Celebrity(ce-leb-ri-ty): 1.A famous person. 2.Renown;fame.

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 Introduction

Celebrity(ce-leb-ri-ty): 1.A famous person. 2.Renown;fame

     To be honest, the best way to research this type of topic in motion is to ride the London Underground subway for a full day. That is when you see everyday people in their natural state. Patient, board, either excited or let down by where their journey is taking them. Still, they bring along an outlet to ease their mood and their anxiousness brought by travel. This is the same outlet we use in all our travel, our time spent waiting, and our obsession that brings us out of the dark and into the lives of the people in the light that we worship just by paying attention. This outlet is Celebrity.

    Coming from America to England I am totally out of my natural being. Still, my misplacement grants me the gift that allows me to notice things about this culture as well as my own that normal citizens of the United Kingdom don’t notice out of pure repetition and habit. How they live, what they do, who they choose as their celebrities, and why. Today, the western obsession with celebrity is not purely by human nature but it is a situation created by the entertainment industry for profit. This industry have essentially turned the lives of people all around the industry from pop singers to Cricket players into a spin-off entertainment product through manipulation techniques, history, and psychology. What movies are to the cinema genre, gossip magazines and talk shows are to the celebrity genre.Still, many see this obsession as something bigger than a genre. “…celebrities, each of whom fits in a particular niche, has caused the collapse of our common culture.”(John Powers). Throughout this research many aspects of Celebrity culture will be examined and compared. Economics, Sociology, History, Psychology, and the means that supports them are all factors in the ‘‘Game’’. This explains why this industry created by the United States and United Kingdom has got the world involved in this new-age cult. This will bring us into the core of the new upper-class society and give a better understanding into the psychology of the wealthiest culture on earth.

 History of Celebrities in the UK

    What makes the UK different from the rest of the world especially the commonwealth countries (US, Canada, Australia, etc.) is that it is over a thousand years older than these newly formed western strongholds. With that being understood, the people through the history of England have gone through drastic changes throughout its lifespan and rooted the obsession with people who seem more than ordinary in the public. This has shown that celebrities change depending on what is trendy for the British people and the rest of the world. For instance, Soccer/Football players at one time were at the bottom end of the social ladder given no attention outside of their games, no money, and little support. Now in the turn of the century the tables have completely turned over and today they are the richest and most revered sportsmen in the world.

     Back in the Middle Ages and even before that from the Start of this British society the only real type of celebrities that had a social impact were Generals, explorers and the most influential, Royalty.

     Starting from when the French-Normans triumphed over the Anglo-Saxons in 1066, generals, politicians, royalty, and war heroes were praised with fame. The first ‘’mega celebrity’’ of the time was Henry the 2nd in 1169 who led the invasion of Ireland. Later on, Edward the 1st who acquired Wales for England in 1285 became nationally known.

    In terms of national fame, generals were the United Kingdoms claim to celebrity. Still, the Royal families of each time period had huge followings. It seemed that peasants, merchants, and common citizens were entranced by the glamour and wealth of the Royals. Elizabeth the 1st was hated then loved by the public but never went unnoticed due to her political views. Later on Politicians got a hold of this type of fame starting with James the 1st who controlled the monarchy in 1603.

     Now in the earlier times, Royals, Generals, and anybody else that had to do with changing the course of history of the country were crowded around on the streets and gossiped around the pubs and markets in early Britain. It came later that members of society that didn’t fall into royalty of war became celebrities. One of which was William Shakespeare. Shakespeare became locally known around the theatre crowd by uniquely organic plays that had a domino effect getting him recognized by everyone involved such as actors and anyone else who went to go see the plays. After a few years Musicians started to get a glimpse of the local fame around the Elizabethan villages. At the start of the English art renaissance the fame only extended in the circles of artists. actors were only celebrated by actors, writers by writers, and so on. Still as crowds got bigger at plays, art showings , and concerts actors ,musicians ,and painters to gain fame outside their circles which turned into the basis for the obsession with artists of this field, thus, the entertainment business was formed at the start of the 17th century.

    As Great Britain grew as an empire so did its people. They started becoming more concentrated on organized sports along with the favoured entertainment industry and royalty. These became the elements of celebrity from the 18th century to the present day. As Great Britain headed into the 20th century, Radio’s and magazines started to head into the hands and homes of every man, women ,and child. Soccer became the national obsession and the news corps were competing to bring the action of the people. By Friday morning pictures of players such as Sir Alf Ramsey, Dixie, Dean, and Gordon Strachan graced the pages turning them into national and worldwide celebrities.

     As the century moved on so did the movie reels and records. Silent picture stars from America and Great Britain started to become a side interest of the country with screen stars including Charlie Chaplin. The sounds of ‘‘Great Britain’s National Anthem’’ were being replaced by Frank Sinatra and then The Beetles and The Rolling Stones took the country through the 1960’s and 1970’s. As television invaded every home so did the stars of Monty Python and the video’s of George Michael.

 Today

    In today’s United Kingdom, Celebrity is brought upon everyone from serial killers such as Ian Huntley to Boy bands like BLUE. Through newspapers like the SUN and magazines like OK!, readers are enlightened in a ‘’Jerry Springer’’ type way about who is dating whom in the limelight. today, there are three classes of British Celebrities(discounting men/women famous from other countries). The British ‘’A’’ list is mainly made up of Football players, Models, actors, and pop singers. For instance, on the top of the list are David Beckham and Victoria ‘Posh Spice’ Adams. David a soccer icon and Victoria, an ageing pop star formally of the Spice girls reign Britain as Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston do in America. Other names on this list include Kylie Minogue, Prince William, Hugh Grant, and Keira Knightly.

    The ‘B’ list is primarily a younger list of celebrities mostly an ‘MTV’ group of Boys and Girls. This list is made up of Television actors/actresses, Pop Group singers, Rugby, Cricket, and young soccer players. “B” list names consist of Tiery Henry(Soccer player), Charlotte Church, and Lee Ryan(of pop group BLUE). The ‘C’ list is everyone else that happens to get their names in the tabloids. Names on this list include Child Killer Ian Huntley, Glamour model Katie ‘Jordan’ Price, and Steven Johnson who acquired fame by courting B list Opera singer Charlotte Church.

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History of Celebrity in the United States

    Great Britain has Hundreds of years on U.S.history but America has the star power that makes it seem like it has been working on it even before Great Britain was formed. America has been the World’s number one producer of Celebrity and has kept it this way from the beginning.

     Celebrity in America first begun in the colonies around the 1600’s. Hero’s from the revolution with England were celebrated and revered. George Washington was the 1st major celebrity in America due to his help to win independence as well ...

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