The glamorization of banality: are celebrities doomed to fake being natural?

“My favorite go-to snack? Probably pizza at least once a day.” This was one of the answers Bella Hadid gave in an interview for i-D magazine in 2023. Sounds unreal? Coming from a supermodel, watching the awkward difficulty in the choice of words and given the fact that no human being survives on such a diet, it definitely does. Hadid’s case is a demonstration of a contemporary phenomenon: the glamorization of banality. Celebrities are faking spontaneity as a way to keep themselves in the present-day market.

The paradoxical new “fake”

In the last few years, the tendency to criticize any sort of falsehood on the internet has grown. We have begun to (fairly) condemn fake bodies, routines, behaviors and stories, all so easily made up in a virtual space, where people, mainly influential ones, can simply create a character for themselves from scratch. 

   As an illustration of how the digital environment is propitious for “lying” is Cela Lopes’ case, a Brazilian influencer who came up with a rich and petty alter ego in her social media pages. Her ironically amusing videos turned her into a national success and, curiously, made her real version truly wealthy. 

Cela is lucky, she openly admits this is a built-up personality, cause, otherwise, the influencer would be a victim of that “hunt after dishonesty”, which has led celebrities to be so afraid of appearing as “fake” that, now, they are pulling their best efforts to seem as truthful as possible. Nevertheless, this attempt is so desperate that its outcome is absolutely controversial: this “natural” side also ends up being fictitious.

I am just like you!

Forcely interpreting trivial situations to look more “real” is also a symptom of the stars’ necessity to prove they are no different from their fans. In the following video, for example, influencer Livia Nunes is filmed (as if she had no idea this was happening) in a “paparazzi style” in a construction area, talking to the workers around her, analyzing architecture projects and even helping out with the painting.

  Not that Livia could not do things like that (she could, indeed!), but the fact that she filmed it, and, plus, pretends she is not aware, makes it totally artificial. 

 It is a struggle to get closer to the public, and, above all, show them they are not stingy or inaccessible, they are exactly like ordinary people.

A saturation point

   Showing off and talking about trivial situations might also be a sign of an urgent pursuit of fresh new content, which, in today’s scenario, is a major challenge for anyone in the media industry. After all, what haven’t we done already? The digital era and its intense velocity makes us believe we have witnessed every type of music, trend, video, comedy, etc.  The truth is being original, in contemporaneity, is quite arduous, so telling made up banalities is a quick escape from this“creativity congestion”.

Keeping the image clean

One of the worrying aspects of this conjecture is that this “glamorization of banality” may potentially induce us to neglect actual important topics. Talking about commonplace and corny subjects is “easier” than producing content on serious matters, besides being more appealing as well.

In 2018, for instance, Taylor Swift complimented two Democratic candidates in her home state Tennessee, which gained her a number of critics: some said this action was a form of betrayal, others alleged she should focus uniquely on her music, even former president Donald Trump claimed he now liked Swift’s songs “about 25% less”. 

  On the other hand, posting the butter cookies you eat, the new puppy you have just adopted or the outfit you chose to the gym can hardly cause any sort of polemic towards you.

A final answer

Are celebrities doomed to fake being natural? In a world where maintaining attention to yourself requires intense persistence and strategy, maybe yes. Before the apparent inevitability of this circumstance, it is suitable for us, viewers, to recognize this pattern and to acknowledge the necessity of its limits.     

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The article above was edited by Duda Kabzas.

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