors that essentially build on one another to create our overall capital that creates us as a social “celebrity”. First, we must have some sort of influence over mass media productions to advertise who we are and what we stand for (facebook, the Graphic, LA Times, etc.). I call this social factor “press influence”. Secondly, we must successfully navigate the creation of our “purposeful identification” by monitoring who we are in terms of the social world around us. A prerequisite for becoming a celebrated individual is being insatiably curious with the social world, all the while altering what we are in the context of the surrounding world. Finally, we can only be celebrated as far deep and wide as our social networks reach. Our press influence and our manipulating power of the self are only as powerful as the extensiveness of our social networks reach. For example, I could potentially possess the “key to success in life” while also being able to successfully regulate my purposeful identification, but I can only do these two things effectively if I have extensive social networks from which to spread my product.
One
Whether we acknowledge it or not, the world is perpetually globalizing faster and faster. As a global community, we are eminently closer today than we were yesterday. We are now able to see poverty in third world countries, to understand what global warming looks like, and to fully understand the impact that one individual can have either negatively or positively for either the detriment or betterment of our global society. With that understanding, we can comprehend the great power invested in being a figure that is publically celebrated.
With that said, I am earnestly discontent with the people we decide to celebrate in modern America. Putting that aside, I think we’re getting to a place where we are beginning to honor people who truly make a difference. We are beginning to remember what it means to “insure domestic tranquility and to promote the general welfare”. We are beginning to remember what it feels like to give our love in place of all the materialistic static we sometimes overemphasize. In light of that, I encourage you to create your own powerful celebrated individuality. I encourage you to see the good in your life, and differentiate yourself from the middle of the road people who consider themselves celebrities. I don’t ask that you be the next Gandhi or MLK Jr., but I do ask that when you look in the mirror every morning, just remember how great it will feel to look into that same mirror later that night, and understand the change you have made.
“I know the heart of life is good”
Signing out blogosphere
SL
