"celebrity is as celebrity does"

First Zadie Smith writes about the Hollywood starlets she idolized in "Hepburn and Garbo." Then she writes about how idolizing celebrities is a bunch of fluff in "10 Notes on Oscar Weekend." Surely this is an example of Smith "changing her mind."

When reading "10 Notes on Oscar Weekend," I wondered who Smith's intended audience was. Was she writing for people who like the Oscars? Because I doubt they would like reading about the Oscars without hearing any celebrity gossip. Was she writing for people who don't like the Oscars? Because people who don't like the Oscars probably wouldn't want to read an essay about them. I think her intended audience is her fans. I think people who like reading Zadie Smith would like to read this article. I have a mental picture of Zadie typing at her computer and a thought bubble above her head that says: "NOW they'll love me!" or "They're gonna LOVE me!" or even "This will keep people loving me, right?" Perhaps this is unfair, but I think she even writes about this phenomenon of writers writing to be loved/admired/understood elsewhere in the book.

Don't get me wrong, this is a delightful essay and Smith is clearly a talented writer. My 5th grade teacher always said "Show, don't tell," and Smith does an excellent job taking us on a tour of the quite banal Oscars, instead of just saying "Celebrities are normal people and the Oscars are hyped up." Her tone is very tongue-in-cheek without being sarcastic, and it's refreshing to read about the Oscars without the usual awe. (Though I've never actually read about the Oscars.)

sidenote: zadie means grandpa in Yiddish.
truly irrelevant sidenote: Every time I read the word "celebrity" in here I thought of the advice Gilderoy Lockhart gives to Harry Potter: "Celebrity is as celebrity does. You remember that."