The Rise of Celebrity Gossip Forums
Forums. A place where one can ask, give out their opinion, or even attack someone. As an avid user of Reddit and Tumblr, I have to admit I’m a bit obsessed with forums — mainly because I just love seeing what people have to say about particular topics, which actually sort of making me change my opinions and even personality every 5 minutes after consuming approximately five different medias every. single. day.
Earlier in April, I was deep diving on Tumblr again after — probably 5 years hiatus. I, of course, made a new account. Too embarrassed to see what my 9-years-old self wrote and reblogged on my old tumblr account. Just as fast as seeing bookstores discounts, my eyes catch something interesting. I stumbled upon the word, well not really a word per se — and it is Deuxmoi. As someone who is not hastily familiar with internet terms, I was in a state of confusion. What is Deuxmoi? Well, the literal translation is of course, deux means two and moi means me. I immediately went to Instagram and type it on the search bar and ta-da, there it is — an Instagram account with almost 1 Million followers. I mean, there must be something about this account that makes it appealing right? Then I found out that there is also r/deuxmoi which makes it a lot more interesting to me. Later, as they, who unsurprisingly an anonymous entity, accepted my follow request on Instagram, it turns out to be a forum to share all the gossips and tea about celebrities and influencers. As soon as I finished stalking the Instagram and sub-reddit I immediately thought that this is a literal electronic version of tabloids.
So, what do they do in this so-called internet community called Deuxmoi? Based on my observation on both their Instagram and Reddit, the contents are spiraling around celebrities rumors and gossips, sightings, release dates, etc. Of course, these are not new things. TMZ, an online tabloid journalism debuted in 2005, changed the whole gossip landscape. TMZ has been known for responsibly unmasking celebrities biggest scandals by making exposing narratives as fictional as films. This whole era of dirty gossip gatherings and rumormongering is what bringing people’s attention to Deuxmoi. I have realized that the majority of people in today’s society have been using gossips and rumors as some sort of escapism. The fact that this phenomenon is being digitalized and people can submit all the teas anonymously is increasing all the deranged obsession with objectifying celebrities’ private life. When it comes to talking behind people’s back or sharing secrets that the public not supposed to know, we are so captivated by anonymity — the thrill of not being known on social media where it is habituated that we have zero to little privacy make the heart goes pitter-patter.
We had arrived in our own Black Mirror episode without even knowing it. I, myself cannot wrap my head around the idea of having my life exposed to the public and seeing people just talk about it confidently as if they were talking about Star Wars theories. This also reminds me of Emma Chamberlain’s podcast in which she was talking about the celebrity/influencer culture and how it has also affected Britney Spears. Forums like Deuxmoi may not be as harmful as TMZ and other tabloid journalism that exists but we may never know the impact it has on individuals who are involved in the perpetuation of their personal lives on a global scale. Perhaps, the world is a simulation, but until it is proven, we need to realize that ‘fame’ is a social construct and the people we see either on Instagram or the front page of tabloids are in fact just the same as us.
