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  1. Introduction
    1. Hypothesis
      1. Today's society is infatuated with the Glorification of the Self. We freely give up our own privacy in exchange for wanting other people to see how great we are. Social networking sites demonstrate how “popular” we are, while video sharing sites let the whole world see into our private lives.
      2. Our hypothesis is that sites such as this would not have evolved if not for the glorification of self-made stars through “reality TV”. In turn, people would not want to be stars if not for the glorification of movie stars and their status as role models. We have always wanted to be just like the stars, and previously we could only do this by buying what they buy. Now we finally have the technology to allow us to act like the stars that we have always admired.
    2. Themes – the ideas that flow through the entire paper
      1. Social construction of reality (SCoR)
      2. Image manipulation, with respect to stars and everyday people
      3. Continuous need to prove our self-esteem
  2. Movie stars as role models
    1. The glamor of movie stars
    2. How real are their public personas? How much is fabricated for the benefit of selling?
      1. Homosexual sex symbols
  3. Reality TV
    1. Summary: This allows “regular people” to act like movie stars on TV; 15 min of fame
    2. American Bandstand
      1. Is this the first “reality TV”? Are there others?
    3. Real World
      1. Isn't this the beginning of what we call “reality TV”?
    4. Girls Gone Wild
      1. Normalization of being crazy without consequence
    5. Jackass
      1. People acting like idiots, just for exposure
    6. The Simple Life
      1. Paris Hilton as a role model
    7. Summary
      1. How real is reality TV really?
        1. Editors decide characters' roles (ScoR), a la Real World
        2. Scripts, a la Simple Life
  4. Game shows / Talent shows / Popularity contests
    1. Early shows
      1. Gong show
    2. Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
      1. Prime-time game show for the next millennium
    3. Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?
      1. Spawned shows like The Bachelor; misrepresentation of Rockwell
    4. Survivor
      1. Archetype of team competition / voting people off / popularity
    5. American Idol
      1. Archetype of directly competing with one another / talent show
      2. Having no talent as valuable as being talented: Hung
  5. Web 2.0
    1. Summary: This allows even more “regular people” to act like movie stars, through their presence online
    2. hotornot
      1. Upload your own image to prove you're hot and raise self-esteem
      2. Upload others (bad) images to prove you're hotter than them
    3. MySpace / Facebook
      1. Demonstrate popularity through # of friends
      2. Forming groups (esp Facebook groups) with others of like interests
      3. Facebook feeds – always knowing what others are doing
    4. Blogging
      1. Demonstrate popularity through # of reads
      2. Publicize details of your personal life through writing
      3. Videoblogs tie in with youtube
    5. youtube
      1. Publicize details of your personal life through video
      2. Serial TV shows
      3. lonelygirl15
    6. cheap video devices (cameras everywhere)
  6. “Surreal” TV
    1. Summary: Now trying to humanize and make more accessible people who were previously (or still are) our role models. Again, how real is this?
    2. The Osbournes
      1. See stars in their daily lives; The Newlyweds, etc.
    3. The Apprentice
      1. Really a talent show, but it shows famous people in their “real life”
    4. Surreal Life
      1. Washed up stars
  7. Consequences (perhaps this should be mixed in with the rest of the paper?)
    1. Loss of privacy
      1. Can this be used by Big Brother?
      2. As loss of privacy is normalized, are we then OK with more cameras everywhere?
      3. Civil liberty concerns
    2. Punishments of law-breaking by stars vs. normal people
      1. What happens when we think we can act like these stars, and we break the rules?
      2. Underage drinking / clubbing by the rich vs you & me
      3. Pictures on myspace – job interviews, getting fired?
    3. Impression management
      1. Do we perceive people how they really are, or is it just a big hoax?
    4. A large group of acquaintances rather then a small group of core friends
      1. Does Myspace / facebook make us feel more connected than we actually are?
    5. Some group of friends vs no friends at all
      1. Loners, esp. high school, can form relationships easier
      2. BUT are these relationships negative and self-reinforcing? See: Virginia Tech shooting
  8. Why do we act like this?
    1. Symbolic interaction perspective
    2. Functionalist perspective
    3. Conflict perspective
  9. Conclusion
    1. What does the future hold?