How is Celebrity Status Attained?

Once upon a time in America, we could look up to our celebrities. They may not have been perfect, but they cared about their public images and tried to avoid scandals. Actresses the caliber of Audrey Hepburn and Joan Crawford did not wriggle out of cars without panties for publicity. Actors who were role models such as John Wayne and Charlton Heston did not get arrested in brothels. These celebrities earned their celebrity status via hard work, dedication, and social consciousness.

Nowadays, more celebrity status is awarded to those who pull ridiculous publicity stunts than to those who work hard at their trades. Celebrities, wannabes, or has-beens will resort to anything from sex books and videos to reality television shows in which they exploit their families to try to ascend the rungs of the celebrity ladder.

Our society has created an overly competitive cesspool into which people dive head-first, flail around, and hope to surface with some celebrity status. Even if it is just a little rancid mouthful, when they spit it out, they might just make a few bucks.

However, this is not true of all celebrities. There are those who are dedicated to their crafts and who try to avoid the cesspool such as the actor, Edward Norton. Ironically, he receives publicity for this as he is widely referred to as being reluctant to embrace his celebrity.

Norton is an exceptional actor confirmed by a score of positive reviews on the Internet. He has won various awards and been nominated for two Oscars. Currently, he is the Incredible Hulk. However, you may also recognize him from such movies as Primal Fear, American History X, Fight Club, The Italian Job, The Illusionist and others.

Though Norton is clearly a celebrity and his celebrity status is steadily rising, it has been a slow crawl. Norton has been in the acting game for fourteen years and he has yet to achieve the household-name celebrity status of individuals such as Madonna and Tom Cruise.

Though he has been in the acting game, he has not been in the publicity game.

Cheap stunts are not his forte. He keeps it real and he keeps it about the work. His private life is just that, private. Consequently, he is sadly under-publicized by the media.

Norton's case exemplifies how celebrity quests for privacy and lack of ridiculous publicity stunts lessens media coverage and thwarts celebrity status.

Another growing problem of celebrity status is that it may be built from wrongful or irresponsible acts rather than positive societal endeavors, once simply known as good deeds. In 1926, when Babe Ruth hit for a little sick boy, it hit the front page of the Daily News the next day. Now, how often do good deeds build celebrity status? Norton is a strong social, political and environmental activist. He is also an Enterprise Community Partners trustee. Enterprise promotes affordable housing. Have you heard about this in the media lately?

Worse yet, when a celebrity tries to get involved in important societal or world issues the media reward them with flack. Sean Penn and Martin Sheen immediately come to mind in this regard. Aside from derogatory statements spewed in the media, Penn allegedly lost a multi-million dollar movie deal and Sheen's television show, the West Wing became the closed wing.

Our societal standards have plummeted to stagnate in a putrid pit in which celebrities who wriggle out of cars without panties receive more media coverage and higher celebrity status than those who are dedicated to their crafts and/or socially conscious.

Should it not be the other way around as it was once upon a time?