In chapters 4 and 5 of Pete Ward’s God’s Behaving Badly, the idea of celebrity being a type of religion, or para-religion is explored. It refers to the deification of society’s celebrities through the use of theological terms when discussing their lives. In describing our stars with such metaphors, the meaning of the terms slowly begins to change. With the alteration of traditional meanings, the lines between media and religion become blurry; And in some cases the overlap of these two sectors is observed, say for example with Princess Diana, also termed by her ex-husband a “goddess with loose morals”. This is strange because society accepts her image as a goddess, yet also is comfortable that a goddess can be loose. Ward relates this “cult” of celebrity to a form of polytheism (like the Greek and Roman gods and goddesses) where the stars of the time represent defined sets of behaviors and morals. The comings and goings, the fights, the relationships between stars then can be narrated like the mythic tales. Society’s “idols” today are rapidly changes figures that are worshipped for a season or two, who then recede back into obscurity while a new “idol” takes his/her place. (The irony of the usage of “idol” cannot be ignored; The word itself proves that society recognizes the transient nature of his divinity through reality or competitive television series.) In context, the Princess was then only a mere character in the play of moral values that push and pull at each other. Transformed into an abstract set of images and ideas, she can take on a variety of meaning for different groups.
When an individual becomes malleable like that in consumers’ actions, the judgement on their actions falls into consumers’ hands. Regardless of the moral nature of a celebrity’s choices or the insignificance of their looks after giving birth, the consumers ultimately decide the fate of the celebrity. Once again, Ward emphasizes that this is extremely important because it says something about society. It proves just where certain values and priorities lie. He also has certain hypotheses explaining why gossip columns are so popular; He believes that as a primarily middle class, hard working group, there is some pleasure to be gained from seeing celebs have their share of mishaps. “Justice in an unjust world” seems to be the rightful justification for mocking their fails. Why shouldn’t they deserve what came to them? They have been blessed by chance with wealth, beauty, fame and they still cannot get it right. The overwhelming abundance of tabloids like this perhaps taps at some of the more critical issues that society has to resolve. The focus on minor fails or successes shows that, at the core, people realize what a fabrication celebrity really is. They hit at the questions people like Ward are dying to answer. Why are stars so celebrated even if they have not seemingly achieved anything worth acknowledging? Why does society put people like them on pedestals to be observed?
To Think About:
- Why is there such a big gap in respect to the outcomes of our celebrities? What determines whether or not they become a philanthropist or “savior” in Ward’s terms or someone society deems to be a failure? Meaning, if consumers ultimately have the bottom line decision, what makes us destroy one celebrity but uplift another?
- Ward says that the alteration of theological themes will provide clues to the future of religion and culture. This alteration of themes is already at hand. What do you predict will be some of the effects on our future?
Further reading:
- "Celebrities are demi-gods" - This entire site is devoted to the interactions and the inescapable overlap between theology and pop culture
- "How to tell if you are a celebrity saint" (some comic relief added)
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