“Celebrity worship is a prominent issue in Australia affecting girls between the ages of 10 and 21.” To what extent is this statement true?
Introduction and Background Information
Celebrity worship syndrome is a personality disorder that is becoming more apparent in 21st century Australia, and it is estimated that 36% of the general population have it. Several studies have shown that celebrity worship is more prevalent in adolescents, especially teen and preteen girls. When the British boy band One Direction toured Australia in late 2013, many articles were published surrounding the hysteria that many girls were experiencing. The Adelaide Entertainment Centre CEO said that they “were expecting lots of teenage girls” and needed to set up …show more content…
Stuart Fischoff, PhD, says that as humans, the need to follow and worship an idol is in our DNA. Fischoff says that sociologically, humans are preprogramed to “follow the leader,” as humans are social beings who look to alpha females and males in their ‘pack’. As celebrities and the Hollywood system are a $3 billion industry, it makes sense that people highly regard celebrities as they are a prominent source of success and lead lavish lifestyles that many people envy. Several studies have also shown that some celebrity worship has been linked to having positive aspirations in life as the celebrity can be a model of success. This correlates to the 42.77% of girls who said that many of their role models are celebrities in the research project …show more content…
Celebrity worship may therefore violate a person’s beliefs or values, especially if they are unaware of consciously worshipping celebrities. There are also positive associations between celebrity worship and the tendency to have an addiction, criminality, stalking behaviour and compulsive buying. This correlates to The Advertiser articles which explains that many Australian girls have stalked bands and pop stars when they are on tour, and to the research project survey where 28.57% of 17 year olds said that they have tried to stalk celebrities before. In the research project interviews, girls who have expressed both low-level and intense/borderline traits explained that celebrities have influenced their spending. Interviewee B explained that “You actually want to make yourself look like them a little bit or act like them”, and acknowledged that “They [celebrities] have so much influence”. This explanation correlates to the research project survey where 14.56% of girls said that they would try something new if a celebrity has done it. Furthermore, the research project survey also demonstrated a correlation between celebrity worship and criminality. One of the questions to identify potential borderline/pathological celebrity worship is by giving a positive answer to the question “If a celebrity asked
Introduction and Background Information
Celebrity worship syndrome is a personality disorder that is becoming more apparent in 21st century Australia, and it is estimated that 36% of the general population have it. Several studies have shown that celebrity worship is more prevalent in adolescents, especially teen and preteen girls. When the British boy band One Direction toured Australia in late 2013, many articles were published surrounding the hysteria that many girls were experiencing. The Adelaide Entertainment Centre CEO said that they “were expecting lots of teenage girls” and needed to set up …show more content…
Stuart Fischoff, PhD, says that as humans, the need to follow and worship an idol is in our DNA. Fischoff says that sociologically, humans are preprogramed to “follow the leader,” as humans are social beings who look to alpha females and males in their ‘pack’. As celebrities and the Hollywood system are a $3 billion industry, it makes sense that people highly regard celebrities as they are a prominent source of success and lead lavish lifestyles that many people envy. Several studies have also shown that some celebrity worship has been linked to having positive aspirations in life as the celebrity can be a model of success. This correlates to the 42.77% of girls who said that many of their role models are celebrities in the research project …show more content…
Celebrity worship may therefore violate a person’s beliefs or values, especially if they are unaware of consciously worshipping celebrities. There are also positive associations between celebrity worship and the tendency to have an addiction, criminality, stalking behaviour and compulsive buying. This correlates to The Advertiser articles which explains that many Australian girls have stalked bands and pop stars when they are on tour, and to the research project survey where 28.57% of 17 year olds said that they have tried to stalk celebrities before. In the research project interviews, girls who have expressed both low-level and intense/borderline traits explained that celebrities have influenced their spending. Interviewee B explained that “You actually want to make yourself look like them a little bit or act like them”, and acknowledged that “They [celebrities] have so much influence”. This explanation correlates to the research project survey where 14.56% of girls said that they would try something new if a celebrity has done it. Furthermore, the research project survey also demonstrated a correlation between celebrity worship and criminality. One of the questions to identify potential borderline/pathological celebrity worship is by giving a positive answer to the question “If a celebrity asked