A few days ago a well known newspaper in Hamburg reported a concert of Cecilia Bartoli. The editors left a prominent blank space in the article to protest against the concert-management: "In this white space we would like to present a photograph but the management insisted on examine and release all pictures. We rejected that claim."
That's a very good idea, and perhaps if more magazines were brave enough to do the same, it would still be possible for 'stars' to be humanised enough for people really to care again.
I think back on the days when photographers were sent along to make pictures of this actor or actress and came back with something personal, human, different and lovable or, alternatively, full of menace. (We all remember Brando brooding... when did Brad do that, so what do we remember of him or his kind?) What do we get today? Plastic stereotypes, of either (or all variations thereof) gender, one identical to the other, controlled by public relations gurus with about as much sense of public relations as a gorilla. So in the end, they all become absolutely interchangeable, mere product. As a result, I don't know who they are anymore and I don't even care enough to go to the movies.
A triumph of public relations and marketing, then.
Rob C