The Fact and the Fiction: Shifting from public movie screens to private cameras

In today's western society, we are constantly consumed with stars and celebrities (mostly actors and actresses) as seen in the large amount of exposure in several media outlets. One of these outlets is television. 
Originally, actors and actresses weren't even given credit in movies in the early 20th century as the publicity revolved around business and politics.  According to research by theorist Daniel Boorstin, it wasn't until the 1920's when half of the media coverage focused on the entertainment industry and fan magazines brought more attention to the private lives of actors and actresses. As a result of the new attention, the film industry (to this day) use popular actors and actresses as a main strategy in film-making and marketing to attract the fanatical public.After the invention of television in the 1950's, there has been more media coverage on stars and celebrities than ever before.

Famous actresses Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn 
backstage at the Academy Awards.

First it began with the movie award ceremonies such as the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes, which praised actors and actresses for their work.
Now, however, as western culture has an ever-growing obsession with stars and celebrities, the public wants to form a closer connection with their idols by joining in their personal lives. In response to this demand, television has dedicated even more exposure by establishing a channel entirely on stars and celebrities known as Channel E! which includes its own news segment on the private lives of celebrities known as E! News and Entertainment Tonight.

Popular entertainment broadcast, E! News.

Popular reality TV series:
Keeping Up with the Kardashians.

Another form of celebrity exposure that has become a trend on television is celebrity reality TV. This documentation-style genre involves private cameras following celebrities around as they live their everyday lives. The TV series, Keeping up with the Kardashians is an example of a popular reality TV show which allows viewers to enter the family's life where they can watch every happy, tear-shedding, awkward, scandalous and heart-warming moments that the family experiences. As a result of the increasing popularity of the series, the Kardashian franchise has branched out with similar series which focus on specific family members such as Khloe and Lamar and Kim and Kourtney take on New York. 
Other celebrity reality TV shows that have followed suit include Joan and Melissa (Joan and Melissa Rivers), The Hills, Jersey Shore, Mel B: It's a Scary World and many others.

In examining this shift from the public to the private sphere, it is clear that society has a huge fascination on stories about individuals--the more exposure the public has on the individual, the larger the fascination. This exposure through TV, in turn, forms a connection between the idolised celebrities and the average home-viewers and fans.