Through the Viewing Glass

Celebrity Culture has crossed the Rubicon

Modern American popular culture is a hollowed out shell of what art once was. The ubiquitous presence of social media lingers over all interactions, a golden ticket that all have access to. The democratization of technology is largely a positive and allows for a more enjoyable day to day experience or at the very least a better distraction.

That’s what leaps out at me the older I get. As Twitter erodes into a hangout of the lowest quality advertisers, people desperate for validation paying for a checkmark and the dedicated Titanic orchestra vowing to stay till the end, I’ve found myself spending more time on TikTok.

Over on the Clock app, the unhinged nature of the internet amongst those in their teens and twenties has really opened my eyes. Something about the way people socialize fundamentally changed during the COVID-19 Pandemic. A fundamental baseline level of expectation has become the new normal.

The weird part is, it’s the generation that mocks Karens embracing their inner Karen. Watching testimonials of concert experiences, going to concerts myself, something shifted. There isn’t that same level of community within an artist’s fanbase. Sure, that’s my personal anecdotal evidence, but the real time trials and tribulations of Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour,” represents a major cultural touchstone that have a sheen of community layered over some nastiness.

Going to the concert itself isn’t enough for the terminally online. Instead, it’s become an opportunity to create content. It’s not just taking a video of a favorite song, it’s TikTok live streaming the entire set. It’s forcing your way to the front of the pit in hopes of interacting with the artist. It’s being an asshole to anyone around you and immediately defaulting to the “I paid to be here too,” defense like a Karen at Target yelling at a minimum wage employee.

In my mind, these two phenomena are interconnected.

I've likened the social media lens through which celebrities are consumed to being animals at the zoo. Just like at the zoo, the paying customers view the exhibit through a layer of tempered glass, they paid to have the interaction and they expect a something interesting for their money.

You’ve been at the zoo when some jackass bangs on the glass trying to get the attention of an animal. That’s what we’re watching play out in real time on social media as celebrities try to go about their lives.

There will be asinine rebuttals about the right to privacy as a famous person goes down and that without the fans, they wouldn’t be able to live the life they do. Yes, there is an element of projection involved, a para-social relationship where fans imagine that lifestyle through the eyes of the celebrity.

I watched a viral TikTok last week where Swift exited Electric Lady Studio in lower Manhattan through a throng of people with her security team providing a path to a waiting vehicle. As the vehicle pulled away, a fan tore off following holding up her phone taking a video to which a security member told the onlooker “If I see you again, I will kill you.”

Swift’s presence in the biggest city in the United States enhances this zoo feeling. There are simply too many people looking to make content off of Swift’s existence. Scrolling through TikTok yesterday, I passed several lives standing outside the studio just hoping to get a glimpse of her on the way to her car.

There’s a moment in Swift’s Netflix documentary, “Miss Americana,” where a similar scene plays out. She leaves her New York apartment, gets into a SUV and tells the camera “I’m aware that’s not normal,” about the sea of people just hoping to get a glimpse.

It’s no longer about enjoying an artists work. It’s about getting the selfie, it’s about taking a video, it’s about trying to go viral on the coattails of others. Hell, there’s an entire internet subculture rooted in associating an online presence around a particular celebrity or piece of media.

Stan culture has fostered an unhealthy para-social relationship. What fans know about their favorite artists or celebrities is managed and carefully curated. The public knows what the artist and their team wants them to. In some cases, like Swift, that’s an active part of the fan-artist relationship.

There is a concerted effort from some artists to use social media as a low cost means of maintaining interaction with their fans and making them feel more accessible. In Swift’s fandom, there’s a quiet understanding that Taylor or her team is always lurking online and might see a post.

That presents the feeling at large that Swift is the community’s friend. Sure, she’s gone further than other artists in building that relationship, the secret sessions where fans were invited to her home to listen to albums before release or helped some going through financial hardships.

Said efforts toward community engagement also aren’t knowing the artist. Again, that online presence is a cultivated component of image management.

There have always been passionate fans, but the degree to which social media has intensified the loyalty tests gives a true sense of entitlement. It’s not enough to listen to the music or watch their films and shows. Instead, it’s about becoming an all consuming presence oriented around said content or individual.

To stand out amongst the sea of other true believers, they have to engage in increasingly outrageous behavior. It’s all about furthering that social media presence at the expense of the celebrity and others.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to hypothesize a decent amount of the people congregating outside of Electric Lady Studios didn’t plan on staking out the building until Swift emerged. The crowd probably organically formed, curious passersby joining the groundswell until it reached that fever pitch.

The universal sign someone famous is walking by? A sea of phones raised overhead, red recording light blinking and often times the holder not even looking through the display. After all, it’s about having the digital proof, that way you can post it and prove your bonafides.

A universal quest to go viral for a fleeting moment of satisfaction is the undercurrent of this culture. Chasing virility encourages outrageous and sometimes out right dangerous behavior because it’s the only way to stand out amongst a sea of others on the internet.

That icky feeling I get about the zoo in 2023 is how I feel about the ever intensifying fervor around the most in demand of celebrities. Unfortunately, unlike the zoo, it’s a lot harder to put the toothpaste back in the tube here.

Celebrity culture is an all consuming enterprise and an integral component for major media outlets. Even the “serious,” news organizations like CNN aren’t immune to the cheap interaction boon from celebrity centric content. After all, why was CNN asking Diana Agron about SwiftGron in 2023?

As long as the opportunity to go viral at the expense of a celebrity’s comfort exists, the banging on the glass will persist. If we can agree it’s unethical to do it to animals at the zoo, it’s pretty obvious that doing it to people is also wrong.

That’s all the layer of glass between the celebrity and the recorder is, a barrier that dehumanizes the subject. It makes them feel less like a person and more like an entity for consumption.