By Leanna Zamosc

Sure, Benedict Cumberbatch is a talented actor. We all know that. But what most people don’t know is that he also has talent….in making handmade cards!
Or so it is headlined when Cumberbatch and several other actors and actresses made handmade cards for a kids charity (Coram) that are to be sold on ebay. This means, if you really want to, you can buy a handmade card made by Cumberbatch.

It is a pretty card depicting a bird on a tree branch. It’s not the greatest thing to ever be made but, for those people who are truly Cumberbatch fans, it could be the most important thing ever created. Why? Because it is something that—if they pay enough money—they can win. It is a holy item made by Cumberbatch that is being sold to the highest bidder.
If one were to compare celebrity mania to religion, this would mean that whoever buys the card will have a relic of a celebrity. You can have this card, this thing made by the hands of a celebrity you will most likely never meet, and you can do anything you want with it. A card itself means virtually nothing if it is given to you by a complete stranger. But it gets a different value when it is made by a famous stranger. The card becomes attached to a name and thus we make it valuable. Like religious relics, we give meaning to the card and the card becomes (almost) holy.
But let’s be real here. Why would you want a card made by a complete stranger? Because, no matter how much we know about him through internet stalking, he is still a stranger to us. We the public are not his friends or family. Also, we are paying for this card. Cards normally are given to people as a gift, but these cards that are being made for charity are to be bought by the highest bidder. It is almost as if the celebrity is selling an aspect of themselves to the public in order to appease the public. The situation with the charity card is yet another example of the complicated push-and-pull relationship between the public and the celebrity.