About this Blog

"In the future everybody will be world-famous for 15 minutes." So said the bleached-out, late lamented artist Andy Warhol. Having lived and worked in New York City, Warhol came to fully grasp the hold celebrity has on us. In this very famous sentence, he meant to point out that in a culture fixated on fame, many people will suddenly flash brightly onto the public screen, then--poof--will just as quickly disappear from public view--like shooting stars. Other individuals derive their celebrity from one stellar accomplishment (one hit song, one iconic role, etc.) that they never again match.

This blog is devoted to the one part of our celebrity culture that no one has written much about: temporary/one-shot celebrities.

The pace of modern life has quickened, and now we hear people speaking of someone's 15 seconds of fame. These "celebrities with a lower-case c" who will appear in this blog sometimes come to us from the world of entertainment, sometimes from the world of news. All are fascinating.

The need of our communications media for a continual stream of new material assures that we will have no end of colorful people who go quickly, where celebrity is concerned, from zero to hero (or villain) and back to zero. Now you see 'em, now you don't. What a crazy world, eh?

Temporary celebrities coming from the world of entertainment include one-hit recording artists; TV and movie icons who, although they might have had a great many accomplishments in their career, are remembered for one big role; standouts of reality TV; sports figures remembered for one remarkable accomplishment; and people whose celebrity came from one big role in a commercial or print ad.

News-based temporary celebrities come in many forms: mass/serial killers, other murderers of special note, sex-crime offenders, disgraced figures of government/military/business/media/religion, spies/traitors, hoaxers, femmes/hommes fatale, heroes, whistle blowers, inventors/innovators, and victims.

Celebrity Blogsburg will consider each category in turn.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Victim Nicholas Heath

No, this is not the Nicholas Heath who was England's Lord Chancellor in the 1500s and was for a time a victim of his own politics, but third-grader Nicholas Heath of King William County, VA.

Young Mr. Heath was suspended from school in 2004 and threatened with having to attend disciplinary classes for a year after a butter knife was found in his lunch along with his peanut and butter sandwich. The offending butter knife was mistakenly left there by his mom.

School officials were enforcing a new zero-tolerance policy as regards dangerous weapons, but most onlookers thought the school administrators were using no more judgment than a goat in coming down so hard on a small boy who clearly meant no harm.

Officials soon bowed to pressure and rescinded young Nicholas' suspension. No lasting harm was done, except perhaps to the reputation of school officials everywhere.

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