In 1997, the world came to a standstill with Princess Diana’s death. An icon in her own right, there were plenty of rumours surrounding her death. One of these was that Diana was the victim of greedy paparazzi photographers.
Decades later, not much has changed since her passing. Paparazzi are still voracious and dangerous, and celebrities’ lives are still overly surveilled in the name of selling papers and magazines. With the big migration to digital, tabloid entertainment has since more than grown.
In recent interviews, paparazzi have revealed how they can spend a day hunting down starlets and bad boys of Hollywood to capture some juicy images. In turn, this keeps many publications alive. It feeds audiences the celebrity content that they love. But is there really a point to the paparazzi and would they actually survive in SA?
Celebrity culture in SA is perhaps the most docile. With that said, it becomes impossible to capture celebrities as stars do not remain famous for long. You are more likely to come across a picture of a starlet 10 years later poor in a shack, than you are to catch a happy picture of them during a shopping spree in Sandton.
The same likelihood exists that you could catch a taxi to Bree with any of SA’s highest paid soap stars. There is nothing inherently glamorous about celebrity culture in this country and while that makes for TMZ level of trashy entertainment, it also brings with it the burden of destructive behaviours.
The façade that they play into on social media, however, does assist in pressuring (mostly female) stars into buying themselves up on a look that is presentable and attainable. And that is what paparazzi feed on.
There is no greater symbol of wealth, exclusivity and power than a group of people doing whatever it takes to snap a picture of you for the world to see, creating that esteem more people will want to buy into.
One such phenomena can be seen in the power of social media influence where Kendall Jenner was spotted in a green dress of which knock-offs were bought en masse by fans. The dress became popular so quickly it went from a trendy must-have to a mass consumed dress that must be bought only to ridicule it.
With stars such as Rich Mnisi becoming powerhouse designers and a reality TV star such as Dineo Ranaka who is able to bring millions into her home, perhaps what the SA entertainment industry needs is the paparazzi to keep them uber famous and ultra profitable brands.
This could especially be said for TV stars that are not afforded their rightful royalties. In showing how they can be a lucrative brand, the money brought in by their celebrity status could shift the way in which we consume our stars.
After all, with the tweets, crimes and fame our government enjoys it would seem the only governing language they speak in is rands and cents.
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