After months of marinating in their mothers, children enter this world. Most are loved and some go unnoticed. Others are immortalized by fame. From the second they were conceived, babies such as North West, Blue Ivy Carter and George Alexander Louis have been the focus of the all-watching media eye. Some people have a hard time understanding why others are obsessed with the lives of these children. For me, it comes down to one simple idea: escape.
Escapism is the avoidance of reality through obsession over entertainment or imaginative worlds. People do whatever they can to avoid the pain reality causes them, so they dive deep into the lives of others. This has been seen since the Great Depression. During the darkest time for America’s economy, the movie industry was able to survive. Why? Because “Dracula” and “Frankenstein” helped many ignore the strife poverty caused.
Recently, the focus is on babies and for a good reason. Babies are innocence personified. They are the one thing that takes people’s minds away from the darkness in world around them, no matter the situation they face.
Seth MacFarlane’s “American Dad” expressed this idea in the episode “Tearjerker.” In this episode, Roger tried to kill millions with a depressing movie and Stan was able to save everyone by posting a video of celebrity babies online.
When it comes down to it, we pay attention to what we know and what we want to know. We also want to know historical things that are happening right now. I feel that the royals are important to pay attention to because they are the future of the U.K. Even though we don’t live there, it’s still a part of history that Prince William and Princess Kate had a baby boy. He is the next in line after his father to become king, and that’s a pretty big deal.
However, Kanye West and Kim Kardashian’s baby isn’t making history, just making us more annoyed with how Kardashian is even famous in the first place. Oh right, she was first seen in a sex tape with rapper Ray J.
Overall we pay attention to other people’s lives because we want to ignore our own for the time being. We want to see the cuteness of a baby we can’t have, or the ugliness of a baby that we’re glad we didn’t have. Celebrities and their kids take our mind off the things we don’t want to worry about in our daily lives. They sometimes can give us hope that there is more to live for. We escape our reality and dive into their lives because it’s how most of us cope with our issues. It may be unhealthy, but that’s how society is now.
