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The desire for immortality is as old as human awareness of death. The Homeric heroes were willing to sacrifice their lives for deeds that would be remembered forever; fame, has always been one of humanity's favorite ways to ensure immortality, if only symbolic.
In our age of global infotainment networks, celebrity is the new holy grail, the road to immortality, even though it is often not even based on extraordinary achievement. No phenomenon illustrates this dynamics more than the advent of reality TV, which has become the single most powerful factor that has changed the landscape of television in the last decade.
Reality shows were the top-rated programs on American TV in most years since 2000, with Survivor and American Idol leading the charts. Currently the four national broadcast networks, ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox all plan to have at least one prime-time reality show a year.
Reality TV focuses on the process of transformation that turns an ordinary mortal into a demigod. This process is normally hidden from the spectator's eye. We are not privy to the process that has turned Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, George Clooney and Scarlett Johansson into celebrities. We only see the end result of the human already transformed into a demigod. But our culture is obsessed with this transformation; we want to see the miracle happen.
The success of Reality TV is based on its focus on the process of magical transformation of a human being: from ordinary mortal to demigod. Followed by countless cameras we can watch the process of transubstantiation, the moment in which a human being is touched by grace.
At first sight, it seems preposterous to think that celebrity has anything to do with the striving for symbolic immortality. Yet celebrities are invested with a special aura. Hundreds of millions will continue to watch how ordinary mortals become demigods--and will hope that, one day, they will become immortal as well. Fans seek to touch or physically see celebrities in the same way as the faithful want to touch the relics of a saint or the hand of a high-ranking cleric.
Paradoxically celebrities are invested with very special powers, even though it is of a somewhat more earthly sort. Early in the twentieth century, the fledgling film industry found out that the fame of an actor could become the central selling point of a movie. Now, a century later, Hollywood megastars get paid up to $20 million plus a percentage of profits, for the simple reason that their names are the crucial factor in determining a movie's success.
But the striving for glory is not primarily motivated by material gain. Glory is sought because, as humans, we seek to matter. We want to be significant, and ultimately, we want to be immortal.
The paradox of contemporary celebrity is that it has become more and more evanescent. The latest evictee of Big Brother or Survivor may well acquire great celebrity for the proverbial fifteen minutes, and his or her final interview may be watched by millions. But chances are that their names will no longer be remembered the day after.
Celebrities that last for a long time require careful brand management. For actors this means that they need to continue getting star roles in successful movies. The cruelty of time for athletes is topped only by the cruelty of the world of fashion models. The latter are unlikely to have careers that will outlast their mid-twenties (if that), the former know that the decline of their physical abilities guarantees relatively short careers.
Celebrity, in anything, should be associated with evanescence rather than immortality, but it isn't. The age-old association between fame and immortality, illusory as it may be, retains its power over our minds as the promise that we can escape our fear of insignificance and finally feel that we are valuable human beings.
This post is adapted from Carlo Strenger The Fear of Insignificance: Searching for Meaning in the Twenty-first Century. Copyright Carlo Strenger
