Post #1

Although I would like to say that celebrity gossip isn’t a part of my daily life, in this day and time that would be quite impossible. I have never bought a tabloid in my life, but I am inevitably drawn to the big, bright headlines on the covers when I am in the supermarket, advertising the latest scandal. Jennifer wants Brad back! Angelina is going to rehab! My first reaction to these headlines is, “who cares?” Why are we as a society so obsessed with the lives of celebrities? I have always been baffled as to why their lives elicit such curiosity from the American public. We can’t get enough of them. The article “Seeing by Starlight: Celebrity Obsession” provides some answers to this common question. It seems that we want to escape from our own dull, monotonous (in comparison) lives for a little while by delving into theirs, and to forget about our own troubles for a moment while we learn more about their hardships. It fascinates us to feel close to celebrities and to know so much about their lives. It also fascinates us to watch a celebrity’s downfall into jail and rehab and worse, which brings me to Lindsay Lohan.

While reading Lindsay’s interview in the article “Adrift…,” my first impression was that she was pitying herself and blaming a lot of other people for her own problems. She acknowledges that she herself is to blame for some of what has happened to her, while at the same time deflecting a lot of the blame towards her father and her “friends” in Hollywood. Those closest to her seem to want to place the blame on others as well. I’m not one to say who is at fault in her situation, but she is the only one who can turn her life around. She says that she is learning from her mistakes, but she keeps making them. If she really wanted to be out of the spotlight and the tabloids, she could be; plenty of stars stay out of the public eye. The “victimized” Lindsay in this article stands in stark contrast to the Lindsay portrayed on the covers of the tabloids. It’s almost funny to compare the elegant pictures of her in this article to the messed-up pictures of her floating around the celebrity gossip world. From this article, we are led to believe that fame and Hollywood and the media are the causes of celebrities’ hardships. However, I choose to believe that everyone makes their own decisions and is responsible for how their own life turns out.