BY STEPHANIE TRENDOCHER, FW Writer

The paparazzi take it to the extreme when it
comes to chronicling the lives of celebrities.
With a diminished private sphere, A-list stars
are always in the public eye and their lives are
highly scrutinized with scandalous stories and
embarrassing footage splashed across tabloid
covers and gossip blogs. Often their privacy is
invaded in ways that puts their lives in danger
and even jeopardizes their careers. Celebrities
become vulnerable at the same time they become
a high profile figure in the entertainment
industry, but many use this media interest and
publicity to boost their image. Sought-after stars
would not receive as much exposure without the
paparazzi and aggressive celebrity reporting. So
where should the paparazzi draw the line? After
all, celebrities are people too.

With highly trafficked gossip websites like
gawker.com and tabloid shows like TMZ, the
demand for celebrity reporters and photographers
has increased dramatically in the past few years.
Tabloids are a goldmine. Getting an exclusive
shot of a celebrity gives a photographer the chance of scoring big dollars, which is why the
paparazzi intrude on the lives of celebrities and
are found lurking in bushes or staking themselves
outside a celebrity’s home for a photo.

But celebs like Paris Hilton and Britney
Spears who leak their whereabouts to the media,
have blurred the distinction of how much right
to privacy a celeb has. Nicole Richie and Paris
Hilton rose to fame following the success of their
reality TV show, The Simple Life, but now blame
the tabloids for constructing negative images of
them. And they aren’t the only unhappy ones.
Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey have claimed
that their reality TV show, Newlyweds, led to the up US Weekly or peruse through the
commentary on perezhilton.com? What do we
get out of it when we look a photo of Mary Kate
Olsen sipping a Starbucks latte? We’re consuming
a celebrity story, a notion that celebrities are real
and in some ways “just like us”. It’s really our
obsession with gossip magazines that heighten
the livelihood of the paparazzi. Celebrities thrive
off of the paparazzi coverage and we demand the
most up to date photos and footage of the stars.
For some stars like Sienna Miller or Lindsay
Lohan, their face is better known then their
talent.

As long as the public keeps buying celeb
magazines and adding traffic to gossip sites, the
paparazzi will continue to document the lives
of celebrities. And as long as the paparazzi are
interested, celebrities will utilize them to draw
attention to themselves. Some A-List stars, like
Leonardo DiCaprio are consistent about their
disinterest with the paparazzi. But for the most
part if celebrities really didn’t want attention they
wouldn’t go to The Ivy. And if we didn’t care
about their photos we just wouldn’t look. failure of their marriage.

The problem is that while celebrities despise
the paparazzi for exploiting their lives, the work
of the paparazzi – photographs of unguarded
celebrity behaviour – is in demand by the public.
Paris Hilton’s DUI received more media attention
that any other news at the time. These candid
celeb photos fuel the tabloid enterprise, generate
huge sums of cash and are circulated worldwide.
If magazines are willing to pay someone
$400,000 for the first photo of Angelina and
Brad’s twins, there are plenty of photographers
willing to violate the law to get this photo. Many
celebrities sue photographers for their aggressive
behaviour but the cases are usually settled,
and the perks for photographers overweigh the
consequences they might endure.

And what about us – the voyeurs that pick up US Weekly or peruse through the
commentary on perezhilton.com? What do we
get out of it when we look a photo of Mary Kate
Olsen sipping a Starbucks latte? We’re consuming
a celebrity story, a notion that celebrities are real
and in some ways “just like us”. It’s really our
obsession with gossip magazines that heighten
the livelihood of the paparazzi. Celebrities thrive
off of the paparazzi coverage and we demand the
most up to date photos and footage of the stars.
For some stars like Sienna Miller or Lindsay
Lohan, their face is better known then their
talent.

As long as the public keeps buying celeb
magazines and adding traffic to gossip sites, the
paparazzi will continue to document the lives
of celebrities. And as long as the paparazzi are
interested, celebrities will utilize them to draw
attention to themselves. Some A-List stars, like
Leonardo DiCaprio are consistent about their
disinterest with the paparazzi. But for the most
part if celebrities really didn’t want attention they
wouldn’t go to The Ivy. And if we didn’t care
about their photos we just wouldn’t look.