19
Aug

Celebritization of The Royals

Our fascination with the British royals is probably due to the fact that we’ve made them into celebrities. We’ve decorated them in the neon glitz of Cannes and now follow them through the flash-bulb world of the papparazzi. The supermarket is a great place to find them. Their faces drip from the magazines that line the cashier aisles, scenting the air and subduing reality.

I can honestly say that I have yet to purchase one of these magazines, but I have flipped through them; most recently, when I saw an article on Princess Diana. She started me to think about America, Great Britain, the British Monarchy, and all the history between the three.

The rejection of the monarchy by the colonies was one of the guiding principles behind the American Revolution, but back then the fledgling country didn’t have supermarkets with magazine glitz sparkling and mesmerizing those of us waiting in the cashier aisle, our baskets full of assorted brands.

Do you think the American Revolution would have happened at all if the celebritization of the royals existed then? Instead of tea being thrown in the Boston Harbor, would it have been celebrity magazines and photos of the King?

As for me, I don’t think the American Revolution would have happened at all if the royals had been similar to the modern celebrity.

If today’s media existed in the latter half of the eighteenth century, the royals would have prevented a resistance but not with redcoats. Behind their paper battlements, their images would have destroyed any sense of revolution. Their specious smiles and astonished looks would have lulled us into fantasy and escape, forcing us to forget about the taxation without representation.

Of course, their power grows with the new and improved supermarket checkouts. Televisions have invaded, a new weapon in an arsenal ready to allay our senses.

As I returned the magazine to its rack, I thought about the American Revolution, the Boston Tea Party, taxation, King George—all of the Yankee history that I learned in high school but forgot most of.

And then someone else crept into my mind, another celebrity of sorts . . . George Burns.