14 DAY TRIAL // Celebrity culture has often been targeted and highly criticized for the type of values it gives birth to and then promotes quite shamelessly, many say. Since former glamour model Katie Price announced husband Peter Andre was divorcing her and speculation has started to build she might be trying to pull a fast one on the media for a quick buck, the attention of the British press has again turned to three of the country’s most popular and successful female stars – and to why they’re even in the headlines in the first place.
According to Jan Moir of the Daily Mail, there is nothing beautiful about these three women – and definitely nothing to qualify them as the feminist idols they pretend to be. They have close to no talent, yet they continue to sell merchandise like hot cakes; they’re uneducated, yet their words are welcomed with wild applause as if pearl of wisdom came out of their mouth; they would be deemed cheap, tacky and perhaps not worthy of a second if they were regular women, yet they’re so popular their fame has long crossed over to the US. It is precisely all of the above that makes these women the trinity of everything that’s wrong with our celebrity culture, Moir argues.
“Their supporters insist that we must worship them because they come from humble origins. Yet in their mutual short journey from sink estate to the warm bath of public adulation, truly what is there to respect? Not much, I fear.” Moir says. At the same time, the author insists that, while these women demand to be loved for having had such rapid ascensions – which, in turn, would make regular people relate with their story – there is almost nothing in them that commands respect or admiration for that matter, save for their almost unbelievable ability to make money out of thin air.
“Take Jade Goody. A Bermondsey dental nurse and semi-illiterate who received a beatification in death that was never hers in life. The outpouring of grief at her death was matched by an inpouring of cash. This remains her most notable achievement. Then there is Jodie Marsh. A girl who has been on more laps than a curry house napkin. Marsh is the least successful of the three, but she still has a book in the current bestseller list and is famous because... well, you tell me.” Moir adds.
As for Price, the author has nothing but harsh words: a woman who literally sold every aspect of her personal life to the tabloids and television, who’s as fake as her implants but who still manages to dupe so many people into buying her products and her fabricated “story.” All three women are brands that move millions, but that doesn’t change the fact that we’re adoring them for no reason and against all better judgment, Moir concludes by saying.