TEST “ART” Form 11

Is it easy to be famous?

Fame brings recognition and prosperity. Crowds of admires, bunches of flowers, pictures and autographs, telephone calls… and a complete lack of privacy. Nowadays the celebrities are followed everywhere by photographers. Clashes between celebrities and paparazzi in pursuit of snatched photography are becoming commonplace and have led to growing backlash from public figures, who are growing increasingly intolerant of intrusive press photographers.

The Princess of Wales used to be prime and permanent target. Hollywood stars, minor actors and television presenters have suffered at the hands of the new breed of “stalker” photographers. These freelance cameramen keep watch outside celebrity homes and venues, pursue their prey on motorcycles and are increasingly willing to risk a confrontation to get a picture.

The actor Tom Cruise, who has called for laws to control the paparazzi, said that he has been chased by the photographers through the tunnel in Paris where the Princess Diana was killed. “You look at the kind of money that is generated for the newspapers and for these paparazzi – that’s why the paparazzi are so persistent”, he said to the CNN correspondent.

The market for pictures of celebrities had been fuelled by technological advances in long-lens photography and video cameras and by growing competitions between newspapers and magazines, increasingly willing to pay for snatched pictures.

Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife Maria Shriver were ambushed by photographers and trapped in their Mercedes-Benz between two cars driven by paparazzi. The actor Alec Baldwin and his wife Kim Basinger were confronted by a photographer as they brought their new-born daughter home from hospital. The list of the celebrities who have suffered harassment by photographers is long.

In the past two years British newspapers become cautious about buying snatched pictures in an attempt to fen off privacy laws and preserve freedom. Most of the worst “offenders”, however, are freelance photographers, whose actions are beyond the newspapers’ direct control.