The Decline of the Reality Star

Despising the reality TV genre from the first (oh how hard the courtiers and claqueurs worked to get the public to love Survivor!), for many years after when the press referred to some entertainment celebrity as if the general public was expected to recognize their name and I had never heard of them my first thought was always "They're a reality star, aren't they?" and I was usually right.

Now, it would seem, this is less likely to be the case--because of that pop cultural fragmentation that means I might not know who they are for any number of reasons. Film stars, sports stars--they just aren't what they used to be, the media ecosystem that supported stardom in the past different from what we have now, while it may even be that when we consider the recording star we are made oblivious to decline here as well by the Taylor Swift phenomenon. (The real state of popular music in this regard is to be judged not by the status of those who are already megastars, but the chances of newer entrants into the field of becoming them, which show every sign of fast-shrinking.) Now, after we have (in the view of some, at least) seen reality TV play its part in making a President of the United States, the institution of the reality star would appear to be in decline along with all the rest.