Media’s manipulation in the current society on social conflict and celebrity
Introduction
‘Glory And Gore’ is the name of the song produced in 2014 by New Zealand singer Lorde. In her song she points out fame always has a price and thus one pays for them to become famous. She puts it clear that in most cases celebrities are brought on the spotlight for failures and mistakes they have committed rather than their wins and success. The song was embraced well though some people criticized it which must happen since people are different with all different tastes of the music they love. The song however was used during the Vikings advert which shows that it was popular in most of the media stations and people were familiar with the song. Lorde in her song says that glory cannot happen without people paying for it. The price of glory comes in any form even if it means losing something for one to get fame. This paper will therefore show that the song Glory and Gore did not have many explicit references to a celebrity or the music industry but rather focus on an aspect of social conflicts. It was questioning why our generation is putting through so many media stress and wondering whether it is making us more grounded and less sensitive when the time want us to battle for the things that are hard to accomplish in life.
The song by Lorde outlines the things that take place in our modern society and affect our social lives. The current generation is obsessed by the issue of celebrity where most of the people want to become famous or follow the footsteps of the celebs. The obsession in celebrity has become unhealthy in peoples’ lives since people chose to do anything possible for them to become celebs (The Rose Society, 112). As Lorde puts it glory goes hand in hand with gore indicating that achieving glory comes with various consequences. The media has contributed much in ensuring people admire celebs and wanting to become like them. The news about celebs are usually all over the media and most of the news are negative news about how the celebs are involved in cases of murder and drugs yet people admire those lives passionately. People currently are disconnected with their families as they follow celebs in the social media where they want to remain being associated with them (Collins, 87). People consume most of their time in the social media following celebs and imagining they will live and have lifestyles like those of the celebs. Celebs have paid their prices and ended up becoming famous but people still want to do everything possible and pay the prices too for them to gain fame. Most people view celebs as their role models and often follow their advices, which is misleading at times but people do not mind since they are obsessed by the celebs. People look for the brands celeb have, cars they drive and clothes they put on without knowing that maybe the celebs have been paid to promote those products (Collins, 87). In most cases people end up being mislead by the lifestyles of the celebs and are so obsessed by them such that everybody want to be associated with them and live just like them.
Lorde says that today’s generation focuses more on the media than ever before and wants to follow everything that happens in the social media even if most of the things cannot be affordable. People want to follow the footsteps of the celebs even where celebs go wrong people follow them too. Children learn more about celebs at a tender age, which is not good since they spend most of their time in the internet following the celebs (Cawelti, 60). Celebrity obsession is not good and has consumed most of peoples’ time as they try to follow and emulate the celebs. Most of the things accomplished by celebs cannot be accomplished by the people since most of the time celebs are paid to accomplish those things. People end up following the celebs and advices given to them even without caring whether it is right or not. People are so much into celebs such that they are ready to do anything for them to be like celebs and earn fame as well as money. The celebrity world is full of social crimes such as drugs and unsafe sex which is brought out open by the social media yet people figure out these things to be the right ones (Cawelti, 60). People want to enjoy life since they think the celebs enjoy life in the best ways possible and thus want to be associated with those celebs. Social media discusses celebs especially where they have made mistakes thus making them more popular. People want to make mistakes made by the celebs since they think it is right and want to follow the celebs regardless of whatever happens. The media supports the mistakes made by celebs since they publicize them and ensure celebs are role models to people.
The celeb world if full of terrible crimes such as murder and drugs where celebs do everything to remain famous even doing the impossible. Lorde in her song brings out this clearly since she blames the media for publicizing the private lives of celebs even where the lessons taught to the public are not pleasing. The media has contributed negatively on the society such that celebs are publicized for the bad things they do rather than the good things. Wrong things such as murder and drug abuse are given more attention and make people famous compared to the right things (Bonn, 94). People who have committed crimes become more famous compared to successful people whose deeds are clean and thus can contribute positive things to the society. Successful people are important people in the society since they are useful in promoting development rather than those people who commit crimes and end up becoming famous because of the media (Rubens, 103). Political leaders who are and promote violence in the society are the most famous ones in the current society where people break rules in order to get fame. The media ensures that people who keep on breaking the laws are the most famous and thus spread the spirit of violence among the people. Thus the media is wrong and should promote good values in the society instead of spreading virtues such as crimes that do not unite the people. The media should ensure the masses remain united through fighting crimes and ensuring successful people remain famous so that people can follow their examples. Currently people follow the footsteps of celebs therefore committing more crimes since the current society has endorsed crimes and even vote for leaders who have been involved in crimes (Rubens, 114). The current society has accepted crimes as part of the society and thus people are comfortable with the chaotic society where everybody lives on their own and commit crimes which in turn ensure the people remain famous.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it is right to conclude that celebrity is important in our society but celebrity obsession is not right since people waste much time following lives of celebs. The obsession in celebrity has become unhealthy in peoples’ lives since people chose to do anything possible for them to become celebs. As Lorde puts it glory goes hand in hand with paying a price which celebs pay since their private lives are interfered with and they become exposed to the whole world. Lorde thinks that people should not remain obsessed with celebs and instead do other things that will add value to their lives. Celebs are involved in crimes which people should not be exposed too especially children in the current generation who love spending most of their time in the internet. People should follow what they know is right and avoid influences from other people especially celebs since following ideas from celebs is misleading. People should be careful and value their moral values more than how they value celebs and lifestyles of the celebs. Most celebs have been paid to promote and advertise the expensive cars they live as well as the expensive clothes they put on. Thus people should not compare themselves from the celebs since they cannot live fantasy lives which they cannot afford. People should therefore follow the set laws which are right and cannot be manipulated by the media.
Work cited
Bonn, Scott A. Why We Love Serial Killers: The Curious Appeal of the World's Most Savage Murderers. , 2014. Print.
Cawelti, John G. Mystery, Violence, and Popular Culture: Essays. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2004. Print.
Collins, Suzanne. Gregor the Overlander. , 2003. Internet resource
Rubens, Jim. Oversuccess: Healing the American Obsession with Wealth, Fame, Power, and Perfection. Austin, TX: Greenleaf Book Group Press, 2009. Print.
The Rose Society. Random House, 2015. Print.
