Volume 17　あなたは有名になりたい？


Mad about Celebrities

Ann: In America, for example, we are really mad about celebrities. We love them and we wanna read about them and see all their shows and hear about their, how many times they get married, and how many babies they have, and so on. Is this the same, would you say, in the U.K.?

Michael: It is.

Ann: Oh, really? Ha-ha.

Michael: Unfortunately. Yeah, we have the same, kind of almost voyeuristic culture. 

Ann: Yeah.

Michael: Where people want to know every last little detail about the private lives of people who are famous. And it's quite a controversial issue at the moment in the U.K. Recently there's been a lot of fuss about what's called a super injunction. Which means people can go to a court and they can get a judge to make an order which says that newspapers or, nobody anywhere can report a certain story. Because in recent years a lot of the press in the U.K. has become fairly, uh, what's the word for it, um?

Ann: Uh, unprincipled?

Michael: Unprincipled? Very aggressive in the pursuit of stories. They're not so much reporting news as creating news. 

Ann: Now this super injunction in the U.K., it actually, you can do it, right? I mean, you can actually get the courts to . . .

Michael: Yes. You can do it.


Ann: . . . to stop, you know, a story being printed, whereas in the States, very difficult. You know, very difficult to do that and the reason, uh, I think that one of the reasons for this is in the United States there's the big thing about free speech.

Michael: Right.

Ann: Right.

Michael: But celebrity though, I mean, do you wanna be famous, Ann?

Ann: Uh, no, not particularly. I, ha-ha. It's not something I particularly want, have wanted. Do you?

Michael: No. 

Ann: No.

Michael: And as I said, as I said earlier, at one time celebrity was a byproduct of success at a chosen skill. So, for most people, I think it's, their drive is to be good at that skill, to be a good musician, to be a good actor, celebrity just, you know, gets attached to that. Whereas now people, they wanna be celebrities, that's it. It's become a thing unto itself.

Ann: That's right. That's right.

Michael: Which is a bit of a shame, yeah.

Ann: Yeah, which is, kind of, strange goal right? 'Cause to just say, well, "I would like to be famous," rather than, "I would like to be a wonderful pianist," or "I'd like to be a wonderful writer, or a dancer." Instead, it's just "Oh, I wanna be famous, please." Ha-ha, you know, like, "God, let me be famous," right? So it is strange, you're right.

Michael: It is strange.

Ann: You're right. Anyway, so we'll finish here and then please feel free if you would like to say hello or have some question you'd like to ask, please feel free. 

Michael: It's fun to actually have a chance to, to meet the people that we're recording for and that actually means a lot to us, so, uh . . .

Ann: Yes. And thank you for listening to the show.

Michael: Yeah.

Ann: And, uh, we look forward to being with you more.

Michael: OK. Thank you very much. Thank you.