A global survey of 148,398 people from 19 English-speaking countries found that Gen Z is 12 times more obsessed with celebrities than their older counterparts.
“Have you thought about your dissertation topic yet?” Rudiger asks me after the second or third lesson of my dissertation module. As if I didn’t already know what I wanted to do even before I’d come to the UK to do my master’s. For someone who spends 47.8% of their every waking hour thinking about social media, pop and celebrity culture (sort of!), there’s something so enticing about digging into our psyche as human beings to figure out what it is exactly with our obsession with celebrity culture, gossip and worship. Once upon a time man used to hunt mammoths using their own tusks so now we can gather information about celebrities in peace. After all, does she actually have just bone broth for breakfast?
Marking its 100th anniversary this year, the Hollywood sign has for so long been a symbol of big dreams. It’s more than just nine white letters towering over Tinseltown. It’s a universal metaphor for ambition and glamour, fabrication and feuds, sex and scandals, success and stardom, and broken dreams. But “the fantasy of stardom extends far beyond the parameters of the infamous Hollywood sign.” The power held by celebrities seems infinite. The ability to transcend the dazzling place and to reach every corner of society is immense.
And we have been obsessed with celebrities ever since.
Celebrity gossip is a billion-dollar industry. According to The New York Times, the combined revenue for the celebrity gossip industry – anchored by sites like TMZ or Radar Online, which often pay several thousand dollars for inside information – tops more than $3 billion per year. Every year, we tune in to the Oscars, Grammys, Golden Globes, and BAFTAs,… to watch our favourite and not-so-favourite celebs radiating in world-class outfits. Performances are analysed; outfits are scrutinised; awkward moments are amplified. People might rarely carry a “ludicrously capacious bag” to these types of events but they certainly bag fame and fortune. And we eat it up that we’re full for no deserts. Perhaps some tea to spill. We might be at home in our Primark pajamas but hang on a minute, that Dior gown just doesn’t look right.
Some people might argue that the psychological, existential and social appeals of celebrities seem to be easy enough to explain. We develop deep bonds with celebrities because we’ve become so immersed in their lives. We watch them grow up, we watch them go through heartbreaks, we follow their tangle with love and law. Until one day, we’re desperate for that round-the-clock gossip and addicted to that bottomless appetite for dirt about the rich and the famous. What’s more, social media has undoubtedly made the phenomenon of constant exposure to celebrity culture and public broadcasting of their lives a far more widespread experience. In their article “With social media, everyone’s a celebrity”, the author Alexandra Samuel notes that “the emergence of celebrity culture was inseparable from the technological developments that made it possible.” We see them on TV, we listen to their podcasts, we can slide into their DMs: they have become more accessible than ever. But is the richness of social media channels a double-edged sword?
I dedicated my whole master’s dissertation of around 15,000 words to exploring para-social relationships, particularly celebrities and their fans and the concept of stardom and fandom, the ethics around taking advantage of those relationships, as well as how social media has changed the game. The concept of a parasocial relationship, often a one-sided relationship, was coined in 1956 by Donald Horton and R. Richard Wohl to describe the way mass media users acted like they were in a typical social relationship with a media figure, such as feeling as though they are besties with a well-known celebrity. Even though these relationships existed long before the internet – researchers say ancient people had para-social relationships with pharaohs and deities, social media gives fans a medium to be in the ins and outs of a celebrity’s life. However, it isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be.
Whilst para-social relations are in fact psychologically healthy – as we as humans crave social interactions and are built for those, para-social relationships with celebrities might be more harmful than helpful. The interaction is a perfect illusion that might cause extreme fans to react to the situations in an extreme way as if they were real. TV series Swarm tells you all you need to know about it – and the whole internet is not getting enough of it. The series follows Dre (Dominique Fishback), a young woman whose obsession with a pop star takes a dark turn. The irony! We’re obsessed with obsession. No spoilers here I promise, but it’s really giving.
Gen Z seems to escalate that obsession with celebrity culture and gossip to its peak. From the Don’t Worry Darling drama to Kim Kardashian and Marilyn Monroe’s iconic dress and Kylie Jenner/Timothee Chalamet’s dating rumour, everyone nowadays is a cultural commentator. When broken systems persist, our planet’s imminent climate threat, an upending pandemic, and explosive cost-of-living crisis – all combined to feel like a “perfect storm of existential threats”, we turn to entertainment and escapism.
A global study of nearly 150,000 18-to 24-year-olds found that English-speaking countries found that Gen Z is 12 times more obsessed with celebrities than their parents’ generation. At the same time, social media has propelled the rise of para-social relationships and changed news consumption and attention economy.
It’s confirmed! Gen Z is the loneliest generation. Telstra’s Talking Loneliness report found that one in two Gen Z (54%) and Millennials (51%) reported that they regularly feel lonely — a figure much higher than that of other generations. Another research, commissioned by the charity Eden Project Communities as part of its Big Lunch initiative, showed that 19% of 16-24-year-olds, “often” or “always” feel lonely, which is three times higher than the 65-74 age group, where the figure was 6%.
We crave social connections and bonds. We might be the most connected, but also the most isolated. And celebrity gossip, which everyone can have access to, is a gateway and a common topic of discussion. We participate in these conversations like the rent is due and we only have one chance to break new ground. We just have to be there.
After all, it’s not a coincidence that celebrities have been making the most of their fandoms. And almost all fandoms have a name. Celebrities and their fandoms provide a gateway for their audience to connect and feel like they belong to a tribe, to a community – and the ethics of that matter if someone takes advantage of that will be a discussion for another time. Furthermore, the Y2K and nostalgia trends prove it. In times of uncertainty and turmoil, people look for comfort and deeper bond. People need someone to discuss how she has “lost a half day of skiing”.
We’re living in a permacrisis – or polycrisis era – and I wonder when we’ll run out of words to describe the state of the world. Whilst everything seems to be out of grasp, one thing is certain: celebrities and their unhinged gossip connect us and make us human. Gossip has a bad reputation and it’s time we gave it a new light. We’re obsessed with the world of the rich and the famous – there have been probably 20334 “eat the rich” movies and TV series to this point – but we don’t mind another Succession. In this economy, we can’t be breaking generational trauma and crisis AND building generational wealth at the same. Whilst the rich and famous are hoarding cash for themselves, it is our birthright to continue gossiping and making sense of the world.
