I
remember when I was a child I wanted to be a famous singer but my parents
always warned me that fame can become a curse.
Being the stubborn child I was, I of course always argued with them
about that because I didn’t really understand what they meant. Having grown up
fascinated by pop culture, I have come to understand what they were warning me
about.
Being a media studies major, I’m constantly learning about the history of marketing, campaigning and media consumption in the United States of America. We, as a society are consumers. Historically, we like to buy things. Advertisers know this and use this knowledge to further glamorize products, often times through celebrity endorsements. This makes me wonder, what about the celebrities who are ‘the faces’ of the products we consume?
Women like Judy Garland, Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, Whitney Houston, Anna Nicole Smith and Britney Spears have achieved such unprecedented success, yet they all struggled in their personal lives. Is it possible that because these women were viewed as icons and sex symbols that they lost their sense of self? I want to examine the psychological, personal and public struggles the successful female icons of our time faced as a result of their fame. Gaining enormous success in the public eye must be very overwhelming, especially for young, beautiful women who aren’t quite sure who to trust. Once someone first achieves success, the next worry is about how to maintain and surpass that success. There is pressure to be the best so that you will have the most fans that will spend their money on anything with your name/face on it. The pressure these women faced not only came from the public and their professional teams of managers/PR agents but also from within themselves.
Being a media studies major, I’m constantly learning about the history of marketing, campaigning and media consumption in the United States of America. We, as a society are consumers. Historically, we like to buy things. Advertisers know this and use this knowledge to further glamorize products, often times through celebrity endorsements. This makes me wonder, what about the celebrities who are ‘the faces’ of the products we consume?
Women like Judy Garland, Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, Whitney Houston, Anna Nicole Smith and Britney Spears have achieved such unprecedented success, yet they all struggled in their personal lives. Is it possible that because these women were viewed as icons and sex symbols that they lost their sense of self? I want to examine the psychological, personal and public struggles the successful female icons of our time faced as a result of their fame. Gaining enormous success in the public eye must be very overwhelming, especially for young, beautiful women who aren’t quite sure who to trust. Once someone first achieves success, the next worry is about how to maintain and surpass that success. There is pressure to be the best so that you will have the most fans that will spend their money on anything with your name/face on it. The pressure these women faced not only came from the public and their professional teams of managers/PR agents but also from within themselves.
I do know that all of
the above mentioned women have been known to take prescription drugs. An upper to rehearse and perform, then
something like a Xanax to bring them down, and an Ambien before bed. I think
the movie Valley of the Dolls is a great representation of what these starlets
have reportedly struggled with.
I’m not quite sure how
I want to present my project- whether through art, music, poems, or a written piece
of work.
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