Celebrity Culture: An Opportunity or a Threat?

 Written by Amadeus Reagan Nugroho - XI MIPA 1

    Most people, whether they realize it or not, have experienced a phenomenon known as celebrity culture. Celebrity culture plays an important role in our society, and it could change a lot of people in a plethora of ways. The chances of coming across the name of a celebrity online is almost unavoidable, especially if we often use social media. These celebrities have a lot of power and influence in social media since they have a lot of followers. Furthermore, most social media’s algorithms push their posts or content to your recommended page. As you can probably imagine, this kind of relationship where one person can change the general public's opinions, views, and ideologies is a double-edged sword. 

    Celebrity culture could be very beneficial to society. A way to achieve this as a celebrity is to be a good role model. Whether they donate to charity, fight against climate change, or promote good life values, this can inspire a lot of us to not only support them in what they do, but also contribute directly to those issues in society. In fact, a celebrity who is just genuinely a good person, might it be honesty or acts of kindness, could move people in a positive direction to change their lives for the better. Another way of achieving such a thing is to use their power and influence for the better. Since celebrities have the opportunity to bring a large group of people together, they could start a movement to improve our world for the better. Although these are great methods that celebrities could use, it’s hard for the general public, like me and probably you, to be the initiators of these methods. All we can do is support the celebrities who do these things sincerely.

    Sadly, life isn’t always filled with sunshine and rainbows. And the same goes for celebrity culture. 

    Just as celebrities could use their power and influence to change the world for the better, they could definitely change the world for the worse. In contrast to my previous points, these celebrities could bring their community together to harass someone they hate, do illegal activities, or even send death threats. If they have an awful personality, such as arrogance, it could spread to their community and harm the wellbeing of the community and society in general.

    A lot of celebrities are portrayed as idols to most of us. Whether they are musicians, chefs, actors and actresses, or athletes, most of us strive to do a fraction of what they are capable of. We might even go above and beyond and find information about the lives of these celebrities, such as their biography, current relationships, and daily routine. Unfortunately, some  people go way too far and pry into private information that celebrities don’t want to make public. Their community might also tell them and even force them to do things about their private lives, like their personal relationships, for instance. This might make them uncomfortable and mentally unhealthy. A lot of the time, it’s not that the celebrity is the one controlling their community; but the opposite happens. Some obsessive fans might also become overprotective of their favorite celebrities. If the celebrities happen to have a bad personality, like in my previous point, it could create a situation where people are getting harassed for criticizing the bad actions that they might do.

    It’s no surprise that celebrity culture is pervasive in our society. These people are the face of the earth, the people that many know. They seem to coexist with our day-to-day lives. Celebrity culture is ever-expanding. The impact that celebrity culture has on society isn’t too clear since it covers a very broad spectrum. But one thing that we know for sure is that it has changed society drastically in many different ways, whether it’s positive or negative. All we can do as the general public is to support those who are genuine, to not be too engrossed in celebrity culture, and to not make it the center of our lives.