I. Read and translate the following text.

The lesson for today is: study ‘celebrityology’.

Education is no longer preparing people for the world we live in. True, ancient Greek and Latin have long been pronounced dead and buried.

But do we really need to study, say, philosophy and biology? And, by the way, why learn foreign languages when everyone speaks English? No, the most useful tool today would be a degree in celebrity studies.

Imagine, for instance, not learning about outer space if we truly believed in extraterrestrial life. Well, a good part of modern society believes in a phenomenon called celebrity life. And proof of its existence is mounting daily. In fact, everything suggests it is gradually taking over earlier life-forms like culture and politics.

The question is, how best to prepare for this? How to recognize the importance of, say, Kate Moss being fired as the "face" of three fashion groups or Madonna and her husband, Guy Ritchie, being booed at the premiere of his latest movie? That was last week. Or the news that flashed around the world the week before: Rene Zellweger seeks annulment of her four-month-old marriage!

So, movie and pop stars have always been celebrities but, in the main, they were first recognized in movies and music. Today, it suffices for the public to notice someone doing/behaving well/badly for him/her to acquire celebrity status and, more specifically, for their lives to be considered of general interest. For however long it lasts, they are famous for being famous.

So, how to keep up? Watching television soap operas, reality shows, chat programs and docudramas is essential. Movie going should be supported by surfing the Internet and reading gossip magazines and tabloids. And of course when celebrity news reaches mainstream newspapers, not to turn the page. That's one way not to be excluded from contemporary life.

Yes, by all accounts, celebrity culture is not just today's gossip. It is changing the way the arts are presented: at film festivals, the red carpet counts more than the screen, paparazzi more than movie critics; in theater, the British director Peter Hall recently complained that West End producers now prefer Hollywood stars to homegrown talent. But celebrity is also changing sports, cuisine, fashion, politics, even business.

At first glance, the "people market" is most developed in the United States and Britain, thanks at least in part to their media's growing dependence on publicity agents, image makers and media advisers to provide "news." But, in practice, the cult seems pretty generalized: even in France, where privacy laws discourage scandal-mongering, Paris-Match sells twice as many copies as any national newspaper. So perhaps all this merits closer study.

This month, Paisley University in Scotland organized a three-day conference on celebrity in contemporary culture. "With the advent of television programs and magazines that celebrate and promote celebrity, such as 'I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here,' 'Celebrity Love Island' and Heat magazine, stardom and its influence on society and culture has never been such an important issue," the university said. (By the way, for those who have not yet subscribed, Heat's Web site describes itself as follows: "Heat magazine loves celebrities - but doesn't put them on a pedestal. Sure we love their films, TV shows and CDs but we love them even more when they wear awful dresses to the Oscars or fall over drunk outside the Met Bar.")

Still, if there was any suspicion that the academics visiting Paisley from across Europe and the United States were themselves being trendy, this was discounted by the seriousness of their debates. As Andy Miah, one of the conference's planners, noted, "It is important for academics to engage with such issues from a critical and cultural perspective." And so they did.

Panel discussions illustrated the scope of what one academic called celebrityology. Topics included politics of the body; female pop stars; monarchy as celebrity (Lady Diana could hardly be overlooked); movie, music, television and journalism celebrities; sports heroes and role models; celebrity and the law; and the English soccer star-turned-pop icon David Beckham.

As Kate Moss discovered, the misfortunes of celebrities are also, well, celebrated. Tracey Emin, a British contemporary artist who herself first gained celebrity when she appeared drunk on a live television chat show, pronounced in an opinion column in The Guardian: "Why I hate drugs." And another columnist asked: "Have we had enough of Madonna and Guy Ritchie?" Apparently not.

Still, Moss, Emin and Madonna are easy targets. What is perhaps more surprising is the audience passion - and advanced voyeurism - stirred up by people who appear on television reality shows of the "Big Brother" variety.

Indeed, such is the power of television that tabloids follow these shows, variously portraying participants as angels or monsters - and further ensuring their instant fame.

"What we are seeing is an escalation of celebrity," Philip Drake, another organizer of the Paisley University conference, told London's Independent newspaper. "The creation of 24-hour news coverage and the Internet means there are more places for celebrities to be seen by their public. The process of becoming a celebrity has become quicker. A lot of the recent anxiety around celebrity surrounds reality TV and the idea of making celebrities out of ordinary people." If universities are to remain relevant, degrees in celebrity studies cannot be far away.

(www.washingtonpost.com)

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 874