The 1990s democratized celebrity into an attainable goal for anyone
Evidence
In a limited way, “ordinary Joe” species of celebrity had existed before—game show champions of the 1950s being the clearest antecedent. But the emergence of an entire program genre “celebrifying” ordinary people, and soon to dominate television, was something new. As such, it marked the beginning of a subtle but significant change in the very nature of celebrity. If once it comprised heroes, demigods, kings, and saints, and then later icons of the screen or sports, by the 1990s celebrity was becoming something that could happen to anyone. Thus it became a worthwhile, reasonable goal for the great generality. This, ultimately, may account for the genre’s lasting appeal. — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 843
Categorization
- XREF: Connects directly to the reader’s attention-industries theme: celebrity as a reward system that TV monetized by dangling attainability to more viewers. — connects to: Tech scene micro-celebrity made fame itself the goal, detached from accomplishment — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 275; Reality TV decoupled celebrity from objective merit or achievement — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 844; Micro-celebrity requires deliberately commodifying the self into a marketable persona — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 278
- SEED: Angle: the democratization of fame as the earliest attention-economy incentive design—making viewers believe fame was attainable kept them watching.
Broader Connections
- Reality TV decoupled celebrity from objective merit or achievement
#expands(0.85) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 844 - Tech scene micro-celebrity made fame itself the goal, detached from accomplishment
#qualifies(0.82) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 275 - Micro-celebrity requires deliberately commodifying the self into a marketable persona
#expands(0.78) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 278