The word paparazzi originated in an Italian film called La Dolce Vita in 1960 where a man named Marcello and his photographer friend Paparazzo who work for a gossip magazine in Rome, hunt for their next story. In 1961 Time Magazine would help bring attention to this word and its plural Paparazzi in an article called The Press: Paparazzi on the Prowl where they described photographer Ivan Kroscenko as a,
“paparazzo, one of a ravenous wolf pack of freelance photographers who stalk big names for a living and fire with flash guns at point-blank range.” Time Magazine said.
One famous gossip channel, TMZ, uses photos from the paparazzi as its media. TMZ stands for thirty mile zone, referring to a 30 mile studio zone that was commonly used by Hollywood. The Harvard Westlake upper and lower schools are a part of this zone. Within this thirty mile radius, you can spot both celebrities and the paparazzi that follow them. In Beverly Hills, the paparazzi have spotted many iconic stars from Marilyn Monroe to Elton John and Nicole Kidman at the Polo Lounge in the Beverly Hills Hotel. Another famous place to spot the paparazzi and the celebrities is at Gracia Madre in West Hollywood, where you can spot stars like Taylor Swift, Natalie Portman, and Mariah Carey. The term paparazzi would go on to become a keyword within pop culture and media. Today paparazzi are a very controversial topic as many people consider them to be too invasive in celebrities personal lives. Whether or not you agree with the profession, they have had a decades-long impact on how we view those we put in the spotlight.