- Americans are more "obsessed" than ever by
celebrity culture, the editor of magazine Vanity Fair has told the BBC.
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- Graydon Carter said he believes the interest in the US
in the lives of celebrities stems from an unwillingness to engage with
the realities of the global situation.
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- Shortly after 9/11, Carter said that he believed America
would become more serious and less "frivolous," declaring it
"the end of irony."
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- But he told BBC World Service's The Interview programme
that the prediction had patently not come true.
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- "That lasted for as long as it took the words to
come out of my mouth," he said.
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- "Americans are by and large obsessed with crummy
reality TV, and the lives of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton.
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- "That may be just some diversion from the realities
of the world, in the way that screwball comedies were in the 1930s. That's
the only explanation."
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- Bush savaging
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- While Vanity fair is famous for its covers featuring
film and other stars, it also covers politics and business, and is known
as one of the heavyweight US magazines.
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- Cater, who has edited the magazine since 1992, declined
to say, however, whether he felt such an interest in high-profile stars
- particularly screen actors - was a good thing or not.
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- "It is just here - it's been here since the advent
of movies," he said.
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- "With global culture being what it is, the movie
business is in one way the only universal cultural language in the world.
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- "Movies go all the way around the world. Books don't
necessarily travel from country to country, nor do musicians, or political
stars or sports stars. But movie stars are known all around the world."
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- He added that putting a film star on the cover of the
magazine makes it much more likely to sell - Vanity Fair is the only magazine
to have the same cover worldwide.
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- Carter said the days of magazines being able to put scientists
or politicians on the cover had gone: "They'll sell 14-15,000 copies
in a month."
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- Carter has shot to prominence by writing a book strongly
critical of US President George W Bush, arguing that he is taking the country
in the wrong direction.
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- The editor, who describes himself as a "liberal
libertarian," said he agreed with one New York Times columnist who
had written about the "tyranny of even-handedness" and that he
now wanted to make his views known.
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- "I'm of the opinion that when politicians run for
office, they should pretty much say up front what they plan to do during
their administration," Carter said.
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- "The fact is, George Bush ran as a uniter, not a
divider - that turned out to be incorrect. The fact that he ran as a compassionate
conservative that turned out to be incorrect.
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- "Granted September 11 changed all the rules after
he got into office, but the war in Iraq - which is what really got me going
- seemed so unnecessary, so optional, and such the wrong thing to do at
that moment, because it took all the resources away from a fight against
terrorism from the troops in Afghanistan."
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- Guest list
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- He said that as editor, he had traditionally made it
a personal policy not to vote, and for similar reasons he does not buy
stock in public and trading companies.
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- However, he said he felt compelled to speak during what
he described as a "strange turning point" in American history.
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- "The Bush administration, even if they've voted
out off office in November, will leave behind a trail of time bombs in
a way," he added.
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- "In my book, I go through a number of areas - healthcare,
the environment, the judiciary - and show that the Bush administration
came into office and immediately, from the very first day, started rolling
back."
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- He argued that 200 environmental protections "that
have been built up over 30 years" had been taken away since 2000,
when Bush came into office.
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- "They have walked away on most of our international
accords - whether environmental or otherwise - and what they've done is
really focused on the federal courts."
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- He argued that the Federal courts, which hear 30,000
cases a year, have been filled with judges who are "very right-wing...
and they're there for life."
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- Vanity Fair's biggest night, however, is well away from
politics - it is Oscars night.
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- The magazine is famous for giving the parties that the
Oscar winners attend, and has a more high-profile guest list than any other.
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- Carter said that around 700 stars attend, but that the
key thing was not who is let in, but who is left out.
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- "In a strange way it's a business. I look at it
as a long, nine-and-a-half hour day at the office - with cocktails,"
Carter said.
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- "I'm of the opinion that if the host looks like
they're having a good time, everyone else is more inclined to have a good
time."
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- © BBC MMIV http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3708420.stm
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