Understanding Celebrity

by Graeme Turner

• ISBN13: 9780761941675
• ISBN10: 0761941673
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-06-09
• Publisher: Sage Publications Ltd

Summary

'Graeme Turner is one of the leading figures in cultural studies today. When his gaze turns to celebrity, the result is a readable and compelling account of this most perplexing and infuriating of modern phenomena. Read on!' - Toby Miller, New York University We cannot escape celebrity culture: it is everywhere. So just what is the cultural function of celebrity? This is the first comprehensive overview of the production and consumption of celebrity from within cultural and media studies. The pervasive influence of contemporary celebrity, and the cultures it produces, has been widely noticed. Earlier studies, though, have tended to focus on the consumption of celebrity or on particular locations of celebrity - Hollywood, or the sports industries for instance. This book presents a broad survey across all media as well as a new synthesis of theoretical positions, that will be welcomed by all students of media and cultural studies. Among its attributes are the following: -It provides an overview and evaluation of the key debates surrounding the definition of celebrity, its history, and its social and cultural function. -It examines the 'celebrity industries?: the PR and publicity structures that manufacture celebrity. -It looks at the cultural processes through which celebrity is consumed. -It draws examples from the full range of contemporary media - film, television, newspapers, magazines and the web.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii
Preface	viii
Part One: Introduction	1	(28)
Chapter 1: Understanding celebrity	3	(26)
Celebrity today	3	(1)
What is celebrity?	4	(5)
Picture personalities, stars and celebrities	9	(6)
The spread of celebrity culture	15	(5)
Taxonomies of fame	20	(3)
The social functions of celebrity	23	(3)
Celebrities and the publicity industries	26	(1)
Notes	26	(3)
Part Two: Production	29	(58)
Chapter 2: The economy of celebrity	31	(21)
Globalisation and media convergence	31	(3)
The celebrity-commodity	34	(7)
The celebrity industries	41	(5)
Publicity, news and power	46	(5)
Notes	51	(1)
Chapter 3: Manufacturing celebrity	52	(19)
Ordinary talent	52	(3)
'Real' celebrities and reality TV	55	(8)
DIY celebrities: cam-girls	63	(6)
Notes	69	(2)
Chapter 4: Celebrity, the tabloid and the democratic public sphere	71	(16)
Introduction	71	(1)
Celebrity, mass market magazines and the tabloids	72	(4)
The 'tabloidisation' debate	76	(2)
Democratainment'	78	(4)
The demotic turn	82	(3)
Notes	85	(2)
Part Three: Consumption	87	(51)
Chapter 5: The cultural function of celebrity	89	(20)
Celebrity 'from below'	89	(3)
The para-social relationship	92	(2)
Royal celebrity	94	(2)
Mourning Diana	96	(6)
Constructing cultural identities	102	(6)
Notes	108	(1)
Chapter 6: Consuming celebrity	109	(19)
Celebrity watchers	109	(4)
Gossip: the extended family, melodrama and revenge	113	(5)
Histories of consumption: star gazing	118	(4)
Celebrity flesh	122	(4)
Notes	126	(2)
Chapter 7: Conclusion: Celebrity and public culture today	128	(10)
Celebrity post-September 11	128	(2)
Celebrity, politics and 'spin'	130	(5)
Conclusion	135	(3)
References	138	(7)
Index	145