They push us towards a life of narcissistic self-absorption. They tell us that existence must be centered on the practices and desires of the self rather than on the common good” (Hedges, 2009, 33). Fame will not give us a life of eternal happiness as it promises. When we view the world as our audience, we inadvertently stop working to improve society as a whole and disembodied ourselves from other people, creating a culture of narcissists. The show tricked us into believing that its distorted reality reflected many problems the average person faces and elevated those problems into something highly energetic and enticing. Hedges exemplifies this observation by examining the background stories of World Wrestling Entertainment characters, “The narratives of emotional wreckage reflected in the staged biographies of wrestlers mirror the emotional wreckage of fans” (2009, 5). The characters on the show have many of the same problems as the viewers, such as sibling rivalry, abandonment, abuse, and other family issues, in order to establish a connection between the viewer and the characters. There is a self-identification between fans and the fictional realities of the characters. We are able to relate to the characters and celebrities and as a result we have started to see ourselves as the characters who ultimately shift the world's attention to our problems and ourselves. This allowed us
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