Fame populates our news feeds. If a celebrity couple has a break up it gets as much attention as a natural disaster. Media and advertisements heavily target the wants of society over its needs. Why are we as a culture so fixated on the cult of celebrity? Is it because celebrities live the lavish lifestyles that we all desire? Most celebrities seem to have it all. Is it envy that leads us to want to know every aspect of their lives? How did we get to the point that our news feeds commonly use who slept with who as relevant news?

In common news outlets, natural disasters and plane crashes get the same treatment as a celebrity love triangle. It is not just in the tabloids. Paparazzi images of celebrities doing anything from brushing their teeth to shopping at a grocery store can sell for thousands of dollars. What differs so greatly from their daily lives than ours that makes them so susceptible to being exploited? It could stem from our own craving for fame. Most celebrities boast wealth and lavish lifestyles, and some have talents that we aspire to have. This inevitably breeds envy and fascination.

This cult of celebrity is nothing new. According to an article by Megan Chance, popular opera singers during the Industrial Revolution excelled to a social status that gave them power over society, similar to the amount of attention Brangelina get today, dating the cult of celebrity back 100 years or more.

The issue came more into light in the 1950s and 1960s with the commercial works of artist Andy Warhol. Warhol, who was ahead of his time, created religious icon-like imagery of the actress Marilyn Monroe. With his paintings he was making a comment on how celebrities are images to be bought and sold. Celebrities are raised to a level of worship. His 1962 painting “Gold Marilyn Monroe” resembles the style of a Byzantine idol and emphasizes this point.

Author Craig Detweiler states his thoughts on fame being a close step to eternal life.

“James Dean, Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley are all eternal in pop culture, and so becoming a celebrity is the closest thing to eternal life outside the Church,” says Detweiler. “I see a hunger for celebrity as a hunger for eternity.”

While you can still find news about military and government conflicts and the effects of natural disasters, the easiest and most readily available information is about who wore what on the red carpet and about some pop stars sprained ankle. This is because our culture has become indoctrinated to focus on appeal of things, and that appeal is focused on new and popular items rather than issues that affect us globally.

This topic is hard to address and it may always be. Is it a problem or is it just human nature? There is a million dollar industry that revolves around celebrity news, but just because it is out there doesn’t mean we should consume it so readily. I don’t think that it is wrong that our society holds such a fondness for celebrities, but we just need to be more aware of the more important things in life. We can’t forget about the troops we have at war or the political and natural disasters plaguing us and other countries just because someone famous had a wardrobe malfunction.