Pop icon

For the British television series see: Pop Idol; for religious icons, see: icon.

Pop icon or pop idol is a celebrity whose popularity (hence, "pop") remains constant or even increases as time goes by. Most celebrities, especially teen idols, exhaust the public's interest with extreme rapidity.

During the 1990s and 2000s, many popular music stars are held as Pop idols. The Pop idol is though a much broader definition than this, and acceleration of media has made Pop idols out of celebrities of many types.

Most pop icons achieved their status through death, typically at a young age. Adoration of pop icons is due only in part to their actual accomplishments; the far more important factor is their apparent attainment of eternal youth. Some of the most notable pop icons are James Dean, Yuri Gagarin, Bruce Lee and Marilyn Monroe. These people have one thing in common. They died at a very young age while at the height of their fame. However, even middle-aged celebrities who died can achieve this "eternal youth" if the public chooses to simply ignore all images of them past a certain date, as has been done with Elvis Presley and John F. Kennedy.

Death nearly always increases the average person's awe of a public figure. In part this is due to a simple respect for the dead, but the sense of finality that accompanies their departure also signals the fact that they are no longer capable of future betrayals of trust, such as that of Michael Jackson, who's alleged paedophilia has disappointed his fans, and though cleared in court, he still has a tarnished image.

Death also increases the value of all items associated with the pop icon, sometimes drastically; this is known among collectors by many names, including the "death tax" and "funeral inflation."

Contents

1 Examples

1.1 Che Guevara
1.2 Ernest Hemingway
1.3 Other notable pop icons

2 See also

Examples

Che Guevara

A guerilla soldier and revolutionary from the 1950s and 1960s, Che Guevara is a Pop idol of young people far away from Cuba and Latin America. Guevara can be found on lots of T-shirts, album covers and is a symbol for revolution. As a Pop idol, the actual doings of Guevara are not important, but what he has come to represent.

Ernest Hemingway

In his time was Ernest Hemingway often more famous for the man-myth he was than his authorship. Hemingway had followers who accepted and liked what he represented, a powerful, hunter-man model.

Pop icon

Examples

Che Guevara

Ernest Hemingway

Other notable pop icons

See also