I think that a mass communication course such as ours must take this moment to think about Anna Nicole Smith. Anna Nicole died yesterday, bringing a desperately sad end to a desperately sad life. I've gotten the feeling, over the past 24 hours or so, that obituary writers have been scrambling to put together stories celebrating her life, while answering the question, "so why was she famous?"
Writers have drawn parallels with Marilyn Monroe, who was the bombshell of her time, blond with a childlike voice, exploited by men, the media and her "fans" and dying in her late thirties of a drug overdose. While this may be an apt comparison, I think that Anna Nicole was quintessentially of her, and our time. She was a celebrity that could have only existed now, in the generation of E!, of reality shows, of Paris Hilton and K-Fed.
Before The Real World was broadcast, we had the illusion, at least, that celebrity was something given to the exceptional. The best, brightest, most attractive artists, writers, actors and directors, etc. were the subject of scrutiny and adoration. It made sense. People could love or hate them, but their work would stand on its own to defend them.
Now, as celebrities are chosen specifically for their mediocrity, they are purely famous to be ridiculed. Since they are not exceptional, they don't have their "work" to defend them.
Anna Nicole was famous for being a train wreck. Her fame as a train wreck fed in to her own self destruction. As she became more and more dysfunctional, she became more and more famous for it. Yesterday, it killed her.
I'm personally feeling some guilt for it. I laughed at her cooking, "Pasghetti" a few weeks ago. I chuckled at her fake wedding, the paternity suits, the Tony Hawk Mad TV episode...
I haven't figured out exactly what it means, but I'm pretty sure that her death is a snapshot of mass media in 2007 that cannot be ignored.
Writers have drawn parallels with Marilyn Monroe, who was the bombshell of her time, blond with a childlike voice, exploited by men, the media and her "fans" and dying in her late thirties of a drug overdose. While this may be an apt comparison, I think that Anna Nicole was quintessentially of her, and our time. She was a celebrity that could have only existed now, in the generation of E!, of reality shows, of Paris Hilton and K-Fed.
Before The Real World was broadcast, we had the illusion, at least, that celebrity was something given to the exceptional. The best, brightest, most attractive artists, writers, actors and directors, etc. were the subject of scrutiny and adoration. It made sense. People could love or hate them, but their work would stand on its own to defend them.
Now, as celebrities are chosen specifically for their mediocrity, they are purely famous to be ridiculed. Since they are not exceptional, they don't have their "work" to defend them.
Anna Nicole was famous for being a train wreck. Her fame as a train wreck fed in to her own self destruction. As she became more and more dysfunctional, she became more and more famous for it. Yesterday, it killed her.
I'm personally feeling some guilt for it. I laughed at her cooking, "Pasghetti" a few weeks ago. I chuckled at her fake wedding, the paternity suits, the Tony Hawk Mad TV episode...
I haven't figured out exactly what it means, but I'm pretty sure that her death is a snapshot of mass media in 2007 that cannot be ignored.
6 comments:
Excellent blog. Well done. The parallels you draw with our times are right on.
I love it! This is definitely a great post. What I'm wondering though, is how this whole thing will affect TrimSpa sales? I mean, that stuff CAN'T be good for your heart(or anything else I assume)!! I saw my sister in law take in one time and she tweaked out...I guess we'll just wait and see..
I think the events that have taken place in her life are tragic. From her inability to gain the star status from a bonafide career, to drug and alcohol abuse, the death of her son, and her estranged mother spewing out her garbage about her daughter (The woman is dead, for Christ’s sake); a child left motherless, two (now the reports say 3!) men vying over who is the father of the child, one lawsuit after the other. God, I thought my life was turbulent. I feel incredibly sorry for this woman. She had great potential to be a mother, and leave a mark on society that would go down in the record books as a fine woman - not to be because of her own actions, and the exploitation of the media. I say, let her rest in peace.
I think Anna Nicole Smith went through a lot in her life. In a way that nobody can know what she went through. There is no answer why she did some of the things she did and things she made up. I feel as though she should be remembered for she was always in the spot light as a celebrity not exactly positive if it was a good one or not but she made it big. She did help TrimSpa for the better. I feel terrible for her and when her son died on the same day her other son was born was so sad. I wonder if there is any connection between her death and her son. It is a little strange how her son died what a few months ago and now she has died. It's to bad and I hope people remember her for the good things she did.
It's sad to hear that her life had to end... she had a lot of things going on at this point. Now that she's gone there is just more controversy. But when I saw an article about it the day that she died, I had to stop and think about our class and mass communication. I thought it was amazing how fast the word got out, now it's just deciphering through the truth and the fiction.
Honestly, so true, Why was she famous? She married an old rich guy? The things we spend our time on these days is seriously questionable, because you know we all knew exactly who she was when the story broke. I suppose she is a success story of mass media in a way. What a challenge it must be to promoste nothing at all, yet it was done, and it made her even more money. Sad.
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