They are on the cover of every magazine. They make it into every day’s news headlines. Millions of dollars are made every year from them. Everywhere we look, we see celebrities. Our generation, more so than any other generation from the past, is fascinated by them. We live our lives by watching how other people live theirs. Why is it that we are all so fascinated with celebrities? Why is it that the movie stars and reality T.V. starts have become the people we model our lives after? There are studies out there that say that humans naturally have to know about what other people are doing. It is instinctual for humans to need to know when Angelina Jolie has a baby because we need to know that the race is moving forward and developing. Because any baby made by Jolie and Brad Pitt is obviously an advancement for civilization. Humans need to know the progress of other humans in order to chart their own progress. It is a safety mechanism built in by nature to ensure the progress and survival of the species. Even if that is true, why do we need to know what they wear? Why do we track every single penny they spend? Maybe it has to do with being like them. If you can buy a bag just like the one carried around by Sarah Jessica Parker, then maybe you have a greater chance of becoming the next S.J.P. Or maybe you can make other people believe that you are, in fact, powerful and famous yourself since you can afford that same bag or dress. In a world where appearance has become an integral part of the culture, dressing to suit the role is important. If people think you look successful, then they will treat you like you are successful. But the lives of celebrities aren’t just there for us to compare our own lives to. That would be too depressing because who wants to live a life thinking they can never measure up, or down, to a movie star? Much of the fascination with celebrities comes from the culture’s need to escape from reality. When living in world full of terrifying violence and boring jobs, it’s important to be able to sit back and escape into a world that seems like a complete fantasy. For previous generations, T.V. shows about the good life did the trick. But people today have become numb from an onslaught of those types of shows. People today need something more outrageous to get their attention. And more importantly, they need something that they know can actually happen in real life. They need to know that there is a chance that all those crazy things happening out in the world can happen to them one day. People can escape reality by imagining themselves going to outrageous places or wearing ridiculously expensive clothes. Today’s society needs something to lose itself in, and it seems there is no short supply of celebrities to fill the void. People need to escape, and what is cheaper than getting on the internet and looking up the sordid affairs of a famous person a thousand miles away?