Addicted To The Camera

Actress Gabrielle Union.

We follow people with calorie-free bodies, perfect paint on their faces, not a single hair protruding with no sense of direction, their clothes with someone’s name and husbands who don’t snore.

There’s a story behind every famous person living a photo-shipped life. Meaning? Always in front of a camera, digital or otherwise. Actors want kids to be in Bollywood and Nollywood. NBA players want kids to play basketball. U.S. presidents want sons to be future presidents.

Beauty queens want kids to be Miss World or Miss Universe. The rewards are enormous: money, an acting career, Madame Tussauds wax figures and the icing on the cake? Marrying into royalty, famous music or acting families.

The ‘camera’ has stretched, like chewed gum. Everybody has a camera. It is never switched off. We don’t listen to music, because we take cellphones to concerts. Just point them on stage the whole performance.

This digital fame comes with a price. The rich and famous become addicted to the camera. They must be ‘alive’ for it. They cannot afford to be extinct, to have headlines scream: where is she now?

Solution? Every decision they take is for the camera. Food cravings are suppressed because they might affect how the body looks on camera. They know it makes you bigger than you are.

The need to stay in front of the camera results in a photo-shipped life. The rich and famous base most personal decisions on the camera. This includes having kids. Their bodies stay perfect longer if they don’t have them, which means continuous work.

The digital age has changed that drastically. They must be online wearing matching outfits with sons and daughters and posting their rooms that cost a lot of money. The photo-shipped life demands kids.

No problem. They have the money to buy them from a surrogate. It’s a guarantee that they’ll be in front of the camera for the next 18 years, starting with the statement, “we’ve always wanted to be parents.”

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.