Surely celebrities are gods who are without flaws and deserving of worship!
In 2022 pop culture, it feels like celebrities are growing in influence and popularity. As the social media era continues to dominate, we as a society have regressed into social media “stans” who spend hours online defending our favorite pop stars and actors.
What even are stans? Simply put, stans are super fans who lay their life on the line for their favorite idols or celebrities.
I will not act like I am exempt from judgment; I myself have definitely spent some time arguing in favor of my preferred athletes and rappers online. However, the problem is not with the fans who have a bit of extra time to debate: it is with the celebrities themselves and the obsessive “stan” culture created by these self-absorbed egotistical idols.
As part of the Will Smith/Chris Rock drama over the weekend, I came to a few conclusions. The first was, “Wow, Will Smith is super insecure about his relationship.” The second was, “people on the internet are hilarious when something like this happens.” Finally, the last: “Why do people take things so seriously when it comes to celebrities?”
Like really, did you gain that much from writing that comment about the Will Smith and Jada Pinkett issue? Did you suddenly feel like your day was made after taking such a comical issue so seriously that you bickered with random people about this event which has no real significance in your own life? If “random Joe one” slapped “random Joe two” because “random Joe two” made a joke about “random Joe one’s” wife’s baldness, would you really care?
No, you would not. Celebrity culture is stupid.
However, maybe it is more about celebrity entitlement. Celebrities in 2022 have progressed to oftentimes feeling like they are the center of the universe and everyone around them is replaceable scum. It is possible that it is the money more than the fame, but it all comes back to the acclaim and stans.
But I digress.
This issue is not solely about Will Smith and Chris Rock, however.
Stan culture propagates a society full of obsession over a mortal being who simply has more talent than an average person.
As a result, internet celebrity culture grows more insufferable by the day. For instance, Doja Cat, a famous rapper, recently got death threats and was continuously bashed about her race over her cancellation of a Paraguay show and her subsequent resistance to meeting hundreds of obsessed fans who leaked her hotel address. The entitled behavior that die-hard fans have on social media can essentially be put into a nutshell with this single incident.
Of course, people were on Twitter soon after, justifying racism and bigotry because “Doja said she wanted to meet us.” Though this is actually relatively important because it deals with racism, a real-world issue, it also shows the stupidity of entitled fans. Social media has truly given these people an outlet to voice their terrible, narcissistic takes and it is finally leaking out into the real world for regular people to have to absorb.
It is just super annoying, and we could all do without it.
So, how do we fix it?
Just stop caring. Straight up, it is not that deep. Celebrities are people; they all bleed red, have thoughts and emotions (obviously, look at Will Smith) and wear clothes, even if they are a bit more expensive than yours and mine. It really is not that simple. We as a society should channel our energy into improving ourselves as people as opposed to just fiending over regular human beings who have a cool talent. I am not saying to stop consuming their talent; just remember they are, at their core, no better or worse than us. 99% of them started their lives as regular people just like you and me and have felt the same emotions on a daily basis that typical people feel.
For better or worse (mostly worse), celebrities are here to stay, however. And as proven by the millions of Twitter users who never can be quiet about their favorite musician, they will forever have superfans who lay their life on the line for their musician/actor/athlete who does not know of their existence.
Or maybe it’s not that serious on my end and I am just irrational. Who knows.
