People Who Need People

Every few weeks, Christopher's mom brings us a huge pile of the most recent issues of People magazine. I always spend a couple of hours poring through them in an orgy of celeb fluff. It's so trashy, yet so appealing. Glancing through the pages, you could easily conclude that the average People reader is a fat 50 year old woman who obsesses over weddings and pregnancy and food. A typical spread has an ad for some decadent sweet foodstuff on one side, celebrity diet tips on the other. Even scarier is the mag's bloated coverage of reality show participants. Last December, they ran a lavish eight page feature on Trista and Ryan's wedding. Then later on, another four pages on their honeymoon. Then a cover story on what they're doing this week. Somewhere, the dead souls of hundreds of trees are crying.

It's interesting to note the changes since I started reading the magazine in the early '80s. For example, the 'Star Tracks' section used to be basic pics of celebs at public events. That was the quaint old days, back when the inside was printed in black and white. Now we have grainy telephoto shots of celebs doing normal stuff - eating, walking around, etc. Most often, they're pictured in sweat pants. It's as if they wanted readers to have the realization that, "look, Jennifer Aniston drinks coffee!" Whatever. Week in, week out you're likely to find these four pics in 'Star Tracks':
A candid shot of some pregnant actress walking down the street, looking like shit.
A candid shot of Sarah Jessica Parker resting during a 'Sex in the City' location shoot (please, God, let that show be over already).
A candid shot of one of the royal princes playing sports.
A candid shot of a wasted Colin Farrell.

Despite all this, I can't resist. I have to look at every page, even sometimes read something. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have know about the death of First Wives Club author Olivia Goldsmith, who expired during a routine plastic surgery appointment. How morbidly compelling. That's why I can't put it down.
Posted by mhinrichs at February 6, 2004 01:21 PM