Singers, Athletes, and Thinkers as Confirmational and Aspirational Archetypes
You can read the introductory piece to this series here
The Western world loves celebrities. Why, though, do we love them? Why do people spend so much of their precious time following celebrities who they are unlikely to ever meet? What benefits does celebrity worship offer? What human needs does following the lives of celebrities meet? Do we love them for the people they are, or do we love them instead for what they represent? At what point does admiration of the successful cross into self-indulgence?
These questions have shaped the way I have observed elements of the world and American culture for years. However, until recently they turned up no answers worth writing about or otherwise expressing. There are easy surface level responses to all the above, but simple answers lack the depth necessary to describe this phenomenon. We could answer the celebrity love question by saying, “celebrities do things that make people feel good, and our love for them is an expression of gratitude.” That might be an answer, but it is not the answer, nor does it help us in beginning to break down all the other questions.
As you will see, I put the word love in italics in the above context. I do this because the love of celebrities is rarely love in any true sense. We will examine this in more detail below, but it is worth addressing the italics’ intent here. I will now drop the italics having addressed their purpose.
To consider the above questions and begin to answer them to the extent that they can be answered, I find it best to use examples including modern or recent celebrities and will tend toward the most famous available to make the discussion relatable and accessible to as many as possible. It is also worth noting that throughout this piece and subsequent articles, the word celebrity will be used with significant breadth given to the definition I grant it and the context within which it is discussed herein. Celebrity has grown to encompass far more than Hollywood. With athletes, social media influencers, singers, and the occasional public intellectual now being viewed as stars, the definition deserves the breadth I will allow.
With the above questions outlined and an important definition acknowledged, let us begin to look at celebrity and the West’s obsession with it by considering how several celebrities, past and present, are seen symbolically and what their fans gain by this observation.
The initial celebrities put forth are Lizzo, Adele, Michael Jordan, and Albert Einstein. An eclectic assortment, no doubt, but one that will make sense given the aspirational and confirmational celebrity archetype spectrum referenced in the introductory article. We will now begin by mentioning the followings of both Lizzo and Adele, then jumping to the world of academia by way of athletics. It is important to fortify this aspirational-confirmational celebrity spectrum with relevant macro examples before delving into micro scenarios involving these two talented singers.
Does the average fan of a star singer like Lizzo love the music she makes and therefore love her as the creator of this music? Alternatively, is it her appearance and public persona that helps to make her and her music beloved? What happens when a celebrity changes their persona or appearance? Why did so many fans of Adele (assuming Twitter users are A) real people and B) real fans) become so upset when she revealed her hard-earned weight loss displayed in recent years? Why do supposed fans defend and attack Lizzo and Adele for their personal behavior and lifestyles when their actions cannot be proven to be intentionally harmful by the disinterested observer?
These questions will begin to answer themselves as we expound upon the concept of a celebrity archetype spectrum using the examples of Michael Jordan and Albert Einstein.
Athletics has always been an ideal domain in which to observe aspirational archetypes. Young people, in particular, have countless examples of world class athletes whom they can look up to the world over. From soccer stars to football players, there is no shortage of greats one can watch and seek to emulate. One of most prominent in recent memory has been Michael Jordan. Jordan, even today, represents an ideal example of an aspirational celebrity archetype.
Despite being retired for nearly two decades as of this writing, Michael Jordan represents to millions the ultimate in the competitive spirit. In the 1990s his likeness and name graced jerseys, posters, fast food restaurant marketing materials, and more. There was no area in American culture where Jordan’s impact went unnoticed. His quantifiable athletic success makes his enduring position as an aspirational archetype easier to understand than star musicians like Lizzo and Adele, but the cause of his appeal runs deeper than championship rings and iconic dunks. We can understand this by recalling the narrative surrounding Jordan, both before and after he became a star.
Though Jordan would become a legendary athlete remembered for his success, his amateur sporting years began in a far less impressive but more relatable fashion for many. Reminders of Jordan having been cut by high school basketball team only to use the embarrassment to further hone his skill have been a constant throughout his time in the public eye. Jordan’s early professional struggles and eventual loss against the aggressive Pistons in 1990’s Eastern Conference Finals saw the future greatest player turn to the gym in the off season to bulk up and prepare to outmatch the Pistons’ aggression that following season, which he succeeding in doing.
That the big wins never came without struggle help to make Jordan the most relatable aspirational archetype imaginable. One can strive to be Michael Jordan and benefit from the attempted (and incomplete) emulation without needing to be born with remarkable athletic gifts. Jordan’s humbling experiences have long served as reminders to athletes the world over that embarrassment and pain today can fuel tomorrow’s triumphs if one seeks to overcome them. Jordan’s life narrative of the challenged but triumphant hero is archetypal yet real. His life includes features that are relatable and non-public relations concocted. There is something innate about our perception and admiration of him.
The aspirational nature of Jordan worship provides utility. A young athlete can look up to Michael Jordan and say to themselves with the overcoming of each stumble experienced that they too can achieve the greatness toward which he aspired and obtained if they work to move froward. Even though all but a handful over time can achieve Jordan-level success, by striving toward it countless others can be aided in their quest toward self-discovery or self-realization. Jordan’s struggles can also provide a confirming element to his celebrity, and while this is important, this element is secondary to his aspirational position as a celebrity archetype. There are others who we look toward for confirmation.
One particularly famous example of a confirmational archetype is another man whose success can only be dreamed of by most others. This man is theoretical physicist Albert Einstein. Einstein is an interesting yet prominent case of a confirmational celebrity archetype. Despite his success and natural intelligence, his sense of humor and unkempt appearance have lent his celebrity a confirmational air.
How can individuals who lack the IQ or creativity to strive toward a Wunderjahr like Einstein’s see anything confirming in his celebrity? Why do parents have their children watch Baby Einstein videos? Why does Einstein’s visage continue to grace science classroom walls the way MJ’s used to feature prominently in school gyms? How did the ridiculous rumor that Einstein was an awful math student arise and give credence to math-hating students’ belief that they too could be geniuses despite repeatedly earning poor grades? I ask not these questions to use them as a tool to understand how celebrity archetypes appear to take shape.
I posit here that celebrities' archetypal positions are based on the realistic attainability of their achievements. Jordan’s aspirational position was earned by his repeated perseverance in the face of failure and the ability to triumph. When we fail in sport, or in life, Jordan represents a symbol to look up to when seeking inspiration to continue toward an attempt at achieving greatness.
Einstein on the other hand has become a confirmational archetype to turn to during moments of intellectual failure. Einstein’s intellectual achievements and the path he took toward them are far less understandable than Jordan’s, which has allowed for a malleability with which his archetype has come to be perceived. One can look at Jordan and say, “I can work harder after losing this game to come back better.” One can look at Einstein and say, “That math exam I did not study for went poorly, but just like Einstein maybe math isn’t my strong suit." Or perhaps, "I have a simple job, but Einstein was a mere patent clerk when he did his greatest work. Who knows what I might achieve?" Our perception of celebrities goes beyond how they are presented to us and can defy the realities of their lives.
Celebrities in other arenas like film, music (which we will now discuss), art, and beyond also tend to fall toward one side or the other of this aspirational-confirmational celebrity archetype spectrum. While public relations efforts and media portrayals can skew perceptions, observers will eventually see celebrities for the archetypes they are meant to be used as. They will also grow upset when celebrities behave opposite to their perceived personalities. For example, if Michael Jordan suddenly became a whiny quitter, even deep into his retirement, there would be public shock, but onlookers would return to viewing his formed archetype as his still present self. If Einstein’s math abilities became widely reputed, people might shrug but his perception as a confirmational archetype is too solidified to morph.
As noted earlier, the celebrity worship surrounding Adele has provided us with forceful examples of how some people will initially react when their archetypal perceptions are challenged when they are not yet comfortably solidified. When Adele, for example, unveiled her remarkable weight loss there were public cheers for her hard work, but others were distraught. Why, one might wonder, would anyone be upset by a talented singer attempting to become healthier? This is due to Adele’s position as a confirmational archetype.
With her success and lack of public discomfort regarding her weight, Adele had served for years as a representation to the world that someone with her build could be publicly accepted as beautiful and not in need of change. By acknowledging Adele’s beauty and talent, one was acknowledging the beauty and success of others who might be overweight. Like young people championing the wealth and success of digital creators and money obsessed rappers, fans of Adele and her appearance could feel confirmed in their own success without having to remotely match it with their own. Seeing themselves in Adele provided confirmation and a way to take part in her musical success. Then, her weight loss came, and the reaction was explosive in some quarters.
The UK tabloids and publications across the world ran pieces both cheering and questioning her new appearance and whether it was even healthy for Adele to work out so much. Twitter was ablaze with upset “fans”. If Adele were an aspirational archetype the reaction would have been different, but too many had found confirmation in themselves by looking up to her. The appearance change was a statement to them that they were not in fact good enough as her past looks seemed to suggest. It is worth noting that Adele was not a vocal part of the body positivity movement in the sense that shapewear maven and star singer Lizzo is. Adele was a natural confirmational fit with enormous talent and needed no PR campaign to be perceived as such, though her albums and career have undoubtedly received record label promotion.
Lizzo, on the other hand, has gained recognition as a different form of confirmational celebrity archetype. While also talented, her off-stage persona has become popular too. Unlike Adele, though, Lizzo appears to have no plans to become a fitness guru. No, Richard Simmons' long desired replacement does not appear to be waiting in the wings in Lizzo's person. Instead, Lizzo has embraced her weight and even sells clothing suited toward women of her size. Indeed, her Instagram handle is the hilarious @Lizzobeeating. Lizzo has become a cudgel used in American culture wars and though this is likely not her intent it is natural given the times in which we live with hyper partisan media looking for weapons with which to wage political fights.
I will make no predictions about Lizzo’s future, but the love she receives outside of her musical output is based largely on the same stuff that made Adele a confirmational icon for millions. Given the reaction to Adele’s weight loss, we can imagine the reaction that might take place should she ever decide to change her appearance. People do not like their archetypal impressions being challenged and a change rarely removes the past perception or utility of the celebrity archetype. Archetypes are natural and sticky things, and these examples provide just a brief opening in the window toward understanding this concept, which we will continue to explore.
Celebrity as a concept is archetypal. The lack of proximity to celebrities and the aura of glamour that surrounds them leads to natural perceptions being formed. The average person does not know any of the celebrities toward whom they look up, but they serve as relatable or understandable symbols that have utility in the perceivers’ self-discovery. The distance of the celebrity allows for the symbolic perception to form and remain unadulterated by human realities experienced up close. An aspirational celebrity like Michael Jordan can serve as a vision of our potential future self and the confirmational like Lizzo can serve as a mirror that allows us to take comfort in our present position.
Both confirmational and aspirational celebrity archetypes are formed without conscious thought. Despite the clarity with which we may believe we see the world, we view them even more so than other things through a glass darkly. When we smile at the success of celebrities, we are smiling at the present state or future success of ourselves. When we defend celebrities, we defend those most vulnerable or aspirational aspects of our understood and non-understood selves. These stars, as we call them, are not radiating light but symbols shining back the reflections of those aspects of ourselves that we cast upon them.
Celebrities on the screen, sports courts and fields, the radio, and beyond are just a brief set of those aspirational and confirmational archetypes through which we as humans find utility in our striving toward self-realization. As we will discuss going forward, there are other useful stars in the human firmament to whom we can look up at school, at home, in political campaigns and beyond. We will also be able to consider attempts to warp our archetypal perceptions through public relations campaigns, political engineering, and more, and how those attempts do and do not work.
Stay tuned for future installations of this series.
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