Good Negative Effects Of Paparazzi On Celebrities’ Lives Research Paper Example

In the entertainment industry, chasing the personal life of high-ranking celebrities has raised many issues regarding invasion of privacy and media rights issues. For as long as there have been famous celebrities, one of penalties of fame that celebrities have had to deal with, either willingly or not, is that their lives are transparent and subject to public scrutiny. Paparazzis constantly pursue celebrities to the point where their privacy is infringed upon. Some of these aggressive photographers are even crossing the line illegally when it comes to this form of invasion.
Also, Paparazzi purposely distort the images of celebrities through their photographs in order to make their articles and reports more exciting. Celebrities have a personal life, and the privacy that comes with it should be respected, just like everyone else. Protecting individual privacy is a fundamental human right, so we must respect the human rights of other people. However, because they are celebrities, we tend to invade their privacy for granted. The general public also has to realize that Paparazzi can cause serious and dangerous consequences for the celebrities and their familial lives.
First, by drawing a relationship between the development of technology and the danger that Paparazzi have, I argue that their methods are increasingly diversified daily through the improved performance of the cameras they use. We should look at both the positive and negative aspects of numerous modern technological advances that have changed our lives because of the development of the camera. However, this is not always good for everyone. Since technological advances have been progressing at such a rapid pace, the Paparazzi have found easier ways to take celebrities’ pictures (Soar, 2007). This paper examines how much this technology represents a negative result to celebrities’ lives.
In comparison to past camera technology, the Paparazzi can take high-quality photos because the camera includes the best super-zoom system on the market where they can use while driving in the car, so the development of the technology makes it easy to collect various celebrities’ photos. According to Science Fact and Science Fiction, the ability for photographs to capture and preserve private moments was enhanced significantly due to the advent of Polaroid cameras in 1927. It was further increased by the development of digital cameras capable of downloading images directly into personal computers in the 1980s. This ensured that naked photos of celebrities would remain an effective way to get attention in all kinds of media channels throughout the twentieth century (Stableford, 2006).
Despite what Paparazzi are able to get from a vehicle, the improved performance of the camera with a higher resolution, video capability and voice control helps them to take pictures of celebrities more easily and clearly. In the past, it was difficult to take pictures from the car, but as camera technology has progressed, Paparazzi can follow celebrities to take their photos just about anywhere. Nothing will stop the technology from advancing, so if celebrities have exposed themselves to the danger of Paparazzi’s activities through improved performance of the camera, the government must act to protect celebrities’ interests.
Second, when celebrities are driving vehicles, they are in fear of their lives because aggressive Paparazzi accelerate to overtake or to draw up alongside them so that photographers can snap shots at crucial moments. Because the Paparazzi change lanes too much and are driving too fast in order to take good photographs of celebrities, this aggressive behavior can easily cause car accidents (Opinion, 2014).
How do the Paparazzi stalk celebrities and how much stress do they feel if they are stalked all the time? Princess Diana was the wife of Prince Charles, the eldest child of Queen Elizabeth II. She was killed in a tragic car accident in a Paris tunnel at the age of 36 due to the Paparazzi’s aggressive behavior. The seven photographers who rode motorcycles at a very high speed were pursuing Princess Diana’s car in order to capture photos of her with her boyfriend. After her death, the police arrested seven Paparazzi, but the police and legal system in Paris knew that these men would never be found guilty for Diana’s death (Allen, 2008). Furthermore, despite their reckless behavior, they did not feel guilty for what had occurred. Through this case, it has been speculated that the excessive greed of the Paparazzi led them to be willing to do anything to get the best photographs possible without any regrets. Paparazzis in the streets look like a band of outlaws who ignore traffic rules and regulations anytime they wish. Furthermore, their activities are always seen as quite dangerous, and this is why regulations of their activities are so vital.
Moreover, Paparazzis act in unethical ways in order to capture the most important and revealing moments by hiring anonymous informants and disguising them. In the case of Princess Diana’s accident, when the fire brigade arrived, they had to push their way through the Paparazzi, who were photographing the car from every angle. The doctor was treating Diana with the lenses less than four and a half feet from her face. Therefore, despite the fact that Diana was battling for her life, the Paparazzi concentrated on photographing her face and body, which were covered in wounds. Furthermore, the Paparazzi are closely connected with various anonymous informants because a well-established series of informants leads to successful photography.
The general public wonders how the Paparazzi know where the celebrities are located. According to Paparazzi, an agency pays people in the airline industry to supply them with daily passenger manifests. However, because most celebrities usually book under a pseudonym when they fly on commercial carriers, this agency has become the expert at decoding such attempts at deception. In this case, the airline shares their customer’s private information with Paparazzis for earning their money. Personal information is collected and distributed in these cases without control (Sumers, 2013).
It does not seem to be such a big issue, but if the Paparazzi are hounding a celebrity who travels abroad with family during their break, they feel a tremendous amount of stress because some famous celebrities do not have any time for themselves with such a tight schedule. As a result, the personal time that they have for traveling is a really important moment, so we must allow them their own personal time.
Under the current law, collecting personal information without the consent of the person is a significant invasion of privacy. However, the general public and photographers do not care about this when it comes to celebrities’ right to privacy as a basic human right. These days, the general public abhors companies that are collecting personal information about them under the guise of better services. The public defines it as an ‘invasion of their privacy’. If the public has not been directly affected by problems that need to be fixed, they do not care about anyone but themselves. This means the public is entirely egocentric, which is very selfish and does absolutely nothing to discipline the Paparazzi, who focus too much on chasing and stalking celebrities. Most interestingly, according to Media Ethic, the public’s interest in knowing what these public figures do in private (an interest, which print gossip serves) should not be dismissed as morally valueless. The public concentrates on their own interests because they do not consider the feelings of other people. Everyone does not like to talk back at all. However, the spublic does not seem to be able to sustain itself without engaging in a lot of gossips as there is an insatiable curiosity by them to know everything. As a result, the Paparazzi thrive on this commercially. As the public does not respect the personal life of celebrities, paparazzi try to dig up the intimate life of celebrities. The paparazzi become more significant due to the need of the general public particularly. The public on one hand safeguards their own privacy but do not understand the same for the celebrities. The public is enthusiastic about getting minute information and news regarding the celebrities, which ultimately leads to the paparazzi going to every extent in order to attain the news from the personal lives of the celebrities. The celebrities although require the attention from the paparazzi in order to get the fame among the people. However, this attention from the paparazzi becomes irritative when it is excessive and goes beyond limits. Therefore, in California, the celebrities asked for the press conferences in which this issue is raised, and excessive attention from the paparazzi is being complained of. The senate leader Charles Calderon in California introduced a bill which required the photographs of the celebrities to be clicked from a distance of 15 feet and that too after requesting that celebrity. That is how, a bubble will be created around the celebrities, and the paparazzi will not be able to reach them without getting closer. Furthermore, another senate Tom Hayden planned to propose another legislation, which was similar to the legislation suggested by Calderon. Hayden suggested that there should be a strict prohibition for the use of the high power lenses. The high power lenses are used by paparazzi to gain the photographs within the private spaces and without being known as well. These lenses help in getting pictures from a distance and with more adequate resolution. Hence, the celebrity’s personal lives can be captured without their knowledge. Consequently, Hayden planned to propose such legislation, which restricts the use of high power lenses (Peres, 1997).
Celebrities are also human beings who require privacy. Everyone in his life possesses some events or information which should be kept within him or his closed ones. Too much of the interference in the lives of celebrities irritates them. Likewise to ordinary people, celebrities would not choose for the privacy being put at stake in order to get fame. Although these celebrities first hire individuals at the beginning of their career who are responsible to publicize them and make them a known personality among the public. Conversely, this does not mean that the celebrities have selected a life without any privacy and will appreciate the paparazzi. On the other hand, the acts of paparazzi have been so problematic that the celebrities seek help from the government. The celebrities approached the government for help regarding the paparazzi and asked for formulation of such legislation, which can be in favor of the celebrities. The celebrities get fed up for the paparazzi actions and demand some crucial steps to be taken by the government which can avert the paparazzi from interfering in the personal lives. The photographs being captured during some public event or on the red carpet are acceptable, but the paparazzi chase the celebrities in order to attain single information related to them with proofs. The basic aim of the paparazzi revolves around the public and to acquire more interesting news and content they interfere in the lives of the celebrities. Consider the example of Britney Spears who sued a publisher for printing the content without her permission. The publisher had got the photograph printed, which illustrated that Spears read their paper, so the why should not the public. The publisher adapted this act to gain the product popularity but since, it was published without acknowledging Spears, therefore, Spears sued the publisher for the content under the consent of invasion of privacy (Cornwell, 2004).
The paparazzi are desperate to acquire the news related to the celebrities. In doing so, they chase the family members too for their objective. In this way, the paparazzi affect not only the celebrity but also the family members. The families of the celebrity who are not associated with the media have to face consequences due to a person in their family who happens to be a celebrity. The family members are being stalked and chase for no reason except to get some photographs or news. Not only this, the paparazzi do not hesitate in chasing the children as well.
Paparazzi harass the children of the celebrities. It has become the common practice for the paparazzi to chase and stalk all the family members of a celebrity in order to get information or news regarding the celebrity. For this purpose, they even chase the children and go beyond limits. Consequently, they harass the children of the celebrities and force them into various activities. Subsequently, the children are affected for no reason, and they are not able to live a normal life because they are always chased or followed up by the stalkers hired by the paparazzi or the paparazzi them. Hence, the children are not able to live an ordinary life because they are always surrounded by such people. Ultimately, the two celebrity Halle Berry and Jennifer Garner call for a law according to which a penalty will be applied to the paparazzi who are involved in harassing the children without the permission of their parents. Moreover, Hollywood couple Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard also has started the campaign against the paparazzi for such acts which put the children in trouble. They said that going out with children to the schools, and there are around 10 men focusing the celebrity and the kid with their lens. In doing so, they are making noises, pushing other children and breaking all the ethical values. Thus, they also requested their celebrity friends to boycott the paparazzi materials, photographs, and magazines. Subsequently, this would be the drawback for them, and they might avert from disturbing the normal life of the celebrities’’ children (CBC News, 2014). In addition, the unwanted interference of the paparazzi makes the celebrities furious, and they can be indulged in violent activities. Likewise, Julia Roberts chased a photographer whom she spotted in taking pictures of her child. Roberts captured the photographer and confronted him on his face as he was clicking the pictures out of her child’s school.
The right photograph clicked at the right time of the right celebrity can earn a photographer a lot of money. Therefore, in order to get paid more, the paparazzi have been gone to the extent where the photographers can do anything to attain a good shot. The paparazzi are not interested in the facts rather they are interested in making money from the photographs from personal lives of the celebrities. Paparazzi are only concerned about the pictures or the information they might receive from the celebrities which could earn them handful money. That is why, the paparazzi cross the limits of ethics and morals. They do not portray the reality or provide the real images to the public. They take photographs and produce their own stories regarding the photos. Consequently, the lives of celebrities are affected because the wrong stories conveyed by the paparazzi develop some misunderstanding among the personal lives of the celebrities. Moreover, in order to be paid more money, the paparazzi prepare the images through the means of technology which are untrue. Hence, the publishers publish then without questioning the authenticity of the content. The paparazzi is paid higher if the photograph has high value in terms of personal details that is why the paparazzi get indulged in keeping eye on each moment of the celebrity. Subsequently, if they get a chance by luck, they take the pictures related to some personal issue or event of the celebrity. Ultimately, the personal thing of the celebrity becomes public, and they are helpless in this regard. The paparazzi can developed story based on complete false claims regarding the photograph which have been taken by them. Hence, for the sake of money, the paparazzi can make the lives of celebrities resemble hell.
The paparazzi get more advantages if the information or the photographs they find are distorting the images of the celebrities among the public. The performers that are the celebrities are not performing when they are out of their character. Therefore, the paparazzi are interested in the celebrities’ lives when they are out of the character. Consequently, they capture such moments and photographs from their personal lives which can ruin their image in public. The celebrities are already worried about the false claims and rumors which spread related to them every now and then, these paparazzi find out about the rumors and consider the rumors which grab more attention from the public. The rumor which is looked forward by the public is selected, and information and photographs are passed on to get printed which further illustrates the rumor. In this way, the life of the celebrity becomes miserable. The paparazzi tries to get photographs through which the celebrity can be considered wrongdoer and his image among the public get damaged. Subsequently, the people commence considering the celebrity a wrong figure and also begin to dislike the celebrity. Thus, in order to make the news and photographs or the article more exciting and captivating among other magazines ad articles, the paparazzi ruins the careers and image of a celebrity (McNair, 2010). Furthermore, the paparazzi are so eager in capturing the pictures that they do not care about the limits. Subsequently, the celebrity might get furious on that paparazzi and in turn the celebrity may commit some fight with the paparazzi. In addition to this, the paparazzi are so desperate in their acts that they capture the moments when a celebrity is getting furious and display it with such terms that the people consider the celebrities to be at fault. Even thought the public begin to consider that the celebrity is being violent and develop a negative image.
The paparazzi upload the content for their own benefit as they receive money from them. For this purpose, they cross the entire limit and interfere in the personal lives of the celebrities. They produce the stuff related to the celebrities whether true or false. They are only concern about the money. Therefore, they just prepare the content which can bring more money to them. Conversely, the effect of this unconcern attitude can be visualized in the public believing all the content blindly. The public do not strive for the verification of the content and blindly follow the information or photographs. For instance, if the paparazzi states about a celebrity that she has been seen with the boyfriend despite being married. So the public will follow the news and believe on the paparazzi and will commence considering that the celebrity is cheating on her husband. Such a situation can cause disaster in the family life of the celebrity.
The paparazzi forget everything while clicking photographs for the public regarding the celebrities. They take pictures, from stories and make the lives of the celebrities really miserable. Therefore, it should be noted that the celebrities are human too, and they need their space out from the paparazzi. Similarly, they do have a personal life which should be respected. Subsequently, the government should take necessary steps in order to avert the growing paparazzi and safeguard the privacy of the celebrities.

Work Cited

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