How do celebrities economically serve the celebrity industry and also Essay

How do celebrities economically serve the celebrity industry and also develop their public personas as commercial assets - Essay Example While the public idolizes or criticizes the stories that they are told by the media, the product that is available for sale in association to the celebrity is given advertising that is associated with that individual. Celebrity is an economic status that drives an industry behind a brand and an identity. As quoted from Todd Gitlin, in Understanding Celebrity by Graeme Turner, the celebrity is the â€Å"familiar strangerâ€Å". A celebrity is someone who has probably never been in the physical presence of a fraction of the people who know his or her name, yet the intimate details of that life is publicized for public consumption as though those details were as important as family and friends. The concept of publicity, both positive and negative creates a media image that defines someone by virtue of information that appears real and tangible, but is essentially no more real than the characterization in a book or in a movie. Stories told are creations of writers and photographers. The importance is not emphasizing truth, but maximizing sales, sometimes at the expense of Celebrity is not based on talent or professional achievement. In fact, â€Å"the modern celebrity may claim no special achievements other than the attraction of public attention† (Graeme, pg. 3). Celebrity status is achieved by the churning of public interest manufactured by media attention. Sometimes this attention is desired, and in other times the attention becomes a machine that cannot be stopped, destroying and re-creating with a will of its own. Who a celebrity is in private is not nearly relevant to the creation of the persona in public. This is the essence of celebrity - that it is created, either by will or momentum. One example of both doctrines being applied is the case of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. When Brad Pitt was married to Jennifer Aniston and chose to leave her for his co-star of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Angelina Jolie, a media storm that has yet to quell