The Worth of Celebrity: A Rant of Sorts, and a Question

When it comes to celebrities, I suppose there are two camps.  Camp number one: those of us who think celebrities are interesting and cool and intriguing and Camp number two: those of us who couldn't care less. For some reason I find myself in the first camp, and I have no idea why. WHY do I find them fun to follow and watch and observe and drool over? Why why why? What's the point in this? (Answer: It's fun!)

And most importantly, how much worth do I put in the whole celebrity watching/seeing/sighting thing?

This is the big question of the day and let me tell you why.

Comic Con here in Salt Lake is coming up again this weekend. This event is called FanX and since I've only been to one other event, I'm not sure how this one will be different or if it's just exactly the same. I think they have two events a year just to get us to fork out more money.

And money is what I want to talk about here. Because the whole point of Comic Con is  to see celebrities. (Wait, did you think it was to celebrate the comic business? Um, no.) So, how much will we, as people in the camp #1, pay to see our favorites?

Comic Con is a pretty expensive event. Nearly 100 bucks for a three day pass (much more for VIP pass). And then if you want to get a picture with your favorite celebrity, it's about 80 more bucks. If you want just an autograph, it's maybe 50 more bucks (per celebrity of course!)

But this time, not only did we pay to get IN the event (and to buy the pictures and autographs), we have also been asked to pay MORE just to go see the panel of some of the celebrities. When it was announced that Matt Smith, the 11th Dr. Who, was coming, along with his companion Amy (Karen G something) and Rose (Billie Piper, companion to both Dr. 9 and 10) they also announced that they would have a special panel, The Dr. Who Experience, which required a separate ticket. I moaned for about five minutes then easily forked over the money.

BUT... I had to decide how worth it this Dr. was to me. Because there were tiers. Was he worth 15 extra dollars? Or 30? Or 80? I decided I just wanted in the room and so I paid the 15 extra. Now... if he would have been the 10th Doctor (David Tennant) I might have forked over the extra 80! Because David Tennant is worth more to me. Yes?  And the 80 would have put me THAT MUCH closer to him!

Which then makes me wonder... how much would I actually pay to see the celebrities that top my list? And it SCARES me to ponder this. Because the answer would be... A LOT. And why is that? WHY? Why would I pay so much money just to see them?

I have no idea. (Answer? It's fun?)

How much money would I pay to see Tom Hiddleston for instance? And would I pay the extra 150 to get an autograph and picture? Would I stand in line for hours? Would I pay extra money just to insure that I got in that room? And maybe not only in the room, but up CLOSE in the room? (Answer: yes!) Where would I stop? How far would I go? How much is Tom Hiddleston worth to me?

And, would I pay the same to see Benedict, or Richard Armitage? Or Colin Firth? Or... sheesh. I don't know who. I've paid hundreds of dollars to see Josh Groban several times. I paid nothing to see Markus Zusak, but I did wait in line for nearly 3 hours (some waited much longer than that! And WOULD I pay to see him. Answer: Yes!)

Was it worth it? Yes! Will it be worth it to pay extra money to see Matt Smith? I hope so! Will I go away with fun memories and a cool experience? Yes. And how much is that worth?

As they say, it's priceless, don't you think?

So I ask you, what would you pay to see a favorite celebrity? How far would you go? Where would you draw the line? IS there any line to draw? Or are you in the other camp and you read this whole post and wonder how I've lost my mind with the whole celebrity thing? If so, is there something else (not of a life and death nature) that you'd pretty much fork over money for without a second thought?