Celebrity

American Hysteria

W!ZARD Studios

Society & Culture

4.4 • 3.1K Ratings

🗓️ 15 July 2019

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Whether we like to admit it or not, we have celebrities that we follow, and we can watch their dramatics play out on a public stage, their dramatics that remind us of our own. On this episode, we will trace the major events that shaped American fame as we know it, forming our fantastical ideas about celebrities and their personas on and off screen. We’ll explore the anthropology and psychology behind our celebrity celebrity obsession, a process that is actually embedded in our very DNA. We’ll also look at the history of the concept of personality, something that only came to be at the turn of the 19th century, that would shift our focus from what a person does to who a person is. The value of “character” was replaced with the value of “personality,” a philosophical shift has gotten us where we are today, for better and for worse. American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith Produced and edited by Clear Commo Studios Research and cowriting assisted by Riley Smith Show art by Roache Voice Acting by Will Rogers Become a Patron for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly! Follow American Hysteria on social media: Twitter: @AmerHysteria Instagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	On this season we'll be exploring our bizarre beliefs, unfounded fears, and fantastical thinking,
0:14.6	how they shape our psychology and culture, and how much of our past we can find in the present.
0:20.0	I'm your host, Chelsea Weber-Smith, and this is American HISTORY.
0:30.0	Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to Mr. President.
0:45.4	Happy birthday to you.
0:53.1	At the center of our known universe is a star. Look across the slick blackness of rural sky and
1:02.8	see their shapes above. The gods they once symbolized, the celestial bodies that once acted to guide us
1:09.7	where we needed to go. How appropriately our new stars are named, when at any given time they
1:16.5	can take their place too at the center of our universe. When Kristen Stewart cheated on Robert
1:22.3	Pattinson, when she cheated on eternal love itself, she shattered the illusion of Twilight's romance
1:29.2	with Mary director Rupert Sanders. They were photographed by the paparazzi kissing beside what
1:35.5	looks like an orchard, pushed up against a white fence, the ground just parking lot dust at their
1:42.0	feet. Kristen Stewart had to make an apology to the nation, as if she owed us an explanation for
1:47.8	shattering the fantastical world of passion we all want and are so rarely afforded. Quote,
1:53.7	I'm deeply sorry for the hurt and embarrassment I've caused to those close to me and everyone
1:58.4	this has affected. This momentary indiscretion has jeopardized the most important thing in my life,
2:03.6	the person I love and respect the most. Rob, I love him, I love him, I'm so sorry.
2:10.0	This issue had nothing at all to do with us and yet America took it personally. What these
2:16.0	celebrities did, who they were and how they acted all seem to have some kind of impact on our sense
2:22.3	of self. Whether we like to admit it or not, we all have the celebrities we follow and we can watch
2:27.6	their dramatics, their dramatics which are our dramatics, play out on a public stage. But fame,
2:34.2	as we know it, evolved along with cultural changes that began at the turn of the century and which
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