Talk:Celebrity/Archives/2018

Recent edit about herd mentality removed
I have removed a relatively large edit about "herd mentality". Wikipedia already has an article about this topic at herd mentality, where additional content would probably be better placed. Also, most of the content was based on low-quality or advocacy sources. If such details should be added, they would need to be verified by independent reliable sources, for health-related claims maybe even WP:MEDRS criteria might be relevant. Just wanted to give a bit of additional explanation for the removal of this major good-faith edit. GermanJoe (talk) 16:31, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

Careers that offer celebrity status

 * I'm dumping the whole section here. I think it's unnecessary to the article and pointless. If anybody wants to resurrect it, I suggest a complete rewrite.Btljs (talk) 23:17, 21 June 2014 (UTC)

Some professional activities in fields such as ones that are commonly associated with celebrity prestige are careers within the sports and entertainment sphere. Having a successful career such as being a professional athlete or an entertainment industry based professionals are careers that many average people can identify with but can only dream about pursuing. Only a very small percentage or a tiny fraction of people can ever make a name for themselves as celebrities in the cultural and entertainment spheres (including music, film, television, radio, theater, modelling, literature etc.) or within the realm of sports.

Careers within the sports and entertainment sphere, such as being an elite professional athlete on a sports team, or an entertainment figure such as a musician that dominates the music charts frequently, an A-list movie actor with a lead role in a big budget blockbuster film, or a television actor with lead roles on prime-time shows, have a strong likelihood to become celebrities. Informal references by the general public and media have used to refer to celebrities as: The stars, sports stars, rock stars, rap stars, supermodels, movie stars, TV stars, radio stars, music stars, superstars, stardom, and media personalities.


 * Business leaders which include successful entrepreneurs, financially successful investors and financiers, and as well as top level CEOs and executives of major corporations that regularly dominate the global business scene and world financial market affairs, top the daily business headlines and coverage of financial markets have a strong likelihood to become celebrities. High-ranking politicians and top level government officials that dominate global political scene and foreign affairs, headline major current events, play a pivotal role in domestic and international politics have a tremendous impact in day-to-day media have a strong likelihood to become celebrities.


 * Prominent socialites and elite aristocrats and royal families, top level professional athletes, top flight entertainment based professionals that include chart-topping musicians and pop singers, television and film actors with lead roles on prominently scheduled television shows and hit box office movies as well as internationally recognized supermodels and models are almost invariably celebrities.


 * Prominent media journalists, pundits on major nationally syndicated television shows, commentators on prominently scheduled television shows, nationally acclaimed media columnists and syndicated columnists, critically acclaimed and best-selling authors and writers, major national newscasters and news analysts, national television reporters and television anchors, national television game show hosts on prominently scheduled game shows, radio personalities on prominently scheduled radio shows, comedians on major headlining comedy shows, reality television personalities on most prominently scheduled reality television shows, daytime television show hosts, and late night television show hosts have a strong likelihood to become celebrities.


 * Individuals that host their own television show (as well as various components of television programs) have a strong likelihood to become a celebrity: Examples include shows such as The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Doctors, The Dr. Oz Show, and Dr. Phil. Cooking shows such as Emeril Live and 30 Minute Meals have spawned celebrity chefs such as Wolfgang Puck, Gordon Ramsay, Rachael Ray, Bobby Flay and Emeril Lagasse who are famed for their culinary aptitude. However fame based on one program may often prove short-lived after a program is discontinued.


 * Individuals (commonly referred as gurus and infotainers) that pass out advice as these specialists play an important role in society, disseminating expert knowledge to those without time or inclination to become the same. Gurus in all areas of life, from fitness to real estate and personal finance hand out advice and offer predictions and advice of authorities have a strong likelihood to become a celebrity. Various examples include personal finance authors and writers such as Robert Kiyosaki, Suze Orman, Jean Chatzky, and Jim Cramer as well as fitness personalities such as Richard Simmons, Jane Fonda, Suzanne Somers, and Tamilee Webb.


 * A few humanitarian and religious leaders such as Mother Teresa and Desmond Tutu have achieved fame because of their charitable work around the world. Various pastors and other religious figures and activists such as Rick Warren, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson campaigned for various social and political causes have achieved celebrity status in mainstream media as well.

Behind the scenes
Actors, musicians, models, directors, producers, comedians, television hosts and other entertainment-industry professionals are some of the highest-earning in America given that the entertainment industry based professional achieves a certain degree of success as a prerequisite. Talent agents, sports agents, publicists, and talent managers of such people get 10 percent of the gross income their successful clients make and these jobs are among the highest paying jobs in the sports and entertainment industries. Though it is a potentially a very lucrative field, depending on whom the agent or talent manager signs on as a client, they are less likely to become celebrities.

While it’s true that the top television and film actors have become movie and television stars, musicians and pop singers that become pop stars, or athletes that become sports stars often become celebrities, the other professionals that play a more peripheral role in the entertainment sphere, such as television, music, and film directors and producers, screenwriters, playwrights, and animators are less likely to attain celebrity status (albeit there are some exceptions, such as directors Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino and animator Walt Disney). Entertainment based occupations that are not as well known in the general public or are simply antiquated (e.g. magicians, photographers, and some visual artists such as painters and potters) relative to the present day mass media industry are less likely to become celebrities (though there are exceptions such as illusionists David Copperfield and Criss Angel, or photographer David LaChapelle).

In other sub-fields within the entertainment industry, there is a similar situation. For instance, in the music industry, the top-selling pop singers have a strong potential to become celebrities, but the behind-the-scenes professionals tend to remain little known to the general public (e.g. dancers, disc jockeys, record producers, and composers); though in recent years, Club DJs such as David Guetta, Skrillex and Deadmau5 or composer David Foster and Danny Elfman have achieved worldwide fame for their respective work in the music industry. High-end fashion and jewelry designers are likely to become celebrities but will not garner the same and equal importance in the entertainment sphere compared to a successful film or television actor or a widely known musician.

A similar phenomenon is also true within the field of professional sports as professional athletes who are directly involved directly with the competition, the physical aspects of scoring and defending, as well as being widely spectated by fans are more than likely to become celebrities. However, other professionals that play a more peripheral role in the field of professional sports (e.g. coaches, general managers, referees, commentators and announcers, sports team owners and executives, sports commissioners) who are more active in the internal aspects of field tend to remain in obscurity and are less likely to achieve celebrity status.

Outside of the sports and entertainment sphere, the top inventors, entrepreneurs and businesspeople, professionals such as doctors, lawyers, and scientists, etc. are unlikely to become celebrities even if they are enormously successful in their field due to the general public and society's disinterest in science and technology, invention, entrepreneurship, business and courtroom law which is not fictional. Maurice Hilleman, an American microbiologist and medical scientist, is credited with saving more lives than any other medical scientist of the 20th century. After Hilleman's death Ralph Nader wrote, "Yet almost no one knew about him, saw him on television, or read about him in newspapers or magazines. His anonymity, in comparison with Madonna, Michael Jackson, Jose Canseco, or an assortment of grade B actors, tells something about our society's and media's concepts of celebrity; much less of the heroic."