Think about the many one hit wonders, reality stars and viral videos you have seen in your lifetime. How many of those who at one time were everywhere have you already forgotten about?
Fame is not a new invention. Throughout history storytellers and artists have depicted the lives of leaders, beauties, and heroes and made them immortal. There is a reason why Viking kings prided themselves on having poets in their courts. What has changed in recent years is that the opportunity for fame is almost omnipresent.
To become famous in the past, you had to be a leader, an athlete, a singer, a musician, an actor, a writer, a striking beauty. You had to stand out, but you also needed to be seen by the right people at the right time. The doors to success were guarded by people like editors, theatre managers, producers, coaches and team managers.
Reality shows were a first step towards allowing ordinary people to achieve sudden fame. The genre can be traced back to the 1960s, but became ubiquitous from the late 1980s on. Reality TV meant that people could be plucked from obscurity, despite not having any particular talent, and broadcast into the homes of millions. Popular or notorious reality stars could earn big bucks and enjoy the attention of being C-list celebrities. The transition from household name back to complete unknown was often sudden. As a new season of the show rolled across screens, last year's contestants were quickly forgotten.
Today anyone can find an audience using the internet. We can record and release songs, publish writing, demonstrate acting skills, direct and produce movies, show off our athletic abilities, our beauty, all at the click of a few buttons. We can steadily grow a following or become an overnight sensation through a viral video. There are people who have become world famous simply for the way they stumbled and fell. A person in a viral video may not become a household name, but people all over the world may recognise the face.
People can be adored by thousands, even millions, without ever being on TV, in films, or on the radio. Some people gain fame and high income through platforms like Tik Tok and YouTube. There are new categories of superstars that didn’t exist before - influencers and gamers for example.
We are bombarded by entertainment all the time. We don't go anywhere without our phones. If we have a quiet moment we fill it with sound and images. Through the internet we can fill every waking moment. We design our own entertainment bubbles, which are different from the bubbles of people around us. We can interact, write our own blogs, make our own clips, sing our own songs, and make our own claim to fame. There are many pathways to instant fame but is fleeting fame worth pursuing?