Name a more iconic duo than celebrities and paparazzi — VALLEY will wait. It’s no secret that the two groups have a constant love/hate relationship as shown in the media. Some days paparazzi are a celebrities best friend and some days they are their worst enemy, but why is their situation always so up and down?
The one thing to understand is that everyone here is just doing their job. One couldn’t survive without the other; meaning celebrities need paparazzi in a way to keep promoting what they’re doing and paparazzi need celebrities in order to keep their independent job photographing high profile individuals. The issue with this dynamic is that it’s not practical.
Paparazzi overexpose celebrities in a way that the public reacts to celebrities to them just doing normal, everyday activities. Following someone around 24/7 can create some tension. Paparazzi have no sense of feelings around their job so when a celebrity is not in the mood for them, getting a rise out of them helps their title for the story they want to sell along with those photographs. The crazier the headline, the more views it will receive meaning there really are no boundaries for them.
In “Framing Britney Spears” by The New York Times, it shows how far the paparazzi and media went in tormenting her. Everyone was painting Britney Spears to be this crazy individual when in reality, the media had mentally tore her down in every way they could, including being able to allow her to lose custody of her kids. During this year, the paparazzi are still as ruthless as they were back then even with a pandemic involved.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, paparazzi found Kendall and Kylie Jenner waiting outside of Prada since they were full capacity. The sisters did not make a scene or fuss, they just were waiting as normal people. Throwing the word “force” in the title makes it sound as if they are angry they didn’t get special treatment when in reality, it was probably just uncomfortable the same picture being taken repeatedly as they’re just minding their business.
The paparazzi are still very invasive even with celebrities that have always been kind to them like the TikTok phenomenon, Addison Rae. In early March, paparazzi found her walking to her car while the news was coming out about her and her former boyfriend Bryce Hall’s breakup. Everything started out friendly as she talked to the guy asking questions until he started asking about rumors between the two. Rae starts crying behind her sunglasses as people are swarming her.
Speaking of invasive, this title had no clickbait necessary as Justin Bieber really confronted the paparazzi about allegedly shooting up Hailey Bieber’s skirt. The next time the Bieber’s were out to dinner, Justin was being extra protective while leaving around the paparazzi as he confronted some because of the last incident they had.
In each of these situations, it is easy to say that the paparazzi are out of line, but the public eye wants to see what famous people are doing and they are the ones who hunt celebrities down to deliver it to us. In certain situations, some paparazzi photographers can be extremely out of line and disrespectful, but most of the time they help create publicity around celebrities. Without paparazzi, there would be no additional press for anyone and they benefit by making money off each other that way.
How do you feel about these paparazzi scenarios this year? Tell us by tagging @VALLEYmag on Instagram and Twitter!
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