Celebrity Culture

TOTAL XS by Rhett Hutchence.

by Brigid Magner

Celebrity geopolitics

by Klaus Dodds

Editorial published in Political Geography co-authored with Matt Benwell and Alasdair Pinkerton

Dancing With the Ordinary: Masculine Celebrity Performance on Australian TV

by Robert Payne

Literary Celebrity and the Discourse on Authorship in Dutch Literature

by Gaston Franssen

Literary celebrity results from a clash between two discursive configurations: literary authorship and popular... more Literary celebrity results from a clash between two discursive configurations: literary authorship and popular celebrity. In order to gain an understanding of the contradictions that lie at the heart of literary celebrity, the authorial subjectivity of two Dutch authors are analyzed: Menno ter Braak (1902-1940) and Jan Cremer (1940-). Ter Braak will be shown to personify a classic, high modernist notion of authorship, which entails a resistance to commodification, a critique of personality cult, and a privileging of originality. Cremer, on the other hand, constructs his authorial subjectivity by embracing commerciality, posing as an overtly public individual, and preferring repetition over originality. Yet literary celebrity cannot be understood as a simple inversion of the hierarchical oppositions that characterize the discourse on literary authorship: by analyzing Cremer’s work and reception, I demonstrate that literary celebrity entails a 'staging’ of high modernist authorship

Celebrity First Families? A Comparative Examination of the Mediated Visibility of National Leaders' Spouses and Children in Seven Advanced Industrial Democracies

by James Stanyer

Co-authored with Emily Harmer - Political Studies Annual Conference, March 30- April 1, 2010. This version of the paper is currently being revised in light of conference feedback.

Bibliographic Review on Celebrity Culture

by Kristine Ronan

The Hedgehog Review 7:1 (Spring 2005)

BRANDING, CELEBRITIZATION AND THE LIFESTYLE EXPERT

by Tania Lewis

This is an electronic version of an article published in Cultural Studies 2010, 24(4): 580-598.
The final version of the paper is available online at
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09502386.2010.488406#preview

Star/poverty space: The making of the 'development celebrity'

by Michael Goodman

What is it that gives celebrities the voice and authority to do and say the things they do in the realm of development... more What is it that gives celebrities the voice and authority to do and say the things they do in the realm of development politics? Asked another way, how is celebrity practised and, simultaneously, how does this praxis make celebrity, personas, politics and, indeed, celebrities themselves? In this article, we explore this ‘celebrity praxis’ through the lens of the creation of the contemporary ‘development celebrity’ in those stars working for development writ large in the so-called Third World. Drawing on work in science studies, material cultures and the growing geo-socio-anthropologies of things, the key to understanding the material practices embedded in and creating development celebrity networks is the multiple and complex circulations of the everyday and bespectacled artefacts of celebrity. Conceptualised as the ‘celebrity–consumption–compassion complex’, the performances of development celebrities are as much about everyday events, materials, technologies, emotions and consumer acts as they are about the mediated and liquidised constructions of the stars who now ‘market’ development.Moreover, this complex is constructed by and constructs what we are calling ‘star/poverty space’ that works to facilitate the ‘expertise’ and ‘authenticity’ and, thus, elevated voice and authority, of development celebrities through poverty tours, photoshoots, textual and visual diaries, websites and tweets. In short, the creation of star/poverty space is performed through a kind of ‘materiality of authenticity’ that is at the centre of the networks of development celebrity. The article concludes with several brief observations about the politics, possibilities and problematics of development celebrities and the star/poverty spaces that they create.

Paris Hilton–Anthropologist: The Production of Cross-Cultural Difference in First-Person Adventure Television

by Adam Fish

Cross-cultural transgressions — and the production of cultural difference — mark the contemporary wave of... more Cross-cultural transgressions — and the production of cultural difference — mark the contemporary wave of first-person, reality-based, adventure television (e.g., The Simple Life, Going Tribal, Digging for the Truth, 30 Days, No Reservations, Caught in the Moment). Not a competitive program (e.g. Survivor) nor a docusoap (e.g. Laguna Beach), this sub-genre of reality television is similar to investigative journalism and first-person ethnography. With emphasis on cultural encounters, this genre shares formal and theoretical similarities with select phases in the history and methodology of ethnography — particularly the earlier (pre-1960s) production of cultural difference through cultural encounter and the later turn towards first-person reflexivity (post-1960s; explicitly the 1980s).

Celebritus Politicus, Neo-liberal Sustainabilities and the Terrains of Care

by Michael Goodman

Conspicuous redemption? Reflections on the promises and perils of the ‘celebritization’ of climate change

by Michael Goodman

With rising public awareness of climate change, celebrities have become an increasingly important community of non... more With rising public awareness of climate change, celebrities have become an increasingly important community of non nation-state ‘actors’ influencing discourse and action, thereby comprising an emergent climate science–policy–celebrity complex. Some feel that these amplified and prominent voices contribute to greater public understanding of climate change science, as well as potentially catalyze climate policy cooperation. However, critics posit that increased involvement from the entertainment industry has not served to influence substantive long-term advancements in these arenas; rather, it has instead reduced the politics of climate change to the domain of fashion and fad, devoid of political and public saliency. Through tracking media coverage in Australia, Canada, the United States, and United Kingdom, we map out the terrain of a ‘Politicized Celebrity System’ in attempts to cut through dualistic characterizations of celebrity involvement in politics. We develop a classification system of the various types of climate change celebrity activities, and situate movements in contemporary consumer- and spectacle driven carbon-based society. Through these analyses, we place dynamic and contested interactions in a spatially and temporally-sensitive ‘Cultural Circuits of Climate Change Celebrities’ model. In so doing, first we explore how these newly ‘authorized’ speakers and ‘experts’ might open up spaces in the public sphere and the science/policy nexus through ‘celebritization’ effects. Second, we examine how the celebrity as the ‘heroic individual’ seeking ‘conspicuous redemption’ may focus climate change actions through individualist frames. Overall, this paper explores potential promises, pitfalls and contradictions of this increasingly entrenched set of ‘agents’ in the cultural politics of climate change. Thus, as a form of climate change action, we consider whether it is more effective to ‘plant’ celebrities instead of trees.

The mirror of consumption: Celebritization, developmental consumption and the shifting cultural politics of fair trade

by Michael Goodman

This paper explores the shifting cultural politics of development as expressed in the changing narratives and... more This paper explores the shifting cultural politics of development as expressed in the changing narratives and discursive transparencies of fair trade marketing tactics in the UK. Pursued through what I call ‘developmental consumption’ and the increasing celebritization of development, it is now through the global media mega-star that the subaltern speaks. After a more general discussion of the implications of the celebritization of development, specific analysis focuses on two parallel processes complicit in the ‘mainstreaming’ of fair trade markets and the desire to develop fair trade as a product of ‘quality’. The first involves improving the taste of fair trade commodities through alterations in their material supply chains while the second involves novel marketing narratives designed to invoke these conventions of quality through highly meaningful discursive and visual means. The later process is conceptualized through the theoretical device of the shifting ‘embodiments’ of fair trade which have moved from small farmers’ livelihoods, to landscapes of ‘quality’, to increasing congeries of celebrities such as Chris Martin from the UK band Coldplay. These shifts encapsulate what is referred to here as fair trade’s Faustian Bargain and its ambiguous results: the creation of increasing economic returns and, thus, more development through the movement of fair trade goods into mainstream retail markets at the same time there is a de-centering of the historical discursive transparency at the core of fair trade’s moral economy. Here, then, the celebritization of fair trade has the potential to create ‘the mirror of consumption’, whereby, our gaze is reflected back upon ourselves in the form of ‘the rich and famous’ Northern celebrity muddling the ethics of care developed by connecting consumers to fair trade farmers and their livelihoods. The paper concludes with a consideration of development and fair trade politics in the context of their growing aestheticization and celebritization.

Is that girl a monster? Some notes on authenticity and artistic value in Lady Gaga

by Simone Varriale

2012. Celebrity Studies, April-May (forthcoming)

It takes a switch to turn off the spotlight

by Giovanni Innella

Co-authored with Paul A. Rodgers and Nick Spencer.

This article was first published at Take It or Leave It / Design Economics, editors: Hadas Zemer Ben-Ari and Freek Lomma, the Van Abbemusemu, Eindhoven, 2011

Published online in January 2012 Edition of Design Philosophy Politics, the allied online Journal of Design Philosophy Papers

Is Design today more concerned with profile than product, viewers than users and media than manufacturer and, if so,... more Is Design today more concerned with profile than product, viewers than users and media than manufacturer and, if so, what impact will this have on the next generation of designers and, indeed, the future of design?

This question forms the basis of a short essay recently published by Giovanni and has shaped Giovanni’s on-going research which explores the impact of the growing presence of design into media, and media into design.

Madonna's Adoptions: Celebrity Activism, Justice and Civil Society in the Global South

by Graham Finlay

Published in Transnational Celebrity Activism in Global Politics: Changing the World?, Liza Tsaliki, Christos A. Frangonikolopoulos and Asteris Huliaras eds., (Bristol: Intellect, 2009).

La fabricación de héroes y heroínas

by Toni Maestre

Channel hopping: Charlotte Rampling in French cinema of the early 2000s

by William Brown

Celebrity Studies, 3:1, 2012, pp. 52-63.

In this article, I shall explore Charlotte Rampling's star persona in a series of French/French-backed films made... more In this article, I shall explore Charlotte Rampling's star persona in a series of French/French-backed films made between 2000 and 2005, in particular considering her as an ageing transnational female star, in terms of both representation and performance. By representation, I mean to analyse how Rampling's nationality, gender and age function in our understanding of her and her films, not least because she often plays sexually active and/or aggressive women. In the films discussed here, which include Sous le sable/Under the Sand (François Ozon, France, 2000), Embrassez qui vous voudrez/Summer Things (Michel Blanc, France/UK/Italy, 2002), Swimming Pool (François Ozon, France/UK, 2003), Vers le sud/Heading South (Laurent Cantet, France/Canada, 2005) and Lemming (Dominik Moll, France, 2005), Rampling in particular plays sexually active and/or aggressive older women. However, I shall also consider Rampling through the framework of performance. Following Elena del Río (2008), I shall argue that Rampling repeatedly produces affective performances that not only play upon but also elude the representational aspects of her work – and that this notion of what del Río terms ‘affection’ might be a useful framework through which to reconsider the concept of charisma, a quality that Richard Dyer, drawing upon Max Weber, identifies in Stars (1998 [1979], p. 34–37).

‘Rita Hayworth gave good face’.

by Sharon D. Lloyd

Abstract: International Conference: Fashion Tales: Exploring Critical Issues (June 2012: Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore; Milan)

Fashion film offers a unique opportunity to innovate and evolve the fashioned image, while the burgeoning emphasis on... more Fashion film offers a unique opportunity to innovate and evolve the fashioned image, while the burgeoning emphasis on the avant-garde suggests that the focus within fashion film itself is indicative of shifting definitions of performed femininity and identity, one where the negotiation of cultural norms of beauty are shaped by mass media and are therefore limited. Using an aesthetic that ‘elevates abstraction over narrative’, fashion film devised as a way to grab social media attention has developed into a popular medium for designers and artists alike to open up discursive spaces for fashion expression. It is here that the appropriation of cosmetic application is providing a significant contribution to hypermodern negotiation of identity and gender.

By discussing the contribution these atmospheric short videos have made to the way in which the body generates meaning in film and fashion, this paper seeks to uncover how the shift towards cosmetics in film is used as a vehicle to address gendered difference, performance and spectacle. This form of ‘cosmetic storytelling’ focuses on theatrical performance, as well as on representations of the cosmetic body in film and fashion. We know instantly what Madonna meant when she informed us that “Rita Hayworth gave good face”, so by presenting an analysis of some of the most influential current representations of the cosmetic body in film, which viewed together begin to form a ‘collective mythology’, a critical reflection of the shifting relationships between fashion, cosmetics and feminine ideals can be made.

Focusing on cosmetic imaginings used to manifest various representations of the face and body, imaginings that often that verge on the grotesque, otherworldly and monstrous, within cosmetic film there is nothing considered ‘beautiful’, natural or feminine to be found. And yet, the excessive use of make-up and cosmetically applied materials used within Gareth Pugh’s ‘Make-up-a-thon’, Lernert and Sander’s ‘Natural Beauty’ and Ellis Faas ‘A Family Affair’ provides a unique opportunity to explore notions of beauty because of the abandonment of traditional bodily construction. Like the use of fashion, the emphasis on the cosmetic body in film offers the potential to present ways to recreate the self, marking the body as individual and suggesting other ways of being.

Keywords: performance, beauty, film, identity, female grotesques, fashion, femininity, cosmetics

Looking a gift horse in the mouth: Oprah Winfrey and the politics of philanthropy

by Janice Peck

From Jackie Coogan to Michael Jackson

by Jane O'Connor

Published in Journal of Children and Media Vol 5(3) August 2011

The death of former child star Michael Jackson in 2009 reignited public debates around the potential dangers of early... more The death of former child star Michael Jackson in 2009 reignited public debates around the potential dangers of early fame. This article explores the ways in which the status of child stars has changed over the course of the twentieth century in line with shifting attitudes towards childhood in general, and with the proliferation and diversification of media formats. Starting with the Hollywood “Child Star” era and moving on to child stars of television and more recent films the connection between the kind of children audiences have demanded to see on screen, and wider ideologies of childhood, will be explored. It will be demonstrated how representations of childhood innocence and naturalness have often been at odds with the “real life” experiences of child stars, and the continuing practice of allowing children to become media celebrities is questioned.