Why is the separation of Jolie and Pitt world news?
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt – a film star couple who need no introduction – have decided to go their separate ways. This has led to a great deal of noise from media outlets worldwide, and not only from the gossip columns. They have been in the headlines of broadsheets, the main topic on radio and television talk shows, a conversation topic on the street, and on it goes. There are a number of memes doing the rounds on social media, many featuring Jennifer Aniston – who Pitt left for Jolie – rejoicing in the news. Why is it that a matter that is apparently so banal and personal can capture such a huge amount of international media attention? UOC professors Ferran Lalueza, an expert in communication, and Francesc Núñez, an expert in the sociology of emotions, have analysed this phenomenon.
According to Lalueza, the shock waves caused by this relationship breakup are due to a combination of six factors:
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Each one of them is not just famous, but ultra-famous. They hold a special position in Hollywood, the most powerful star system in the world, and are recognised anywhere they go. Each on their own is capable of generating great media interest, but anything that affects both of them together causes this interest to multiply exponentially.
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Bad news always receives more attention than good news. The breakup of a marriage is bad news in that it represents the failure of a life project and the taking apart of a family structure. And it is a fact of life that bad news works much better in news stories than good news. From a media perspective, people tend to be more interested in failures than they are in success.
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The breakup did not come out of the blue. For years there had been rumours about the couple's problems, and a supposed separation had already been announced on more than occasion. Now it can be seen that there was truth in the rumours, "we crowd around barking the news with all the energy built up during this sort of coitus interruptus prolonged over recent years".
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Pitt and Jolie are both winners: millionaires, attractive, famous, powerful, talented, etc. Therefore, when something goes wrong for them it is open season for criticizing or for making fun of them. If they were a hopeless pair of nobodies, laughing at them would be in poor taste, but with their situation the jokes are allowed and everyone takes a pop. For example, the big names on late shows in the United States have been feasting upon the news.
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Ever since they first got together, Brangelina has constantly occupied both conventional news media and social media to an exaggerated extent. It is therefore to be expected that the news of their separation should create even greater fervour.
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The news generates various causes for speculation (how will they divide their fortunes, what will happen with their natural and adopted children, etc.). This is always a healthy breeding ground for rumours, and multiplies the volume of comments.
Núñez highlights that by virtue of being a star system in themselves, "they are capable of exerting power within people's private lives". Likewise, that as celebrities "they are products of a consumer culture" that is the focus of "the attention of the masses". This he says is in contrast to what happened in the 19th century, when "a small number of people controlled the masses; now a small number of people are watched by the masses, who copy them, or want to imitate them and be like them".
Nuñez also points out that we live in a culture of individuality, in which "the individual and their authenticity" are highly valued.
Nevertheless, the UOC's sociologist also underlines that "the star system is not powerful because of the power exerted by its celebrities (who are transient), rather it is powerful because of the system as a whole".
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