by Zach Bigalke

Created on: October 16, 2007

The advent of television took celebrity to a whole new status. As satellite transmissions augured in a boom period where new television channels blossomed, more opportunities were created for people to rise up into the glamorized celebrity class. But the more things changed, the more they stayed the same.

The people rising to take roles in movies, television, and theatre continues to concentrate. No longer is the distinction between stage and screen actor as concrete as it has been in the past. Certainly, there have been carry-over actors in the past; now, however, the trend is to hire a hot name, regardless of how they fit into the project. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the exploding animation industry. Big-box productions from Dreamworks and Pixar and the rest feature the hottest names. What this has done is take away the outlet by which more actors can find work, and is instead concentrating the wealth in the hands of a select elite.

But a new trend is simultaneously bucking the spotlight even as it fails to yield even moderately-comparable financial gains for the participants: reality television. Fox has just started an all-reality network; new shows pop up seemingly daily. The hope for the lower and middle class people watching this bargain-basement programming is that it can vault anyone into the public eye. Charasmatic reality stars have gone on to carve a niche for themselves. At the same time though, the trend of concentration is pervading even this most utilitarian of genres. Washed-up has-beens are taking the place of the average Joe upon which the format was born. For every new face seen on a show like "The Real World", there are a dozen Hulk Hogans and Bret Michaels and Salt 'n Pepas stepping in to grab an undeserved and unwarranted second chance in the spotlight...

And they gain ratings! More people tune into shows like "Rock of Love" and "The Girls Next Door" than to real information on channels like Discovery... More people would rather watch former flops sweat off pounds on "Celebrity Fit Club" than objective reporting... And shows which showcase common people, like "Top Chef" and "America's Next Top Model", would lose much of their popularity without publicly-recognized names like Tyra Banks and Tom Colicchio. Celebrity makes any program... and Americans swallow any tripe they are fed...

The problem is that these shows, this concentration of money in the hands of an entertainment elite, serves two purposes for the lower classes. First, the reality trend gives many people facing hardship the mostly-farcical hope that they can turn around their situation by getting their face out there. Second, the reality of the reality trend, and the fact that the only people making much money from the scheme are those who started with money in the beginning, continues to spread the gap between the haves and the have-nots... much like the CEO/employee pay discrepancy, the number of actors at the top of the heap becomes more insular as the number clamoring to attain those heights exponentially grows... and it only perpetuates the destitution when the masses are placated with more swill in the interest of celebrity worship.

Our celebrity-obsessed culture yearns to reach celebrity status. Everyone wants to be a rock star. Everyone wants to rule the world. Everyone wants the bankroll and the Bentley. Well, everyone, at least, who gives in to the temptation to delve deeper into the cerebral vortex that the celebrity culture has become... as the suspenders of the mind slacken, all pretense of clawing to the top falls like the pants attached to those suspenders... and the gap between the ceiling and the floor widens...

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