Weekly Analysis 4-1

Hero or celebrity, when should you use these terms? The answer seems to be unclear; the term hero represents someone of great courage and strength, someone who sacrifices their own safety to save the world or lead a great cause. The term celebrity is synonymous with people of extreme popularity, being widely known throughout the world, being famous. The term celebrity is best associated with stars from the motion picture screen or from the theater, or artists that have sold millions of records. The excerpt, “The Politics of Moviemaking,” (Austerlitz, 2007) speaks of the new CNN, referring to society’s acceptance of movies and documentaries as a celebrity of news and information. The American people previously relied on news stations such as MSNBC, Fox News, and CNN to receive up-to-date information involving the world and its many counterparts, unfortunately people felt they were not getting a clear point of view and began making movies of a political nature to entertain but also inform the public of what it was missing. A few such films highlighted in the article were, Fahrenheit 9/11, by Michael Moore, Elephant, by Gus Van Sant’s and Outfoxed, by Robert Greenwald. (Austerlitz 2007) Each film highlighted very controversial and sensitive topics that certain conservative classes of society did not want addressed, however because of the nature of the films and the wide spread popularity they in their own right have caused celebrity status to be achieved. According to Ray Browne, “Heroes come in different sizes at different stages in a nation’s development. When a nation is young and naïve, heroes stand ten feet tall, but when people are more advanced, more sophisticated and cynical heroes are the same size and even some times dwarf like.” In reading this I believe this to have merit, when the nation was still young in its thinking and development and African American people were fighting for freedom and equal rights pioneers such as Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Rosa Parks fought for what they believed to be change for all people, a better way of life for all. With such radical ideas and great dedication to their causes they are seen as cultural icons and contributors to the myth of the American Dream, where you can have it all if you work hard and abide by the rules. In the beginning I mentioned that sometimes the lines are blurred between celebrity and hero, but is it possible to be both? I would say yes, I believe that in order to reach hero status you must first achieve celebrity status, you must have the popularity to intrigue people in every society realm as well as various cultures, whether the publicity be good or bad society will push you into the arena it sees fit for you. References Austerlitz, S. (2007). The politics of moviemaking: Movies. M. Petracca., & M. Sorapure (Fifth Edition). Common culture: reading and writing about American popular culture (pp.533-543). New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall Browne. R. B. (2005). Heroes with 2000 faces. Myths. R. Browne., & P. Browne. Profiles of popular culture: a reader (pp.16-23). Wisconsin: Popular Press