The Cult of Celebrity

Later in his Third Treatise Nietzche had this to say of the artist;

"One certainly does best to separate an artist from his work to the extent of not taking him as seriously as his work. He is in the end only the precondition of his work, the womb, the ground, in come cases the fertilizer and manure on which, our of which, it grows, -and this in most cases something one must forget if one wants to enjoy the work itself."

This through contrast, summarises a vacuous malaise in our modern culture. We seemed to have deified the artist and attributed all the beauty of their creations onto the person themselves.

The actress for example, beautiful as she may be, becomes more important than the characters she plays; the rock singer the epitome of of cool. We imagine neither of them making toast.

It's in this milieu that Paris Hilton becomes inevitable - the empty and wholly irrelevant persona. Yet she serves at least one purpose; to makes us feel better about ourselves.

On the one hand we worship our celebrities. On the other we hate them. Perhaps it's because they disappoint us. You see, because of our boring lives we demand that they're perfect. We live vicariously through them. Yet so often they're exposed as flawed, ugly people just like the rest of us. Utterly ordinary.

Of course, this could be a load of twaddle. Don't take my word for it simply because I've quoted Nietzche. You see, I only let a little bit of me poke out onto the Internet. The rest is either dull, offensive or smelly. I'm probably talking shite.

This notion of celebrity, and the living of an ordinary life in extraordinary circumstances fascinates me. It fascinates me because I think each and every one of us lives a life within this dichotomy. Just fewer people notice it.

Which is why I've decided to try out this 'vlogging' malarkey. For the last 24 hours I've snapped bits and pieces of banality on my cellphone vid cam. Tonight I've spliced it together. So, I offer you a glimpse into the duller bits of my life. I would say enjoy, but that would be pushing it a bit.