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When I began researching this article I conducted a mini celebrity survey. These were the top thirty. Or rather the top thirty-two, as the last three got exactly the same number of votes.
1. Nelson Mandela
2. Charlize Theron
3. Miriam Makeba
4. Desmond Tutu
5. Mandoza
6. Danny K
7. Mark Shuttleworth
8. Lucas Radebe
9. Brenda Fassie
10. Francois Pienaar
11. Penny Heyns
12. Arnold Vosloo
13. Colin Moss
14. Mzekezeke
15. Pieter-Dirk Uys
16. Gareth Cliff
17. Graeme Smith
18. Basetsane Khumalo
19. Michael Mol
20. Jacques Kallis
21. Ernie Els
22. Leon Schuster
23. Patricia Lewis
24. FW de Klerk
25. Hugh Masekela
26. Felicia
27. Percy Montgomery
28. Bill Flynn
29. Bob Skinstad
30. Amor Vittone
30. Kerry McGregor
30. Os du Randt.
At the same time Heat magazine was running a survey. But the only names Heat's list seemed to have in common with my list were Danny K and Gareth Cliff. I point this out to emphasise the fact that celebrity is subjective. I frequently found that someone I considered a celebrity was unknown to other people, and vice versa.
The one question many people asked me when asked to vote was "What makes someone a celebrity?"
What makes someone a celebrity?
Dictionary Definition (from yourdictionary.com):
The noun "Celebrity" has 2 senses. 1. celebrity, famous person - a widely known person; "he was a baseball celebrity" 2. fame, celebrity, renown - the state or quality of being widely honored and acclaimed.
Encyclopedia definition (from Wikipedia)
A celebrity is a famous person. The etymological origin of the word is "one who is celebrated". An alternative definition of a celebrity is a person who is famous for being famous (regardless of what first brought them to fame). What it takes to be a celebrity depends on the cultural context and the historical time. The advent of mass media increased the public interest in celebrities, and has even developed into a self-substantiating circuit (the "cult of celebrity" i.e. being famous for being famous and not for having achieved anything else). Some ordinary people volunteer to become known on television (e.g. in reality television shows) for a taste of celebrity, though celebrity from a reality show is usually called "fleeting celebrity" or "15 minutes of fame" (a term coined by Andy Warhol).
Following the concept of celebrities being famous for being famous, a couple of names on the list jump out - Michael Mol, Amor Vittone. Almost on the list was Edith Venter, a prime example of "celebrity". And flashing across our screens and in every magazine on the stand is that other celebrity, Paris Hilton, who must have the best publicist in the business.
Here in South Africa we tend to have very few celebrities. We don't have the tabloid culture of the US and England, and our famous people are by and large able to roam the streets without being photographed or swarmed by groupies. But the times are changing. Already we are making celebrities of our sports heroes, our musicians, our radio djs, our models and, to some extent, our politicians.
A further word about Heat, because this is the first "celebrity" magazine in South Africa (previously we had to rely on You, Huisgenoot and Drum to tell us who was hip, hot and happening): I find it sad that there were very few non-white South Africans on their celebrity list. I don't know whether this reflects on the readership, the publicists and media in this country, or on the magazine itself; I just find it sad.
I also find it sad that there are very few actors attaining celebrity status, and before everyone starts pointing to Charlize and Arnold on my list, I don't feel they really count as South African celebrities - they are US celebrities that come from South Africa. Not to say that they aren't South African, but it is not the South African public that has made them into celebrities.
So, to answer the question, it is my opinion that celebrities are whoever we choose to celebrate.
Do we really need to care?
What do celebrities have to do with us in the real world? Why should we be concerned with them? I feel that particularly in the arts world we should be very concerned with celebrities. Take Minki van der Westhuizen, for example. With her book campaign she has got thousands and thousands of books into schools, a fact all writers should be grateful for!
But it also raises some interesting dilemmas. As I work predominantly in theatre, I have learnt that celebrity is self-perpetuating. If one of my actors is on television, the press will promote the show. If they are "unknown", the show remains unknown. People want to hear about famous people, and so the cycle goes. You magazine is busy with their celebrity survey, which has been very carefully orchestrated. When they were calling for nominations they continually "suggested" names and featured pictures of celebrities on the page. A not so subtle way of leading people to vote for celebrities You has good relationships with.
On a more philosophical note, I believe that our celebrities reflect
the psyche of our country. And sing hallelujah, Lindiwe won Project
Fame. That's right, for those of you who missed it, a black
woman won a television reality show in South Africa. At last we
were unanimously voting for by far the most impressive and astonishing
singer. And yes, she isn't South African, but we are the ones who
made her a celebrity.
And just when we thought we could all be proud, "celebrity" culture embarrassed us all again. Lindiwe, they said, should lose weight. She was offended, and around the country overweight women and lovers of music were offended for her. Did anyone tell Pavarotti he wouldn't make it unless he lost some weight? Do we want all of our children's role models to be physically beautiful people, or are we keen to find some people whose very characters are beautiful?
We have some fabulous role models right at the top of my list. But most of the teenagers I asked had no idea who Pieter-Dirk Uys was (or even Evita Bezuidenhout). Or Miriam Makeba. The "new wave" of celebrities are those in the international mould, the ones that the tabloids can write about. And then there's the dangerous notion that reality television brings us: that everyone can be a celebrity.
Who wants to be a millionaire?
Big Brother, Survivor, Idols, Popstars, Project Fame, The Block, Zing, 15 seconds to fame, Be on Go, the Lux coverstar competition, Win a part on Isidingo or Egoli … Is it any wonder that nowadays we all think we deserve to be famous? No longer do you have to put in the years of hard work and effort; now you can just be "discovered". It's quicker and easier, and it has sponsored prizes! Admittedly some of the singers that enter these shows are talented, and some of them have been through the hard years of effort for little reward. But we suddenly believe that we are all celebrities in waiting. At last year's Popstars auditions in Jo'burg thousands of people were turned away. The judges could see only so many people in their allocated time. So what did the wannabe popstars do? They rioted. They trashed the property of complete strangers. Some of them were arrested.
Because we all want to be famous. We all want to be better than everyone else. And slowly but surely we are moving towards the American chat show culture which says …
… our pain is not real unless it's in the media
TV shows, magazines, radio shows. We all want to display our pain and suffering. We want to be suffering more badly than anyone else. We want public sympathy and acknowledgement.
And this is the ultimate in non-celebrity celebrity. We can all be famous, because we all suffer.
So what is my point exactly?
My point is that as we move into South Africa's "celebrity era", we as the arts community need to be wary. When all our celebrities are presenters, models and just plain rich people, we need to make a noise. If we support South African art and artists, if we petition magazines to write about them as often as they do international art and artists, then they will. If we buy magazines with them on the cover, they will keep getting put on the cover. And when we have a full quota of celebrities, then we will find the diamonds as well as the diamantes.
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Karen Jeynes was first published in English Alive in
high school. She then turned her hand to writing for the theatre
and co-wrote I need. I want. I am, as well as being
the sole author of Laying Blame, sky too big
and her latest play, Everybody Else (is fucking perfect).
She has also written for radio and short film, and her teenage
novel Jacques Attack (co-authored with Nkuli Sibeko)
is due for publication by New Africa Books later this year.
When not writing she works in theatre as a stage manager,
director and producer.
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