Celebrity

A lovely line in a piece reviewing several books on celebrity.  I always think of Ricky Gervais’ comment of people “living their life like an open wound.”  The quote here reflect more on the audience, which is of course even more essential to the whole project. “Sit still for a couple of hours watching…and you’ll turn into an inveterate voyeur and spend the rest of your days as a restless, tormented spirit wandering through the arid wastelands of other people’s lives.”  The quote actually refers not to one of our more recent celebrity incarnations (the Kardashians loom always in the background) but to the 1991 documentary about Madonna’s world tour.  The attraction and revulsion – pick your poison – are here to stay.