by Matthew Johnson

Created on: June 05, 2009

Paparazzi are, at times, a necessary evil when one is a celebrity. Once someone steps into the limelight, there are always people who want to follow their actions, in hopes of taking that one photograph that will make them thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars. Many of these high paying photos are ones capturing a celebrity in a compromising position or situation. These compromising positions and situations result in scandal, the favorite word to the paparazzi, because scandal means interest in the picture and interest means profit.

Fittingly, paparazzi (or paparazzo in the singular form) is italian for "buzzing mosquitos". The paparazzi, much like mosquitos, hover around celebrities, constantly snapping picture after picture in the hopes of catching that one picture that will earn them the most money. In some cases, they can be helpful to a celebrity by taking pictures the celebrity may want taken. Several examples of this can be the pictures taken at movie premieres, humanitarian functions, and awards shows. In most cases, however, paparazzi tend to be more of an annoyance or hinderance than helpful. Although there are some who are polite and ask a celebrity before taking a picture, offer to help them if they are in need of assistance, and hold off taking photos when the situation would call for privacy, most paparazzi will just hover around and snap hundreds or even thousands of pictures at any given time without any regard for the safety or privacy of any particular celebrity.

When paparazzi cross the line, they go from an annoyance to a danger to society. There is an increasing amount of occurances where paparazzi are becoming out-of-control and risking the safety of both celebrities as well as the general public in their attempts to get that one "million dollar" photo. Some paparazzi are starting to not only disregard the safety of others, but are actually disregarding the laws as well. One of the most famous cases of this is the car chase that resulted in the death of Princess Diana. Although it has never been proven, it is widely believed that paparazzi, intent on getting photos, chased her car, driven by the intoxicated Henri Paul, resulting in a high speed chase and ending in the famous crash.

Another instance of out-of-control paparazzi being a contributing factor to a motor vehicle accident is the motorcycle crash of George Clooney. In November of 2007, in an attempt to get away from the rapidly pursuing paparazzi, Mr. Clooney ended up crashing his motorcycle into another vehicle, injuring both himself and his girlfriend, Sarah Larson. George Clooney was later quoted as saying, "It's high-speed chases and they're competing with each other. They're not trying to catch me doing something stupid, they're trying to create me doing something stupid. You don't get to break all these laws and then say, I'm just doing my job."

There is also an increasing amount of physical altercations occuring between celebrities and paparazzi. In attempts to get pictures as well as the possiblity of getting a hefty settlement from a lawsuit, paparazzi are beginning to see how far they can push celebrities before a celebrity takes a swing at them. Because of these dangerous activities becoming more and more common with paparazzi, new laws are being discussed in efforts to reduce the danger to celebrities and the general public. The one hope many are beginning to have is that it doesn't take the death of a celebrity, paparazzo, or an innocent bystander to finally get the message across that the way these out-of-control paparazzi are operating needs to be changed.

Learn more about this author, Matthew Johnson.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.