Dumbed Down and Sexed Up

Did you know that People magazine has an online archive? They do and it's one of my favorite places, fascinating and mesmerizing. You can click from issue to issue, cover to cover, and get a fun reminder of what was going on in pop culture at any particular time since 1974. For example, in the summer of 1989, People cover stories included Hugh Hefner's wedding (7/17), the death of Lawrence Olivier (7/24), the murder of Rebecca Schaeffer (7/31) and Clint Eastwood's break-up with Sondra Locke (8/7.)  Fall of 2003? Cover stories included the Laci Peterson murder case (9/8), Brooke Shields' first baby (9/15), Best and Worst Dressed celebrities, featuring Jennifer Aniston (9/22) and the death of Johnny Cash (9/29). Why am I blogging about the People archive, other than because it's kind of cool?  My thought process went like this:  (And yes, it really started with Kim Kardashian.)

First thought:  I was wondering how and when the K's would offer up the first pictures of newly arrived North West. I assume they're strategizing how best to monetize the pictures - a People cover package? An E! network special? What would be most lucrative?

Next thought:  They better not tarry too long, because the royal baby is due any day now and presumably Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte, or whatever the baby ends up being called, will knock Miss West off the front pages of the tabloids.

Then came this:  Although in some respects the royal baby is more "important" than the Kardashian child, when you really boil it down neither of them has anything to do with my life at all.

And that led to this:  Given that they're really not that important, when did celebrity babies become such a big deal? All the hoopla over baby "bumps", baby joy, body after baby, etc. sometimes makes it seem as though there's nothing more important in the world than which celebrity is pregnant, when are they due and when will the first pictures be published. Thinking about when all this started is what led me to the People archive.

This next part is going to make me sound like I have too much time on my hands, but it is a long holiday week-end and I do have some time on my hands. I decided to compare two full years worth of People cover stories - one recent (2011) and one 38 years ago (1975). No surprise, things have definitely changed.

2011 first. I made a list of all the cover stories, January through December, then categorized them. In 2011, the three biggest categories are Reality TV (the Bachelor/Bachelorette, the Kardashians, Kate Gosselin), Royalty (Will and Kate) and True Crime (Caylee Anthony, Amanda Knox, Baby Lisa.) There are also 3 "baby" covers, 2 weddings, not including Will and Kate, and 3 celebrity deaths (Elizabeth Taylor, Amy Winehouse and Steve Jobs.) There are no cover stories about Sports/Athletes, and only 1 that is political (the shooting of Congresswoman Gabby Giffords.)

Compare that to the cover stories in 1975. There was no Reality TV, no True Crime and only 1 Royalty story (and not the British royals this time, Lady Diana hasn't shown up yet. The cover story is about Princess Grace of Monaco.) The biggest category is Movie Stars, with stories about everyone from Marlon Brando to Paul Newman to Robert Redford to Gene Hackman. In 2011, the only true "movie star" story is about Sandra Bullock. (There are 2 Brangelina covers, and although Brad and Angie are indeed movie stars, both stories, "Big Happy Family" and "Growing Up Jolie-Pitt," are focused on kids and family life.)

Back in 1975, Television is next, followed by Rock Music (Elvis, Paul McCartney, Roger Daltry, Mick Jagger and Elton John.) There's a cover story about the Reverend Billy Graham and 3 covers devoted to sports stars (Chris Evert/Billie Jean King, Jimmy Connors, Mohammad Ali.) The biggest surprise is that there are five covers about political subjects: First Lady Betty Ford, Happy Rockefeller (wife of the VP), Nancy Kissinger (wife of Henry), the judge in the Watergate case, and David & Julie Eisenhower.

So what does it all mean? The title of this post, Dumbed Down and Sexed Up, pretty much sums it up. People magazine was never the New Yorker, as I used to say, but they used to at least try for some substance some of the time. To put it another way, the stories were mostly about the celebrities' work, not who they're married to or getting divorced from, not how they look in a bikini, and not when their baby is due. These days it's mostly weddings, babies, divorces, crime stories and people who are famous for being on (Reality) television. There's probably more blogging to come on this topic, so for now I'll simply say Happy 4th of July, and does anyone want to place bets on when Princess Charlotte will arrive?