People Waste Potential Idolizing Celebrities

There’s a plethora of reasons why one should not idolize celebrities. Of course, it is fine to have role models. It is quite normal to look up to celebrities and other public figures, admiring their intelligence, talent or beauty. Yet there is a fine line between admiration and obsession — one that should never, ever be crossed. Ever. For instance, I know this guy who is in love with Meryl Streep. Literally. He knows the days she was born and graduated, knows her first film and stage credits, has actually memorized every year she was nominated for an award.

And my question is … What in the world? It’s just befuddling as to why anyone would ever need to know even a fraction of the fluffy knowledge he has of Streep! Imagine all of the other vital knowledge that could have been stored in this guy’s brain instead, like advertisement jingles and obscure comic book lore. Instead, this poor dude has become dazzled by the brilliance of a legendary film star.

This is not to just poke fun at this Meryl Streep fan. It’s just supposed to illustrate that getting to into a celebrity can consume too much of one’s life. All the gossip rags and talk shows — they just take up too much time with information that has very little substance. High profile people can be recognized for the accomplishments they’ve made, and they deserve to be. I do love watching movies that feature my favorite actor, and if a movie has familiar names and likable people in it, I feel that much more bonded to the movie. Yet beyond acting prowess, and a reasonable amount of interesting trivia, my interest really just ends. Who cares that this starlet was spotted at the same restaurant with random Hollywood stud? Does it matter at all? Such celebrity gossip about their comings and goings will rarely ever influence what kind of projects said celebrities will work on, nor does any amount of fan knowledge ever help create some sort of tangible relationship between star and fanboy.

Honestly. When is the last time someone’s sweet scrapbook warranted them a face to face meeting with their idol? The thing about this type of fandom is that it’s, to some extent, incapacitating. At first, it seems benign enough, like writing Star Trek fan fiction or becoming very interested in your customizable characters in Dragon Quest IX.
I’ve never done that, by the way.

But these hobbies, these adorable little time wasters, begin to eventually leech one’s strength. When people become too drawn into what started off as genuine interest, they start to live in a fantasy world, and begin to leave their real life behind. In this world, people are best friends with their favorite superstars, know them on a level no one else knows. They live vicariously through fantastic avatars, engaging in activities far more grand than the mundane life one is actually saddled with. They waste away their days basking in the glorious fame of their favorite celebrity. When in real life, they could be working to attain and transcend the same legendary levels of fame.