The very public divorce of Jon and Kate Gosselin has been a very hot topic in the news lately. People take sides, discuss, argue, feel bad for the kids, then they pull back and say, “Wait, why do I care?”
Shows like “Keeping up with the Kardashians,” “The City” and even “Jon and Kate Plus 8” have launched the stars of the shows to celebrity status for essentially doing nothing more than just living their lives.
Should they be on the covers of magazines? Should they even be on television? Are these people celebrities? Mike Ebben, a 22-year-old senior integrative physiology major, said they are.
“People make them into celebrities,” Ebben said. “People watch them and want to know about them.”
In fact, their lives become more gossiped about because they’re televised. Viewers see intimate conversations, private arguments and even embarrassing moments no one would want the world to see.
By capturing their every move on camera, the audience is given a real look into the lives of reality television stars, making some viewers feel connected and invested somehow.
One of the most prominent of these shows that premiered in 2004 was “Laguna Beach: the Real Orange County.” This show filmed the lives of several attractive teenagers driving expensive cars and wearing designer brands while they tried desperately to just make it through high school.
Soon the cast started showing up on the arms of Hollywood starlets, magazine covers and their own TV shows.
Lindsay Welsh, a 21-year-old international affairs major, said she noticed the shift as some cast members moved from being teenage reality stars to Hollywood celebrities.
“Why was Lauren Conrad a judge on ‘Project Runway?’ What does she know?” Welsh said.
Similarly, Kim Kardashian showed up “America’s Next Top Model,” and even Kate Gosselin was a guest host on “The View.” Students question the true value of “celebrity” when normal people receive Hollywood star status, a position once reserved for people with well-developed craft.
Publicity stunts like the controversy surrounding Colorado’s own “balloon boy” leave students even more dissatisfied with today’s qualifications for fame.
David Velez, a 22-year-old senior marketing major, finds this fame fleeting.
“They just want their 15 minutes of fame,” Velez said.
Fifteen minutes of fame has become seemingly the only sort of fame in American culture.
Not everyone can stand idly by and appreciate the silliness and absurdity of these kinds of stories. Ebben says he doesn’t understand why people care.
“It shows how ridiculous the media is,” Ebben said. “[It’s] because they know people would be dumb enough to watch.”
“We haven’t discouraged that behavior—if anything we’ve encouraged it,” Davisson said. “We want people to be happy and we want to distract them.”
Shows like “The Girls Next Door” are often a vehicle for viewers to escape the monotony and drama of daily life.
Alex Caropino, a 19-year-old sophomore business major, said the drama is appealing.
“I have [no drama] in my life, so I like to watch those shows filled with it,” Caropino said.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Amanda Moutinho at Amanda.moutinho@colorado.edu.
