Fame, fortune and fallacy
**Since August I guarantee that if you’ve found yourself trawling through your Facebook news feed at around eight o’clock on a weekend, it’s suddenly exploding with statuses such as ‘What does Tulisa think she’s wearing?’ or ‘Dermot… I would’, usually followed by some colourful words about the latest ‘wildcard’ contestant, Rylan Clark. I’m talking, of course, about that juggernaut of reality TV, The X Factor. That time when Saturday night television wasn’t crammed with crooning hopefuls looking for that ‘one last chance’ now seems a distant memory. **
Yes, you may have guessed, I can’t stand The X Factor any more. I’d be a hypocrite to claim I’ve never liked or watched it before, but no more. Why? Repetition and an obsession with a distorted notion of celebrity.
Let’s take the infamous Rylan Clark. I haven’t even watched the show and I know of him; the British press has skyrocketed him to fame. Like Chico, Jedward, Cool air and Wagner before him, Rylan’s glamorous, over-the-top productions are compensating for his inability to sing well.
This all comes down to personal opinion but we can see a pattern developing here: eccentric individual, lacking in talent becomes the centre of some over-the-top media controversy and so begins a gossip-fest over the contestants’ sordid night-time antics.
You’d think the public would be bored of this now. They’re not. The X Factor has become a complete farce, a pantomime. The same stagnant shows reappear yearly as audiences are made to boo off contestants they love to hate and cheer on those they love, only for those ‘stars’ to disappear soon after (Steve Brookstein, anyone? Exactly).
The concepts of fame and the celebrity have reformed based on the exploitation of contestants’ manufactured personalities. Strutting across a stage surrounded by more talented backing artists does not warrant the exposure the media seems to offer these fifteen minutes of fame figures. Tragically, the Sun newspaper devotes its online TV section to just the following: ‘Soaps, Strictly Come Dancing, The X Factor.’ So I’m asking: Where has the bloody talent and diversity gone?
Talent is now masked by modern celebrities promoting their lifestyles and own ‘brand’. These ‘celebrities’ should stick to the talent they are famous for, if talented at all.
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