“But what about the children?”
Well, children sell big these days, according to this LA Times story. Magazines, tabloids and bloggers are putting more kids on their fronts, whether it’s Life & Style magazine highlighting the latest “neglect” of Britney Spears’ children or — wait for it — the Forbes (Forbes?!?) Web site ranking “Hollywood’s Most Influential Infants.”
Once upon a time, respected publications went after the children of celebrities only at great risk to their reputations. Voyeurism had its limits, or so we liked to think. If children wound up in the headlines, they actually needed to have done something or, most famously with the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, something had to have happened to them.
No more. The market rules, and children will be sacrificed for the bottom line, with the certain knowledge that we’ll watch and buy anything now. I’m just waiting for someone to argue that if Brad and Angelina or other celeb parents didn’t want their kids in the spotlight, they shouldn’t have had children in the first place.
I have to wonder how much certain celebrities have brought this on themselves. There are actually some big stars and personalities who don’t regularly appear in the tabloids and personality mags, who maintain some sort of decorous private life. They’re the “dogs that don’t bark,” to quote Sherlock Holmes. Do most of the examples of celebrities who are perennial tabloid fodder those who have sought the spotlight and now must keep getting that addictive charge–even for bad behavior, since bad attention is better than none–and thus make their whole family fair game to the amoral gossip press? Just askin’.
Comment by Alex — January 2, 2008 @ 7:47 pm |
It’s a fair question, and a fair point. Since I don’t religiously — or irreligiously — follow the tabloid press, I haven’t kept score on which kids they seem to target. But if that correlation holds true, then I’d say that’s the third party complicit in this trend: the periodicals, the parents, and, of course, the readers. I take it as another sign of cultural hypocrisy when it comes to children.
Comment by Jim — January 2, 2008 @ 11:58 pm |