15 Minutes of Fame $1.69 AUD
Category: Pop Culture
Commenting on the increasingly fleeting nature of celebrity, in 1968 artist Andy Warhol quipped: “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes”. In a twenty first-century world of reality TV and youtube, it appears Warhol’s prediction has come true.
The changing nature of celebrity over time is an interesting backdrop to today’s short-lived fame. In the Middle Ages, only the monarchy and high aristocracy could claim to have anything like what we would call fame today. But with the absence of mass communication, most people did not even know what the king looked like. The imprint of his head on coins did not need to bear any likeness to reality because representation of power was seen as more important than any recognition in appearance.
