Pop Goes Culture

I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that Sandra Bullock and Jesse James are reportedly headed for Splitsville after five years of marriage.

Or that Kate Winslet’s publicist recently confirmed the actress’ split from longtime partner and Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes.

Both separations have been headline news in the tabloids, alongside coverage of the continuing saga of Tiger Woods and his harem of mistresses and the John Edwards-Rielle Hunter imbroglio (a story which might net The National Enquirer a Pulitzer Prize. The National-freaking-Enquirer!).

Splits like these aren’t new. Just this summer, the nation was captivated by the nasty divorce of Jon and Kate Gosselin, stars of TLC’s “Jon & Kate Plus 8.” Then we just as quickly grew annoyed with Jon’s constant promotion of Ed Hardy, an already ubiquitous and — I’m calling it like I see it — ugly brand, as well as Kate’s incessant publicity-whoring. 

Obviously, infotainment media (the E! network, “Entertainment Tonight,” et al.) see it as big news, but that’s mostly because it’s big business. As long as they have “new” details to report, People and In Touch will slap the latest celebrity divorce, impending separation or alleged split on their covers for weeks on end. And readers gobble it up.  

My question is, can we chalk this media hysteria over celebrity splits up to the star factor alone? Or is there some other game afoot?

Answering these questions entails an interrogation of the assumption that readers of People and viewers of “Entertainment Tonight” are actually interested in these stories of their own volition. I have a hard time believing that a nation with a divorce rate of fifty percent for first marriages (higher for second or third marriages) wants to know the gory details of the dissolution of celebrity marriages, especially because these stories might share sad similarities to the situation in which thousands of American couples find themselves.

No, I think the real reason that these stories sell well is that they’re the stories the infotainment media tell us are the most important. Us Weekly wants me to take comfort in the fact that Mischa Barton goes grocery shopping in sweats and unwashed hair. That’s great, but I never walk out my front door without showering first, and I don’t own a pair of sweatpants. 

Frankly, I find the notion that I’m supposed to take comfort in the failed relationships of Sandra and Kate morbid and defeatist. Morbid because I don’t ever want to be comforted in the failures of others and defeatist because it seems to imply that all marriages, celebrity or otherwise, are bound to fail.

Call me a hopeless romantic, or just someone who thinks marriage is — above all — a commitment, but I refuse to buy the story the infotainment media is selling.

As for Sandra and Kate, both splits are sad news, and my sympathies are with both of them as they spend time with their families and deal with the emotional fallout of the end of their respective relationships. I would express my hope that the media would give them space and not report every single detail of the separation proceedings, but we all know it’s a little too late for that.