True Stories: Starsuckers
More4, Tuesday 06 April 10:00pm - 12:00am Film-maker Chris Atkins gained a certain amount of notoriety when it was reported that in making this indictment of our celebrity-obsessed times, he had managed to plant fake stories about the likes of Amy Winehouse in the tabloids - and had even caught reporters on camera trying to pay for illegal access to medical records. The set-ups are jaw-droppingly good - it's amazing the moral compromises people are prepared to make in order to move a gnat's breath closer to the stars - but Atkins also pulls in evolutionary theories and psychology to try to explain our fascination with the concept of fame. Scenes of parents pushing their children to become famous, especially five-year-old Ryan being styled as a media star in Las Vegas, may leave you feeling nauseous but they superbly illustrate the point about the pernicious cult of celebrity.
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