The rise of celebrity culture is a result of the media’s power to create public figures through the act of singling out specific individuals for reasons both good and bad.
The rise of social media and “influencers” has also meant that individuals can represent themselves in ways that spark public interest without the help of traditional media houses.
Individuals attain celebrity status after becoming celebrated for being exemplary through their successes or personality traits. Scholars who have studied the celebrity phenomenon have observed that the idea that everyone else can attain the same level of visibility and achievement possessed by these individuals is often an illusion. It is an illusion that functions to provide ordinary people with an escape from their realities and to reconcile people with their subservience to power. The question of who is seen and celebrated is almost always a socio-political one.
The rise of Nelson Mandela’s celebrity status is an indication of South Africa’s need to look away from the failures of the rainbow nation narrative and to instead use one individual as a concealer for the failures that South Africa still experiences post-apartheid. In an article titled “The Visual Mandela: Pedagogy of Citizenship”, Lize van Robbroeck studies how Madiba is positioned as an ideal citizen who models exemplary personhood that we should all aspire towards. Income inequalities and feelings of disappointment directed towards the ruling party for corruption and inadequate use of state resources gave rise to beliefs that are directed towards an idealised other who functions as a role model through which our hopes and desires are projected.
If we take celebrity household names such as Beyoncé and Oprah Winfrey, they have gained their acclaim for riches that are celebrated with the deep-rooted belief that they have worked hard to attain every cent. The idea that everyone can achieve their riches if they too work hard is an illusion that perpetuates structural violence. Scholars such as David Marshall, Chris Rojek and Graeme Turner have argued that this sort of celebrity status hides the violence of capitalism and makes people often blame themselves for not having attained wealth or reasonable living conditions.
Besides the stardom of figures celebrated for achieving great success, reality television is another avenue through which we formulate our moral ideas of how to go about the world. Reality TV enables viewers to act as judges of the decisions made by the reality TV stars, often as a way of affirming their own. There is an assumed moral high ground that comes with having access (or the illusion of having access) to people’s lives. Singling out individuals in the media into celebrities or “public figures” affects us whether we consider the person a hero or a villain because villains, too, can only be assumed against the backdrop of an agreeable good.
Today, South African media houses continue to single out, celebrate and shun specific individuals for their successes, failures or personality traits. The attribution of celebrity status is also seen through initiatives such as the Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans; 100 Most Influential Young South Africans; Forbes Africa’s 30 under 30; and other such lists celebrating excellence.
These campaigns pick out and celebrate a handful of citizens seen as modelling what is seen as ideal citizenship. These representations, much like the celebration of Nelson Mandela, compensate for South Africa’s failure in leadership and the living conditions of many by focusing on and arguably exaggerating the deeds of the good citizens.
The campaigns celebrate “movers and shakers” and almost often exaggerate the few things that are going well, with the well-meaning purpose of inspiring others. Penelope Lockwood and Ziva Kunda have studied inspiration and observed that inspirational messages can empower the intended recipients of the inspiring message by exposing them to the idea that they can achieve more. This can take place when there are similarities between the role model and the intended recipient of the message. However, inspiration can also disempower people when the same people discover that they are not likely to reach the same level of success as the intended role models, or might not enjoy any success at all.
Public figures and celebrities are also not a phenomenon that only emerged with mass media. Rulers, religious leaders and prophets were famous people even before mass media. The celebrity figure in our society today has come to take the place of religious leaders, prophets and rulers who were models to whom, for the longest time, we looked to for moral guidance. When Friedrich Nietzsche said that “God is dead”, he didn’t only mean that religion has declined, he also meant that we no longer have one moral standard that is agreeable by everyone with which to judge what is right and wrong. Celebrities are now essential to how we formulate our morality and fill the gap of the alleged dead God.
The rise of Christianity meant that spiritual guidance became central to how societies functioned. This guidance was only achievable with the facilitation of some individuals who were closer to God than others. One doesn’t need to look further than popular mythologies to understand that the relationship between human beings and their gods has been central to how we approached and understood our morality for the longest of time. The rise of religion was the beginning of human beings giving power to an other who was perceived as divine and well-meaning. The idea of a well-meaning other trusted with the ability to rule is rooted in the biblical analogy of a shepherd with a flock.
Today, the shepherd-flock relationship is still at the heart of many political models and applies to the celebrity phenomenon that’s characterised by one having “a following”. This relationship still centralises the individual because the shepherd is the singled-out individual who must first be the individual icon of sacrifice for the collective flock, while creating the illusion of a well-meaning shared vision. Here, there is also the promise that the shepherd is equal to each sheep.
The celebrity phenomenon today is a modern way through which people give other people “godlike” power and status, thus subtly rendering them shepherds and – those who follow them – the flock. The phenomenon is one whose traces clearly date as far back as humans being able to organise in groups. It’s a phenomenon that has morphed into many forms of governance, including religion and aristocracy. According to celebrity culture scholar Chris Rojek, “post-God, celebrity is one of the mainstays of organising recognition and belonging in a secular society”.
This article was first published in the City Press in 2019.