The Celebrity Culture Reader

by P. David Marshall;

• ISBN13: 9780415337922
• ISBN10: 0415337925
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2006-12-19
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

What defines celebrity? Why is the ubiquitous cult of celebrity so important in contemporary Western culture? Through its combination of classic pieces and more contemporary writings,The Celebrity Culture Readerexamines the proliferation of the study of celebrity over the last two decades, and the significance and importance of celebrity in contemporary culture. The contributors look at the cult of celebrity from Alexander the Great, to the transformation of the actor into a public person in the eighteenth century, to the industrial apparatus leading to the star system in early narrative film. Taking a broad definition of the concept of celebrity, the Reader discusses music celebrity as personified by New Kids on the Block, the celebrity status of literary authors, the emergence of CEOs as corporate business celebrities, and the role of celebrity in politics. Individual articles move from discussion of recognized celebrities such as Madonna, Michael Jackson and Princess Diana through to realitytelevision and the idea that through enough self-promotion, anyone can now achieve celebrity status. TheCelebrity Culture Readeris divided into the following sections, each with an introduction by the editor: * Celebrity and Modernity: The Historical Pattern of Celebrity * The Textual and the ExtraTextual Dimensions of the Public Persona * Ascribed Celebrity: the Transformed Public Sphere * Transgression: Scandal, Notoriety and Infamy * The Body and Celebrity * Celebrity Culture: Narcissism, Fandom and the Will-to-Celebrity * Celebrity Nation: Celebrity in National Contexts * The Celebrity Industry: the Management of Fame * Surface and Depth: Celebrity in the 'Post-Celebrity' Era

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Editor's Introduction

Celebrity and Modernity: The Historical Pattern of Celebrity Section Introduction

Man as Actor

The Longing of Alexander

The Sociology of Charismatic Authority and The Nature of Charismatic Authority and its Routinization

From Hero to Celebrity: The Human Pseudo-event

The Discourse on Acting Richard de Cordova

The Powerless Elite: Theory and Sociological Research on the Phenomenon of the Stars

The triumph of Mass Idols

Stars as Images

The Textual and the Extra Textual Dimensions of the Public Persona Section Introduction

Television's Personality System

The Meanings of the Popular Music Celebrity: the Construction of Distinctive Authenticity

Is Straight the New Queer? David Beckham and the Dialectics of Celebrity

Articulating Stardom

Feminine Fascinations

Australian Idol and the Attention Economy

Reading Gossip Magazines: the Imagined Communities of 'Gossip' and 'Camp'

Ascribed Celebrity: the Transformed public sphere Section Introduction

Intimately Intertwined in the most public way: Celebrity and Journalism

The Reign of Hype: The contemporary (Literary) Star System

America's new Son: Tiger Woods and America's multiculturalism

The Celebrity Politician

Academostars: Name Recognition

Celebrity and Religion

Phantasmagoric Labor: The New economics of self-presentation

Transgression: Scandal, Notoriety and Infamy Section Introduction

Investigating the Serial Killer: The Seeking of Origins

[Don't] leave me Alone: Tabloid Narrative and the

The quest for fame

Celebrity, the Tabloid and the Democratic Public Sphere

The Celebrity Legacy of the Beatles

Exemplary Differences: Mourning ( and not mourning) a princess

Vanishing point

Narcissism, Fandom and the Will to Celebrity Section Introduction

I don't have a great Body, but I play one on TV: The Celebrity Guide to Fitness and Weight loss in the United States

Beauty and the Female Body

Is there a fan in the House? Affective Sensibility of Fandom

"I'll be there with You": Fans, Fantasy and the figure of Elvis

The Psychology of Achieved Celebrity

"John, a 20 year-old Boston native with a great sense of humor": on the spectacularization of the 'self' and the incorporation of identity in the age of reality television

New Media - New Self: the changing power of the celebrity

The Celebrity Industry: The Management of Fame Section Introduction

The Private Ownership of People

[Walter Winchell]: Stardom

The Negotiated Celebration

Authorizing the Celebrity: Engendering Alternative Identities

Producing Celebrity

Conclusion

References

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