Grumpy cat is a “property” worth several million dollars. We always knew that. The word “property” comes from Kia Kamran, a Los Angeles lawyer who represents Grumpy Cat. It is exactly the sort of word I would expect from the person representing a cat that makes lots of money for her owners.
Although Grumpy Cat is the biggest cat celebrity she is one in a long line: Lil Bub, Keyboard Cat, Colonel Meow to name three.
One fan started to hyperventilate when she was in the presence of Grumpy Cat in New York. Celebrity cats are the new pop culture. They have the same appeal as human celebrities. I wonder if the driving force behind the appeal is about celebrity worship and wanting to be famous – a celebrity.
How can we square up cat celebrities making millions for their owners (in the case of Grumpy) while killing millions of healthy cats at shelters? At first sight, these two phenomena seem incompatible but they must be part of the same human condition.
The cult of celebrity is a very selfish process. It is human-centric. People want to be famous for selfish reasons, primarily. They want to be valued and seen. They want to have a high status lifestyle and be admired. It is all about feeding the vulnerable, frightened human. The feelings of the celebrity cat is largely out of mind in the same way the killing of cats at shelters is never genuinely addressed. It is put out of cat owner’s minds because it is convenient to do so.
Putting cats on a pedestal and worshiping them is an extension of celeb culture, only the cat’s owner does it vicariously through his/her cat. It is similar to kids’ beauty pageants or grooming your child to become a sports star.
One important aspect of cat celebrity and making money from your cat is that the lifestyle of the cat gets worse, and the cat does not care one jot if he is famous or not, while the lifestyle of the owner improves, which is why it is exploitation. The whole process is about people. The cat is a vehicle.
The phenomenon of the celebrity cat is an extension of the celebrity human. Does it confirm what some people believe; that we have entered a phase of a cultural vacuum and instant satisfaction having lost the old values and virtues of hard work, patience and care in the community?
The real celebrity cats are like Dylan, a British black and while doing good work for the community.
Note: the photo of the newspaper is published under fair use principles as it has no impact except for a positive one, commercially, for the newspaper (The Times).
loved grumpy cat pics etc but hate now they are doing public appearances as think its exploitation similar to circus 🙁 I feel the same about street cat Bob the way he is now paraded round book shops but that’s just me 🙂
Me too Marion, I hate any animals being exploited but more so cats because they are such home loving creatures who just want to be cats and live in peace.
Poor little cat, her life has become all about how much money she is worth and not at all about her welfare and happiness, she didn’t ask to be famous.
I’m sure she would rather be enjoying her life in peace doing what cats like to do.
I am sure she would prefer to have a snooze in the sun and feel safe but she is thrust into strange places and handled by strange people. Perhaps she is used to it by now but I don’t like it. The trouble is there are very cat owners who would not exploit their cat if he/she was an asset worth several million dollars.
Yes she’s probably used to it by now, she has no choice, but it doesn’t make it right does it!
I worry she won’t have a very long life as she looks frail to me, it’s too sad that she isn’t allowed to enjoy that life.
The title should read “She’s Fluffy, She Looks Grumpy ……etc – clearly the only reason why she may be grumpy at this point is because she is famous.
What made me write this was the fact that The Times had a major article about Grumpy and the quoted millions of dollars seems remarkable. Grumpy has entered the realms of a pure commercial asset. I hope her health holds up. She looks quite frail to me.
I remember the famous words in George.Orwell’s classic novel “ANIMAL FARM”, quote, “SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL ” ?
Akin to the human World so also in the animal World a few animals are lucky to have caring human owners or become a source of International human interest and a money bank for their human owners as is the case with “GRUMPY CAT”.If “Grumpy cat” was not a freak of nature then i bet 100% that he would have been euthanized(Killed) as he would be useless as a “STUD CAT’ or as a pet to the average cat owner wanting a normal cat as a pet.Thanks to “P.O.C’ and the “Internet”, i was surprised to see “Pedigree cats” in human shelters in U.S.A awaiting “EXECUTION” if not adopted within a set time-frame.Pigs are a common source of food but a few pigs are saved the normal butchers knife as adorable pets, same applies to goats, cattle and chickens. I once owned a “Asil Hen” as a pet and was surprised at the intelligence of this bird, a normal meal for us humans. I later gave away this bird to the “S.P.C.A” with a donation to allow it to live its life to “Old Age” rather than the “Butchers Knife” since i couldn’t keep it in my small Mumbai flat. This hen was lucky while numerous “Broiler Chickens” bred on chicken farms have a short life as “Table food”.As a hard-core “Non-Vegetarian” this chicken was lucky to have been my pet.That’s life, even in the animal World, the “LUCK FACTOR” is very important.The “CELEBRITY CULT” is prevalent among humans as well as in animals transformed into celebrity status by us humans.
So right Rudolph. Thanks to a freak of nature, a physical defect that by pure chance gives this cat a human expression that by pure chance people find interesting, she has become a commercial asset or property. If the defect was less appealing or made her ugly, she’d be ashes by now.