Most of you will have caught up with the tale of Clare Werbeloff aka The Chk Chk Boom girl, who appeared on a news camera claiming to have witnessed a shooting in Sydney. The problem (at least in most peoples minds) was that Claire did not see anything. Rather Claire, who has been described by those who know her as someone desperate for fame, simply decided to lie in order to get her mug on TV. Claire has stated while she is sorry for taking attention away from the victim of the shooting, she was only having fun and that she is ‘definetly not camera shy’. For all the details click here
In his book Celebrity
, Chris Rojek notes that there are a number of forms of celebrity. There is the type of celebrity that you can simply be born with such as royalty, or being the child of celebrities eg Suri Cruise. Another type of celebrity is the fame that comes from achievements such as winning a gold medal, or being known because of your acting ability. A third kind of celebrity was possible that was notoriety, that was being known by a large amount of people for doing something wrong or criminal. Most people who became notorious did not desire to become known, but normally had fame thrust upon them by being caught out in a very public way.
In the past the cultural concept of shame ensured that most people did everything they could to avoid becoming famous due to notoriety. However today in the age of the horizontal self, in which fame is equated with a kind of social nirvana, people such as Claire will do anything in order to become famous. Even if it means becoming a public pariah. Whilst thousands have joined online groups on Facebook denouncing Claire, sadly the machinery of the fame industry has already swung into operation. She has already appeared in major TV interviews, has a P.R. agent, has been offered modelling work and the obligatory bikini photo shoot by a men’s mag. Despite how much we may dislike Claire methods, she has achieved her goal, she has become famous.
Martin Scorsese explored the concept of fame by notoriety in his classic 1976 film Taxi Driver. The film is the study of Travis Bickle (played by Robert De Niro) a Vietnam Vet and disturbed loner who seems to be unravelling mentally and socially as the movie progresses. Throughout the movie Travis seems to be heading to a horribly violent end.The movie reaches a crescendo of violence as Travis now having descended into madness, commits a horribly bloody vigilante style killing.
Yet this is where the twist comes in, due to the media coverage of his seemingly heroic actions Travis is now a kind of celebrity. This violent sociopath, has been moved by the culture of fame back into the mainstream. In the final scene of the movie, Travis gets the girl Betsy, an intelligent, attractive political strategist (played by Cybil Shepard), who up to this point did not want a bar of the socially awkward and marginalized loner. The final moments of the film show Travis driving off into the night with Betsy the back of his taxi. Yet just seconds before the film ends, Travis catches a glimpse of his own reflection in the rear view mirror and he recalls away in horror. He has achieved fame and celebrity, yet he cannot face the reality of his still present inner demons. Travis has become a media star, but he is a million miles away from redemption.
And so this is how it is in our superflat world. Our culture chooses to focus on Claire Weberloff”s obvious physical beauty, yet ignores her total lack of morality, her shallowness of character and the staggering ugliness of her actions.
