The Falsification of Celebrity Culture

There was a time when being a celebrity meant you had to have achieved greatness in a particular field. Whether it was through blockbusting movies, chart-topping hits, or having great foot-eye coordination, like Lionel Messi, the public could be inspired. 

Of course, that idea of celebrity hasn’t completely died out, and some of the biggest stars of today fit into those criteria. However, a new form of celebrity has been created. Our television screens have been bombarded with faux reality shows, such as The Only Way is Essex, Made in Chelsea and Geordie Shore.

The Cast of Geordie Shore

There has always been people who are famous just for knowing other famous people, usually labelled 'Socialites', the likes of Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian spring to mind. However, as US culture continues to hop the pond and have an effect on British culture, since the birth of these "faux reality" shows, the same pattern is emerging here.

I call them “faux reality” because that’s exactly what it is. ‘TOWIE’ states in its credits “real people in modified situations, saying unscripted lines but in a structured way". So basically, the producers have scripted the basics of what they want to happen, and the “real people” (also debatable, as most of them have fake boobs, lips, personalities, and put David Dickinson’s skin tone to shame) have to imagine what they would say if that situation ever occurred in their real life. That's acting a part. It's almost like they're performing a parody of themselves. 

The popularity of these shows has resulted in absolute nobodies receiving a lot of media attention and publicity, for doing absolutely nothing of any worth. The mainstream media has created celebrities out of nothing, in a similar way to how Victor Frankenstein created ‘The Monster’, only these reality show celebrities have a lot more fake tan and a lot less brain cells.

Because of the media attention, these faux celebrities are now worshipped by many teenagers, simply because they’re in the public eye. They attend student club nights and stand on a stage waving and having pictures taken with people. They don’t actually do anything, they’re there to look good, you could put a cardboard cut-out of Joey Essex on a stage and it would probably show the same amount of personality and intelligence. One of my favourite examples of Joey Essex’s lack of intellect is this question from Celebrity Juice. 

The men of the faux reality shows are pioneers of the clothing I talk about on my first blog.  They’re essentially shaven chimps that have been thrown through Topman and appeared on the other side wearing exactly what everybody else is wearing. All in all, they’re the sort of celebrities who are popular for a year or so, and will be forgotten about when the “next big thing” appears on our televisions.

To much disbelief, ‘TOWIE’ managed to pick up a BAFTA in 2011, albeit the YouTube Audience prize. In all honesty, looking at the nominations, the award was a choice between two TV shows, ‘TOWIE’, featuring girls who wear too much make-up, and cast members that can barely string a sentence together in standard English, or ‘Big Fat Gypsy Wedding’, featuring girls who wear too much make-up, and cast members that can barely string a sentence together in standard English.  I don’t think I can sum up my feelings about the result winning any better than Martin Freeman did following the announcement. 

This admiration for idiots in the UK stems from the success of US TV shows like Jersey Shore. A show featuring a woman so moronic, I’m not sure how she’s survived to reach her mid-twenties. That’s right it’s ‘Snooki’. In all honesty, I haven't seen much Jersey Shore, only clips, but quotes like this tell me everything I need to know.

 Yeah, you know, as opposed to animals that are dead when you kill them...

There’s also a cast member called Mike who has given himself the nickname “The Situation”. I can only assume the “situation” he’s talking about, is something to do with spending too long on Tanning beds.

Overall, due to the huge amount of faux reality shows on our screens, unrelenting media attention, and droves of fans, this throwaway television, or “Flumpf telly” as Karl Pilkington describes it, is here to stay. This is the mark our generation will leave on history.