One piece of news that stood out to me is an article titled “Celebrity Culture is Burning” by Amanda Hess of The New York Times. The article offers an intriguing discussion about how celebrity culture is crumbling in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Celebrities get a lot of flack from non-celebrities jealous of the excessive wealth and status that celebrities enjoy. However, this is usually toned down to bearable heights because even we “normal people” recognize that most celebrities got to where they are through talent and hard work. Usually, we even praise them for it. “But,” Hess writes. “The dream of class mobility dissipates when society locks down, the economy stalls, the death count mounts and everyone’s future is frozen inside their own crowded apartment or palatial mansion.” Since the beginning of the pandemic, celebrities have been heavily criticized for complaining about having to stay inside their giant mansions with endless availability of resources and entertainment as well as for not using their excessive wealth to contribute toward preventing the spread of COVID-19.
Gal Gadot et al. received a lot of backlash for a video posted on Instagram that featured herself and over twenty celebrity friends singing a cover of John Lennon’s “Imagine.”
Gadot captioned the video, “We are in this together, we will get through it together. Let’s imagine together. Sing with us ❤️ All love to you, from me and my dear friends.” I believe the video was well-intentioned — meant to lift our spirits in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic — but it was perhaps made in poor taste. Jon Caramanica of the Times writes in an article titled “This ‘Imagine’ Cover is No Heaven” that “The presumption that an empty and profoundly awkward gesture from a passel of celebrities has any meaning whatsoever borders on delusion.” This comes from a culture in which celebrities are “accustomed to receiving accolades for ‘using their platforms’ to ‘raise awareness’” for a cause rather than contributing anything of monetary or practical value as if “the very appearance of a celebrity is a salve, as if a pandemic could be overcome by star power alone” (Hess).
Some celebrities, namely Vanessa Hudgens, have come under fire for minimizing the dangers of the COVID-19. One piece of media that stood out to me is an Instagram Live in which Hudgens said about the virus: “Sounds like a bunch of bullshit, but, like, it’s a virus — I get it. I respect it, but, at the same time, like, even if everybody gets it, like, yeah, people are gonna die. Which is terrible, but, like, inevitable?” This points to the ignorance and lack of empathy that is present on social media as a whole. Since COVID-19 is not known to seriously affect young, otherwise healthy individuals, many people who fit that description are not taking the virus seriously. While they may be safe, elderly and immunocompromised people are at serious risk of infection, this is exacerbated when young people ignore the regulation to stay inside and take proper precautions.
That being said, I think I am also guilty of not taking COVID-19 as seriously as I should. Though I do read news headlines carrying virus updates, a lot of my interaction with information about COVID-19 is through social media memes and posts that make fun of it. I recognize that this comes from a place of privilege; I am fortunate enough to only have to deal with COVID-19 while degrees separated from it by my computer/phone screen, and this is not the case for many people around the world. I have not experienced neither illness nor the horrifying racism against Asian people that sprouted as a result of it. Going forward, as the COVID-19 story no doubt continues to develop, I hope to become a consumer of more traditional news concerning the virus, although I cannot say that I will not laugh at some of the memes. (Sorry to the Class of 2020 though… 🥺)
(Featured image courtesy of The New York Times)
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