Have You No Sense of Decency, Paparazzi?
We're not sure how we missed this Economist article for nearly a week. And, even worse, we're not sure how we missed the new celeb-news trend the magazine uncovers:
[M]any of the celebrity pictures that look like plain intrusion into private lives are staged.
This is partly thanks to the profit motive. Many celebrities don't see why they should give away their image when they could make money from it. Darren Lyons runs a photography agency called Big Pictures that specialises in shooting celebrities through long lenses as if for a paparazzi picture. The profits from the picture sales are then split between the subject, the agency and the photographer. We're almost known as the friendly paparazzi, grins Mr Lyons from the high-backed, red-leather judicial chair in his office, a lion-skin rug spread across the floor. Collaboration allows celebrities to retain some control over choosing the pictures that appear.
We know this sounds strange to say, but: We're so disappointed in the paparazzi. Where are their morals? Where are their ethics? Where is their professional pride? Back in our day, the paparazzi didn't make deals. They didn't cooperate. We expect our paparazzi to be uncivilized, antagonistic, snooping, invasive assholes. We don't want them colluding.
Anything else is reprehensible.
