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Pregnancy - a connecting point between ordinary folk and celebs (Opinion)
Author : Sevanand Gaddala
EarthTimes.org
Fri 16 Nov 2007
It took a while, with reams of paper and millions of bytes dedicated online to speculation, before Latin singer-actress Jennifer Lopez finally came clean about her pregnancy. It was no big surprise really.
The media became obsessed with keeping a close eye on that ever expanding bulge of Lopez who at first kept denying pregnancy reports, but on the last tour date she, along with her husband Marc Anthony, announced to the world what we knew all along.
This is cause enough to pause and consider just how we got to a point in celebrity culture that such an intensely personal matter like pregnancy can become fodder for such mass public consumption.
It wasn't always like this. In the 1950s the word 'pregnant' could not even be mentioned on TV. But in more recent times not only have Hollywood pregnant celebrities come to accept pregnancies a natural part of life but have also benefited from the advantages it affords them. And in a world obsessed with almost any and every aspect of celebrity life, pregnancy brings with it its own unique set-up of perks.
Some celebs like Sarah Jessica Parker of 'Sex and the City' fame, former 'Friends' star Courtney Cox and in more recent times Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes have gone the cooperative way and organised means to have their pregnancy and baby pictures distributed to the media. Tabloids have had to pay close to $1 million to have those exclusive baby pictures splashed on their front pages.
But many other celebrities still make the paparazzi struggle and sweat to get those exclusive pictures.
Joe Dolce, editor of Star magazine, said: 'We work very hard to get these photographs. Actually, the paparazzi work very hard to get these photographs; we bid very hard to buy them.'
Another major contribution to this baby media frenzy is the many options that clothing fashion provides for expectant mothers to step out publicly. Instead of being homebound, expectant mothers can now actually attend the glamorous parties not looking like fashion anomalies but exemplars of a niche fashion group.
The beautiful Catherine Zeta-Jones managed to wow by not just attending but putting on a full-fledged performance at the 2003 Oscar ceremony. It has only been a decade or so since celebrities have had the confidence to actually believe they can compete in the glamour game even with that ever-expanding bulge.
Celebs with all their trappings of fame always present that aura of aloofness and privilege, which we know we can never attain. And it is only when they mess up that they most look like us. That's why there is always some perverse underlying pleasure in watching someone like Britney Spears go through one embarrassing debacle after another. After all, they are doing it to themselves.
Pregnancy has now become the other connecting point between ordinary folk and celebs. One communal attribute of people is to participate in the societal ritual of looking at, commenting and congratulating others on their pregnancy. So when we look at those celeb baby bumps we are working out that urge to connect on a more human level. Because we understand what they are going through, we feel we know them better.
Some look at this pregnancy craze as a trend. And besides exporting culture through movies, Hollywood also creates, controls and sometimes brings to an end these trends. It won't be long before this craze ends or mutates into something new. Till then, we can look at this baby obsession as one way for us to connect with the celebs. And the celebs will continue coming up with ways to capitalise on this.
LINK:
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/142873.html
