Role Models

[ftc]

Not sure if this is the right spot to post this but i guess it is in regards to Personal Growth.

 

In today's society how do young people chose their role models? Do they really look up to people for the good that they are doing..... or do we all simply have an obsession with celebrities? why are celebrities classed as role models, is it because us normal people may strive to be like them, because we idolise their glamorous lifestyle....... we are buying products that the celebrity endorses, dressing like them and talking like them.

 

They are put on a pedelstool and in the spot light 24/7, if they stuff up then there is major chaos.... take mel gibson for expample (i do not condone his comments that he made), but he has gone a lot of charity work, and he slipped up and caused a domino effect of media chaos all over the world....... do people still consider him a role model........ it's just like Michael Jackson or Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan?

 

just after opinions regarding this subject for a uni assignment....... and not i will not plaugorise anything written here

[lost_status]

I think people chose role models for different reasons. The person of choice could have gone through many situations that the person who is admiring them is expirencing.

 

Another reason would be that the person who is choosing their role model would be likely to pick someone they wish to be like or someone that gives them inspiration.

 

Thats just my opinion anyway

 

Good luck with your assignment!

[Ms. Babydoll]

I think alot of the younger generation (like my age group, 13-16) choose certain celebrities to be their role models because alot of todays society is concerned about their looks and self image, and celebrities seem to be the perfection of self image, because they are always in the spotlight so they have to look beautiful and act well behaved as much as possible.

I think teenages mostly feel as though they need a celebrity to copy or look up to because then they'll consider themselves more "in" with the crowd and up to date with everything.

 

For me (although I'm a teenager) I look at having a role model in a different way. I have three models, my nextdoor neighbour Victoria because she has so much strength and she's like a sister to me, my best friend Heather because she's helped me through a lot of emotional struggles since August 05 and Mariah Carey, although she's a celeb, I look up to her not because of her image but because of her songs and her strength.

 

I think everyone has their own certain role model and I think we all choose them for a different reason, wether it's because we want to look like them or they are someone who has been there for us and have given us strength and helped us be a better person, or wether it's just for smaller reasons.

[kadvati79]

To be honest, I think while we are fascinated by celebrities, most do not see them as role models. If you actually survey people, you will find most choose their mother or father. My Dad, while I have not felt very close to him for a few reasons, always features as one of my great role models. Second to that is a gay politician here in NZ.

 

I think peoples true role models and secret mentors are quite private, and most won't admit it. I don't necessarily think some "young" people are that bright, but I think highly enough of them to realise they don't see Paris Hilton as any sort of role model. Plucky comic relief perhaps.

 

I have a close friend, T, who is younger than me. He has no family, and has moved away from him home country. We've always been good friends. I knew he valued my opinion but it was only one day when sometime I said made him cry that I realised how much faith he put in what i had to say. His best friend said he saw me as a massive role model.

 

I encountered it alot and it makes no sense too me. I have had people say I seem to have things so together, but to me, my life is a disaster full of anarchy and mistakes and regret. One day I told my Dad I wish I had his strength. He seems so certain. He just laughed, and said sure thats what it looks like... Thats when I realised that often people see things in role models that not even that person realises is there. I think, in a way, what a role model "is" in a persons mind, is simply the reflection of what that person sees in them - which may not even be really true.

 

My friend T thinks I am strong, honest, caring. Even despite the terrible things I've done, no matter what I do he seems to see something in me that I don't even see. It never really made any sense too me, until I heard my Dad say the same thing.

[ftc]

oh thanks guys for all your posts they are terrific!! I agree icemotoboy that there is a division with seeing a celebrity as a role model and being fascinated with them, and how societs can misinterprete this.... and the comment that Lost_status made about relating them back to similar situations and encounters that they have incurred is soooooooooo true as well.

in regards to Ms Babydolls comment: i think you are so right in saying that a younger generation may see a role model as a celebrity because they are seen as "perfection" and it is the "cool" thing to do!!!

 

wow guys that gives me 3 different views to go by!!! thanks again!!

[kace]

people are fasinated because celebrities have "the life" the money, power, status and success. Many people try and fit aspects of this into their own lives! Young people let the whole "beautiful, or nothing" saying rule their lives sometimes, the media gives up gossip, scandals and photos of extremely skinny males and females and people find the pressure to have to conform to this as well.... they start dressing and buying products indorsed by these celbrities because there is this whole persona that if a celebrity has it or uses it then it must be good.

 

Celebrities one way or another, whether they are a role model or not can still influence a person one way or another

 

well that is my opinion anyway

 

good luck babe, we miss you !

[rickytailorus]

The term role model generally means any "person who serves as an example, whose behaviour is emulated by others".