The Annoyance/Dangers of the Paparazzi
Would you like if people were constantly bombarding you with cameras? Lets say you’re enjoying a nice meal with your family and then suddenly a group of “photographers” come up and just start snapping an endless amount of photos and there’s nothing you can do about it. The so-called “photographers” that I’m talking about are called the paparazzi. The paparazzi first started with a man named Ron Galella, nicknamed America’s first paparazzo. Galella’s first target was actor Marlon Brando; he began harassing Brando one day telling him to take of his glasses for a photo. Brando wasn’t playing his games, not only did he refuse, but he also punched Galella, knocking out five teeth. (Talese 97) Yes, what Marlon Brando did was a little excessive, but in his defense you shouldn’t bombard people with your camera, giving them orders and whatnot, it’s called common courtesy. The paparazzi have gotten way out of control over the years, yes, they have a job, but there should be limits.
Of course, the paparazzi see it differently. They have little concern for celebrity’s privacy. The way they see it, is they have a job to do and money to earn. They believe celebrities like being photographed, but they pretend they don’t. They also believe they’re making celebrities more famous, therefore successful. (94) I’m almost positive celebrities do not enjoy getting their pictures taken, as for saying they pretend, well that’s just right stupid.
For example, recently rapper Kanye West lost his cool and beat up a paparazzo after countless acts of harassment. If you ask me, Kanye must be pretty good at “pretending” in order for him to physically beat a paparazzo and take his photos. Saying that the paparazzo’s photos make celebrities more famous is also a very ignorant thing to say. What makes them famous is what they create, what they’ve worked so hard on, whether it be music, movies or any other form of entertainment. That’s what makes them famous, not some candid shot of them eating at a restaurant.
Another incident of a celebrity who’s not too fond of the paparazzi is actress Nicole Richie. Nicole actually had to have a restraing order against two paparazzo’s that constantly sit outside her house, stalking her. One day the two paparazzo’s rear-ended her, after this happened, Nicole sought legal action. This is a prime example of how the paparazzi has gotten way out of control and will stop at nothing to get a quick shot of their target. Peter Howe writes, “Paparazzi are going to greater lengths to track celebrities, including car chases.” He then goes on to say “The stupid paps, the grunts of profession, would try to run a star off the road or cause collisions.” Author Robert Valdes says “the tactics of the paparazzi center principal: get a shot by any means necessary. Key words “any means necessary.”
The paparazzi are essentially dangerous and may cause harm to the public. Valdes then goes on to say, “In some cases, if the event is in a sealed building, paparazzi have staged fire alarms or bomb threats to cause an evacuation of the building that forces their subjects on the streets.” Detective Jeff Dunn said he suspects a lot of hit and run accidents involve paparazzi because they often have chases and drive erratically. This proves my point on how the paparazzi have gone too far and there needs to be limits. A former paparazzo even agrees. “Mustafa Khalili left the paparazzi business in 2006, but before he did, he became disgusted with the changing landscape. Paparazzi were becoming more brazen, which caused more confrontations with celebrities. Respecting celebrities is crucial, he said: if paparazzi don’t “you can’t work this game.” Upsetting the celebrities ruins the chance to earn money and causes long lasting friction (Khalil).
The old school paparazzi said celebrities should never know they are being followed or photographed. They decry the practice of some of the less experienced paparazzi that often jump in front of celebrities to get photographs. Paparazzi should go back to the way it was, when they were more respectable and there was less of them. In Los Angeles and New York City, the paparazzi problem has grown as the numbers increase the standards decrease. Former paparazzo Bouzad said, “When I started, it was easy money.” He then goes on to say, “There weren’t that many people doing it. But nowadays there are hundreds and hundreds of people. The market is saturated. Prices have crashed. The industry is trying to kill itself, apparently. It’s going to go from bad to worse.” Nowadays anyone can pick up a camera and go out hunting for a celebrity and get a quick shot and send it to an agency like TMZ for example.
As you can see the paparazzi problem has been getting out of hand. Fortunately there have been acts developing on how to counteract the situation. Dan McCann and John Perry, who run a paparazzi abatement company in the Los Angeles area, have developed several methods to try to keep paparazzi in line. When Perry and McCann started dealing with the paparazzi, the paparazzi would take pictures of them to try to intimidate them. From there, Perry had an idea, “I said, ‘Alright, if they want to play games, utilize their tactics.’ So then we started taking pictures of them. They’d get pissed off; they’d speed away and flip us off. I said ‘Oh, this is working pretty good because no one else thought of this, amazingly.’ … A lot of them would hide from us because they didn’t want us taking their picture. It was like they were the stars and we were the paparazzi.” From there on many celebrities started doing this, for example Joseph Gordon. Although many problems still occur, singer John Mayer stepped in and suggested paparazzi be required to have credentials that are easy to see, such as a white P on license plates.
The examples I’ve provided have shown the recklessness and carelessness of the paparazzi. Although this isn’t a major problem in America, it still is considered a problem that needs to be fixed. The paparazzi are not only a danger to celebrities but also to society, because of their will to get the shot by any means necessary. As the problem starts to grow, more solutions have been created to regulate the paparazzi, yet the paparazzi are hard to faze. In order to stop this, more celebrities need to work together in order to stop the paparazzi’s careless acts.

Work Cited

"Nicole Richie." The Frisky. Spin Entertainment, n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2013.
Bobb, Maurice. "Kanye West Dodges Charges After LAX Paparazzi Incident."RapFix RSS. MTV, 25 July 2013. Web. 10 Oct. 2013.
Howe, Peter. Paparazzi. New York: Artison, 2005. Print.
Khalili, Mustafa. Personal interview. 6 Aug. 2006.
Bouzad, Mel. Personal interview. 4 Aug. 2006.
Mayer, John. Comments at Los Angeles Regional Paparazzi Task Force. 31 July 2008.