“Celebrity” is an amorphous term that defies a straightforward interpretation. The Oxford English Dictionary explains it as an honorific applicable “to a famous person, especially in entertainment or sport; it also signifies the condition of being well-known”. But that’s a woefully inadequate definition for a word which implies so much more.
How can you, for instance, leave the limelight-grabbing political class and the preening wealthy out of the mix? As for being well-known, you can become a celebrity through notoriety ala Donald Trump or attain it the hard way like Simone Biles, the heroic gymnast or our very own Vinesh Phogat. Given its multiple connotations, no discourse on celebrities can ever be all-embracing, value-neutral or totally even-handed. With these caveats, here goes!
My tryst with the celebrity world began early in life. In school, college and even beyond, for me the most exciting segment of the newspaper was page 3 where the celebrities held court. I devoured the titillating details of their high living, their loves and hates, their naughtiness.
The favourite rag in those days of simple pastimes was the feisty weekly tabloid newsmagazine Blitz that, in the name of investigative journalism, came up with the most sensational stories of the shenanigans of the rich and the famous.
Even the staid national dailies had a supplement to the main paper which spotlighted the doings of the celebrities. I’ll admit that I knew little about their body of work or professional achievements but was clued in on their scandals, their favourite cuisine and a lot of other frivolous details. It was benign, feckless voyeurism! The point to note is that the media even in those Gutenberg-dominated days provided the lifeblood to the celebrity world.
Which brings me to the role of celebrities in society. At the end of the day, life is not only about laurels won, but also what you give back to society. Celebrities are hallowed role models who can greatly influence ordinary people to think and act proactively on issues of social justice.
They have the clout to pressure the governing class to realign policies and priorities for the common good. I daresay that they have greater influence, especially on the young, than religious or political leaders. But tragically, most celebrities are all glitz and no substance!
We, in India, were recently reminded of the stark truth in the comment of Mareen Dowd – the wonderful NYT columnist – that “Celebrity distorts democracy by giving the rich, beautiful and famous more authority than they deserve.”
I would have left the ‘famous’ out of the indictment because this word is normally associated with those who are recognised for some noteworthy achievement, whereas the rich and the beautiful need do nothing more than flaunt their wares to get star billing!
Quibbling aside, we now know that big money can buy you celebrity status. Even going by the heavily massaged data, 80 million of our fellow citizens live below the poverty line, But naive suckers for vicarious thrills that we are, we gaped with star-struck admiration as the Ambanis strutted their stuff and beguiled the world with a wedding extravaganza that, by the most conservative estimates, cost Rs 4000 crores. Is this how we temporarily escape the grotesqueness of reality?
Who would have bothered about Anant Ambani but for that four-month long glitzy wedding shindig that stretched from March to July, and included a luxury cruise on the Tyrrhenian Sea skirting the western coast of Italy?
The bridegroom, flashing a Richard Mille wristwatch worth $1.5 million, and his lovely bride harvested more than the proverbial fifteen minutes of fame. Here’s how!
In an act of brazen cronyism, the government played chaperone, granting the miniscule Jamnagar airport international status for the duration of the pre-wedding bash, and choking regular traffic in Mumbai to ensure against vexatious hold-ups to the wedding guests, thereby vindicating the renowned sociologist, C Wright Mills’ caustic observation that, “Celebrity is not inherent in any personality; to be celebrated, to have power requires access to major institutions.”
What’s more, the leading lights of the celebrity world fell over one another to pay obeisance and provide the big noise razzamatazz. Rihanna, Justin Bieber, The Backstreet Boys, Kate Perry, Andrea Bocelli, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and almost every desi politician and film star were present to genuflect before filthy lucre. And of course, the recently humbled PM was also there to be noticed!
While our sensibilities were being pummelled by such fluffy and vacuous goings-on, in America, the allegedly oldest democracy, George Clooney – actor, director, philanthropist and arguably the handsomest celebrity on earth – was singing to a different tune.
In the vanguard of the movement to rescue democracy from a possible second term Trump catastrophe, Clooney has taken on the menacing white racists, mobilising funds for the democratic party and speaking out against hate and racism.
In a July 10th op-ed in the New York Times, Clooney, disregarding E.M. Forster’s dictum that “if one had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country”, called on his friend and hero, Joe Biden, to opt out of the presidential race as he had so palpably lost the battle against time.
Within days of Clooney’s passionate appeal, Biden graciously stepped down and endorsed Kamala Harris for President. Clooney deserves credit for using his celebrity status to spearhead the all-out war against white racism. So do Meryl Streep, Taylor Swift and Robert De Niro for joining the good fight against the MAGA hoodlums.
What’s disturbing though is the American celebrities’ muted response to Israel committing genocide in Gaza and going rogue in Lebanon even as America arms Israel to the teeth while clucking peace and ceasefire. Nothing can be more disingenuous and cruel than America’s role in the Middle East.
What is it about Zionism that has cowed the Western world into this criminal prevarication and pussyfooted conduct? Angelina Jolie, Susan Sarandon, Roger Waters and some others have spoken out against Israel’s crimes against humanity, but the normally voluble big guys have been quiescent. The sombre truth is that the Jewish lobby, with its stranglehold over the American polity and the US Congress is so overpowering that even the most moderate criticism is stifled.
It’s shameful but true that Americans are intimidated by Zionist lobbies like the Christians United for Israel (CUFI) and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) which are nothing less than fascist propaganda groups providing cover and justification for Netanyahu’s murderous campaign.
I could go on and on about celebrities – about the great gladiators for social justice like Muhammed Ali and Marlon Brando; the heroes who fell from grace and broke our hearts like Azharuddin, Tiger Woods and Lance Armstrong; the utterly solipsistic ones like Sachin Tendulkar and Novak Djokovic; the meanest, media-hyped celebrity charlatans like Modi and Trump – but the editor’s rap on the knuckles, cautioning me about reader fatigue with longwindedness, leaves me no option but to shut up!
Which is just as well, because in any case, I can think of no neat conclusion to this crotchety diagnosis of the celebrity world.
The writer is a former civil servant. Views are personal.
