The Rise of the Living Room Celebrity
By: Internet Famous
Tags: Influencers, Reality, Kim Kardashian

The 21st century has seen the dramatic transformation of the entertainment industry and celebrity culture. The influence of social media has turned reality TV celebrities into Instagram influencers. The lines between famous and ‘ordinary’ have become increasingly blurred as people can reach audiences of millions from their own living rooms effortlessly. Celebrity culture is no longer driven by talent but instead simply what creates entertainment.

This culture shift, known as the ‘demotic turn’, sees ‘ordinary’ people using online platforms to rapidly transform themselves into ‘internet celebrities’ (Turner, 2006), often with very little effort. Rojek (2001) coined the term ‘Celetoid’, a way of describing ‘DIY celebrities’. Whether we admit it or not, our culture has become obsessed with reality entertainment. Media companies noticed this and now rely on this public interest to sustain their viewership. Throughout the 21st century, the most influential and successful reality shows have been ‘Big Brother’ and ‘Keeping Up With the Kardashians’. Obvious similarities can be drawn surrounding their emphasis on sex and drama. Kim Kardashian initially rose to fame for her sex tape with Ray J, an American rapper and this is arguably what drove the show’s ratings and large audience.

But why are we so interested in these relatively mundane reality celebrities? If we look back at changes in society since the 20th century, there has been a clear, gradual liberalisation of western society and an increased acceptance of casual sex and public discourse regarding sex (Attwood & Smith 2013). With global celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, the relationship between class and sex in the media have weakened as the taboo surrounding sex has almost disappeared (Setiawan, 2020). ‘Television has more power to normalize […] social practices and identities as being more accessible, common and traditional’ (p. 8). Rojeck (2001) calls this ‘second order intimacy’ where audiences feel a closeness to the celebrities through constructed artificially stimulating mass media techniques. For example, with reality shows involving relationship drama, viewers enjoy having a ‘heightened level of participation [from] putting themselves in the place of the contestant’ (Heritage, 2012, para. 5) without the personal emotional risk.

For these celebrities to maintain and strengthen their fan bases, they maintain their performance of celebrity through social media. The most popular platform being Instagram where they can provide ‘backstage access’ (Polendey, 2016, p. 1) to their fans, strengthening their parasocial relationships. This being the one-sided relationship between the media celebrity and their media audience (Horton and Wohl, 1956). Celebrities enhance this relationship through casual messaging, creating a sense of intimacy as audiences (fans) interact with these media characters in a way they feel adds a personal connection. Extra information about their personal lives and personality also makes fans feel as though they understand the celebrity more (Chung and Cho, 2014), again strengthening the parasocial relationship.

Pop culture, ‘in tandem with tabloid culture’ (p. 4) has evolved to reward popularity alone, over talent. The internet seems to have catapulted the same type of celebrities to fame. Reality stars find themselves careers as instagram influencers and homegrown internet celebrities attract millions of fans doing pretty much the same thing. The appeal of reality idols and their lives seems to be a constant across all mediums of media.