Celebrity culture shifted from awe at achievement to flattering self-mirroring
Evidence
I was reminded, too, of Nietzsche’s scalding admonition that “harshness” and “cruelty” must be cultivated if the human animal is to transformed, by hammer blows and force of will, into a great work of art; reminded, especially, when some posters on Dissensus were seriously advancing “niceness” — niceness, that is — as a desirable trait. … That’s a recent quote from one Alex Folkes, the speaker for a pressure group named Votes at Sixteen, apropos George Galloway, and it’s the kind of exhausting, fatuous antiphilosophy which tempts me to form a pressure group called Votes at Thirty. Nevertheless it is (un)pretty fitting for an age bereft of desire for godhood. Where once we assembled in front of screens or stages to gasp in awe at people doing and achieving things we could never hope of doing or achieving ourselves — but how we luxuriated, carried ourselves afloat, on the dream of doing so — now all we require is a humbling mirror. This is the sort of thing which stops dangerous people from gaining power, but also the kind of closure which would ultimately forbid all art. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 397
Categorization
- XREF: Recalls Adorno’s culture-industry analysis explored in the Frankfurt School history — pleasure engineered to return subjects to resigned drudgery, and the mirroring of the subject. — connects to: Reality TV decoupled celebrity from objective merit or achievement — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 844; Fame shifted from costly earned status to broadcast and reality-driven attention; Digital media shifted culture from representation of selves to self-presentation — Crystal Abidin, Internet Celebrity: Understanding Fame…, 77 (+3 more)
Broader Connections
- Reality TV decoupled celebrity from objective merit or achievement
#corroborates(0.85) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 844 - Micro-celebrity involves fame detached from any discernible achievement or work
#corroborates(0.85) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 316 - Fame shifted from costly earned status to broadcast and reality-driven attention
#corroborates(0.82) - Tech scene micro-celebrity made fame itself the goal, detached from accomplishment
#corroborates(0.80) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 275 - Digital media shifted culture from representation of selves to self-presentation
#expands(0.78) — Crystal Abidin, Internet Celebrity, 77