Are entertainment celebrities good role models or a bad influence? Discuss. Entertainment celebrities are neither good role models nor a bad influence, at least not in entirety. To conclude by the actions of some celebrities that all of them should be generalized into two extremes: good and bad, would be irrational. Every celebrity is a unique individual with his or her own personal characteristics, and final judgment on the integrity of the celebrity in question must be based on personal lifestyle having more emphasis rather than the professional image portrayed by the celebrity.
It is imperative that this differentiation be made as it is the actions of these celebrities off the centre stage that has a larger influence on the public. However, there are exceptions where a celebrity’s profession and the actions required of this profession that has a bad influence on people. Therefore, only after careful contemplation and sensitive weighing of a celebrity’s actions, both in and out of the spotlight, can we make a conclusion whether the celebrity is a good role model or a bad influence. More often than not, a celebrity is both a good role model and a bad influence as well.
The kind of influence an entertainment celebrity wields depends on the personal lifestyle rather than profession. If the celebrity leads a degenerative lifestyle filled with many negative elements, then it is obvious that this celebrity is a bad influence even if his or her alter ego stage promotes healthy lifestyles and moral values. The majority of the public has the ability to discern between fiction and reality. Thus the personal life of a celebrity revealed always catches the attention of the public, especially if it exposes negative values.
Take the exponent of Brit-pop, Britney Spears, who has achieved revered status among her fans as an example. She has always promoted positive values among her fans and openly supports many charities. But her actions are subject to skepticism: are they genuine displays of generosity and altruism or are they mere popularity propaganda? This question arises due to the ambiguous nature of the lifestyle she leads that seems to contradict the very ideals she so fervently protects. With her flamboyant displays of eroticism in her numerous video clips and concerts and the rumours of her indulging in remarital sex, she is definitely a negative influence in many aspects. Although these rumours may be unfounded, the mere existence of these suggestions may lead to many of the fans that idolize her to follow suit. This clearly suggests that not all celebrities are either good role models or a bad influence: they can be both. The profession of a celebrity in focus may also be of a certain influence both good and bad to the public. Although the emphasis is more on the personal lifestyles of the celebrity, it would be unacceptable to exclude the influence of the nature of the celebrity’s profession.
If the celebrities in the course of their work create negative environments in their movies, lyrics or professional image, then they also will induce a negative influence even though these celebrities are not actually bad people; it’s just the nature of their profession. This is made clear by taking the next generation bad boy group Limp Biskut as an example. Their songs openly display explicit lyrics, they promote violence and open indulgence in sex, their video clips are atrocious and offensive and practically everything else they do and say is screaming ‘bad influence’.
However, are they really the embodiment of all that is evil or are their actions required to maintain their image of being rebels that appeals to so many of their fans? However bad an influence Limp Biskut may be, they have been of a good influence too. During the September 11th crisis, this group joined in the appeal of a terror free world and performed for the benefit of the World Trade Center victims. Even the hoodlums of the entertainment industry can be good role models at times. Again, they can be both good and bad at the same time.
Good role models do not always remain good role models and bad influences do not always remain bad influences. Many factors will influence this in due course. One of these factors to consider in determining the good or the bad of a celebrity is his or her past. Although the celebrity may be repentant, the exhumation of a long buried scandal may put the celebrity in the bad influence category even though the celebrity has been leading an exemplary lifestyle since then. Vice versa, the good deeds performed in the past by a celebrity may be erased if the celebrity in question now indulges in a life f vice. In the first case, the public will take the past misdeeds as a definite ‘no follow’ but accept the repentance of the celebrity as an example of being able to learn from previous mistakes. In the second case, the public will focus on the noble acts of the celebrity’s past and at the same time receive the warning that a drastic change of integrity can happen at any time. It is clear in both these cases, that most celebrities cannot be only bad or only good at one time. It is also clear that they also do not stay good or stay bad forever.
Take the Taiwanese actress Vivian Hsu as an example. In her rise to fame, she resorted to exposing her body to gain a foothold in the entertainment industry. But now in her success, she confessed that she is ashamed of her actions in the past and vows to make a clean living through her acting career. Whether it is in the past, present or the future, the actions of the celebrity will continually change the attitude of the public on deciding whether they are to be exemplified or to be shunned.
This discrepancy between good or bad only goes to show that celebrities are neither good nor bad but always somewhere in between, shifting to and fro between the two extremities but invariantly never reaching one. Entertainment celebrities are neither all good role models nor all bad influences. Tying all the loose ends together, we can summarize that all celebrities are not meant to be classified as good or bad. We must not be too judgmental in our branding of these celebrities.
We must accept that they are human beings as well and not symbols of perfection to be followed or standards of repulsion to be reviled. This goes to say that entertainment celebrities cannot be good role models at all times as they do trip and fall sometimes just like we do as well. This emphasizes the point that we should not dwell on the negative influences that celebrities do wield towards us. Rather, we should take all positive values they radiate and instill them into our lives. Only then can the equilibrium between good and bad be shifted slightly to one extreme: good.
