Fame Fatigue and The Distractions Above It.
How The Comparison of Zendaya’s Aesthetics Highlight Society’s Celebrity Scepticism.
With franchise films being the overbearing majority in theatres for the past five years, June 20th became a special day when the Trailer for Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers was released by MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer). Initially responses were positive and praised the actor Zendaya on her versatility in roles she takes, but this reaction was very brief. Soon after, masses of people wondered what made the actress so special to begin with and where her immense success arose from despite only being in a small number of projects. This questioning led to the comparisons of Zendaya’s beauty to those of “regular women” in the form of a meme that became aggressively popular. The meme, consisting of a picture of the star and lesser known women alongside her as a way to highlight her average-ness and mediocrity in the eyes of the meme’s creator.
This meme garnered many participants, but also earned responses criticising its blatant misogyny and racism with the celebrity being used being various black women and the “McDonald’s Cashier” or “regular woman” (usually an internet star themselves) being a white woman. Many people took notice of these faults in the meme and did not hesitate to speak out on it.
While these criticisms are extremely valid, especially with the evidence backing it up, it seems that there is another layer that is a part of the meme’s development. Starting from the beginning (the beginning being 2020), Covid 19 took the world by storm and caused a shift in how people see celebrity and its value. As many may recall, early in the pandemic and lockdown during a time when people were losing their lives and the lives of others, celebrities took it upon themselves to create a video singing John Lennon’s Imagine in order to console or show regular civilians that they were all in the same boat. When putting it into context that these people were living in large spaces with food and resources still at their disposal, it came off as condescending to the general public. This seemed to be the shift in the idolisation of celebrities. It seemed to dawn on people that they weren’t and aren’t like us despite what they say. Their behaviour and feelings may be the same, them being human and all, but their standings in life drastically set them apart from the average person and can cause them to be out of touch with the realities of others.
This set the tone for the rest of the pandemic with people wondering what made a “celebrity” in the first place? Is it talent? Is it hard work? Is it luck? Is it association? Is it nepotism? Of course it can range from person to person, but one thing became clear, is that there seems to be a layer of elitism within the one percent. As time went by, celebrity events and red carpets became more and more vain and artificial to the public. Events like the MET Gala were criticised for their elitist optics in a time when poverty has become all too apparent and common. Aside from the topic of economics came this year’s MET Gala where the theme was Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty. For those who don’t know, Karl was known for being a raging misogynist and racist who just happened to be a great fashion designer. When addressing his past problematic statements, Tayo Bero’s 2023 article for The Guardian, titled Karl Lagerfeld had odious views. We shouldn’t be putting him on a pedestal states that “The choice to have Lagerfeld front and center at this year’s Met Gala when many of his worst comments happened within very recent memory is a stark reminder of just how little society values the people who are implicated in his bigotry.” For every celebrity that still chose to attend the Gala, it was clear for people that they either did not care about the man’s bigoted ways, agreed with his views, or simply were unaware of them. It was difficult to see them as people with integrity when the lines became so blurred. Again, what makes a celebrity? Why do we put them on such pedestals to begin with and allow them to parade around in designer clothing and push their brands on us like the kings and queens of the world?
The same theory can be put to work with the meme of Zendaya and other celebrity women alike that came after. This is not to say that Zendaya is anything at all like Lagerfield or has no integrity, but it does show that there is a painfully obvious distance in celebrity and the people that are told to appreciate them. There is a huge gap in understanding the purpose of their status. As civilians interacting with the media all day long, tabloids, celebrity news, fan pages and general social media almost forces a message onto us - that this one particular actor or actress is pretty, they’re gorgeous, they’re talented, they’re fashionable, they’re perfection. It almost leaves no room for one’s own opinion and if one is developed it is heavily mocked for being one of a contrarian or a “hater,” but this is not always the case.
Now, with the comparisons made with Zendaya and white women who are “prettier” than herself, it is also crucial to wonder why the creators of these memes refuse to also criticise their male favourites and talents in the same way. If we are going to take a long hard look at how forced celebrities are onto us, then we have to look at them all. The glamour that we create around them and that news outlets and Sexiest Man Alive covers push need to be questioned. Who are these people? And why should we really care what they do or their performances or their films? Zendaya herself is a hard worker who has made smart moves in order to get to where she is, but her work level and those in similar positions don’t necessarily exceed those of us who work in more crucial fields such as doctors, lawyers, nurses, post office workers and the list goes on, and yet their pay and wages exceed all of these professions combined. This should be the highlight of the conversation, not who is prettier to a single man clicking away at his keyboard for meme’s sake. A real questioning - and not one geared by racism and misogyny - will be the only way for us to move forward in dismantling the importance of celebrity and its economically unjust effects.
