Ty Burr's The Faces In The Mirror

Celebrities are just ordinary people everyone knows about. Sometimes they seem more extravagant, high up on their pedestals, but in reality they are human beings. Ty Burr explores the changing face of the celebrity in the excerpt, “The Faces in the Mirror.” In particular, he delves into the modern case of the digital celebrity, with screens everywhere making a new starlet every day. According to Burr, we lose ourselves in the “roiling sea of infotainment” (32).
Burr notes that the relationship between fan and celebrity was already precarious, but now the Internet has opened up a new highway for unhealthy distraction. He describes it as “There is not a public space that doesn’t have a screen to distract us from our lives...nor is there a corner of our private existence that doesn’t offer an interface...we jack into..a hundred times a day” (32). We are constantly bombarded with images on screens, surrounded by a virtual realm. The reign of the Internet makes way for the every day celebrity. Nowadays it’s easy to be famous. All one has to do is upload an inspiring or plainly beautiful picture and a hundred new people know the person behind the photo. No longer does it require immense skill in science, math, or acting, but rather the …show more content…
Celebrity remains the idea that everyone knows your name, and the celebrities are still considered slightly better than human by the majority. They are expected to be without flaws, and are torn to pieces at the sight of one. However, the requirements for celebrities have shrunken greatly, with publicity becoming the equivalent of fame. Any member of the Internet club can achieve celebrity status by posting the right thing at the right time, earning a mob of silent followers. Relatablity can be enough. Perhaps that means that ordinary people are becoming more comfortable with who they