Bishop's letters: August 06 +James

CELEBRITY

"Are you famous?" The question came from a seven year old boy at a primary school I was visiting. Admitting that I wasn't, I watched his face drop and interest wane. Oh dear. But perhaps fame is rather like being a Leader - or, for that matter, a Lady. As Margaret Thatcher once remarked, if you have to tell people you are either - you're probably not.

However that child’s reaction made me reflect on what many commentators now call our 'celebrity culture’. Raised on a televisual diet of programmes such as 'Celebrity Love Island’, 'Celebrity Big Brother’ and 'I’m a Celebrity get me out of here!’, young people today crave the apparent glamour and attention that go with 'being famous’. A recent survey suggested that an astonishingly high proportion of school leavers would gladly forego a place at University - or qualification of any kind - in exchange for a moment of 'celebrity’.

That aspiration is being encouraged by revered institutions such as the London Planetarium, which is “being closed down to make way for a different constellation of stars”. In future, visitors will embark on a voyage “around the worlds of fame and celebrity” rather than the planets and galaxies of the universe. As Kirsty Young, the newly appointed presenter of 'Desert Island Discs’ remarked in a recent interview, “In the last few years, celebrity culture has been dominant”.

To her credit, that makes Ms Young doubly determined “to choose guests of worth” for the much-loved radio show. There was a time when people were well-known for their achievements. Then came the so-called 'B list’ of people who were famous simply for being famous. Now we have people who, as Lucy Rock put it in 'The Observer’, “are famous for not being famous at all”. Take Chantelle for example, who is now almost as ubiquitous as Wayne Rooney. Emerging victorious from the 'Celebrity Big Brother house’ to a screaming crowd, she “smoothed down her white satin tutu, flicked back her hair extensions and shouted “I’m living the dream”.

Of course those who crave celebrity don’t stop to consider its downside. Bode Miller, an Olympic skier, once remarked, “Fame is like a poison. I don’t care for it. I used to have a better life when I was a nobody”. And the comedienne, Roseanne Barr readily admits that for ten years after becoming famous she “lost touch with reality”. As the singer Bono puts it, “Celebrity is ridiculous” - and when the tabloids turn against you, it can turn sour very quickly indeed.

On the other hand, this contemporary longing for media attention says something very significant about a basic human need. We all crave affirmation, and many of us lack self-esteem. Celebrity status offers the illusion of importance and deludes us into supposing that we will somehow 'matter’ more if we’re on television or hitting the headlines.

That’s why the message at the heart of the Christian faith, namely the infinite value of each of us to God, is more relevant today than ever. Knowing that you’ve made it doesn’t involve half a page in the 'Daily Mirror’ or even an entry in 'Who’s Who’. It means simply a name in the only document that ultimately counts - the Lamb’s Book of Life.


James Newcome