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Title: Celebrity - Rojek readings
Description: 15 page package of reading notes on Celebrity & Society, including celebrity cultures, the inflation and business of celebrity, and self-promotion/exposure management. Mainly taken from Rojek readings. Originally used for a Celebrity & Society module for a Journalism BA.
Description: 15 page package of reading notes on Celebrity & Society, including celebrity cultures, the inflation and business of celebrity, and self-promotion/exposure management. Mainly taken from Rojek readings. Originally used for a Celebrity & Society module for a Journalism BA.
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CELEBRITY CULTURES
Ancient Attitudes to Celebrity
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The pantheon of celebrities that currently fill the cultural landscape are the product of
a mediatechnology society (12)
Leo Braudy: “gazing back from a world in which the production and multiplication of
images is in the hands of many, we might wonder what it meant to be famous when
the means of communication were slow and the methods primitive” (1986: 15) (12)
Indeed, on analysis it quickly becomes clear that even in premedia ancient
civilizations the intense desire for individual fame was manifest, if not, as Robert
Garland states, already displaying pathological levels of obsession (12) – Herostratus
348BC Turkey – set fire to temple of Artemis for fame
Alexander the Great: History’s First Celebrity?
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He sought to inscribe himself on public consciousness as a man apart, a person
without precedent
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It is also
about the history of the
individual, and therefore it is about the history of human
psychology, too’ (2000: 12) (14)
Homer
The Iliad, The Odyssey
– not only communicated the concept of ‘everlasting
fame’, but also…valorized it…crystallized the idea of the meaning of heroism, and it
was Homer’s articulation of the figure of the hero that influenced Alexander the
Great’s selfconscious quest for fame (14)
Ancient Strategies for Gaining Fame
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Alexander sought to be remembered not for his place in an eternal descent but for
himself (1986: 32) – Braudy (15)
Persian invasion 334BCE – Alexander likened events to siege of Troy, began to
weave a story of his own, complete with what can only be described as carefully
staged ‘publicity’ events (15) – cut knot with sword (pseudoevent)
Historical PseudoEvents
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The major cultural impact of the Graphic Revolution was its ability to create famous
people ‘overnight’, and to effectively fabricate ‘wellknownness’ (1992: 47) (16)
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Boorstin – the contemporary landscape of fame (Hollywood, for example) is one
characterized not so much by genuine achievement, but rather by superficial
mediacreated episodes initiated by studios or public relations professionals and
representatives
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So, while there was no
media system to report his deed, it still had a similar effect: it became the subject of
talk (16)
Also differentiated him from predecessors
Alexander’s PublicityProducing Genius
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In Braudy’s analysis, then, Alexander represents an individual who was never
content with the ascribed fame (Rojek, 2001) that was his by dint of his royal
lineage…Alternatively Alexander also sought a fame that was based upon his own
achievement (17)
These factors were both unquestionably realized through the geographical scope of
Alexander’s empire, but there was a further crucial layer to Alexander’s quest that
was the key to perceptions of him in his own lifetime, and also, crucially, in a way that
has resonated into the present time and contemporary celebrity culture
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And here Alexander demonstrated particular genius
because he acutely comprehended that he had to
control
the way he was seen within
his world (17)
AtG’s historian – Callisthenes – ‘press agent’ function (18)
Not just written accounts – Alexander began to employ visual artists to paint, and
thus preserve, his visage…portrayed him with a flowing mane of hair and eyes cast
towards the sky, a dramatic stance and image imitated by actors and rock stars
centuries later (think of the Doors vocalist Jim Morrison’s iconic ‘Young
Lion’…)…Alexander recognized that a good story needed pictures (18)
Face on coins – in addition to establishing cities, Alexander also created a number of
minting centres that stretched across Asia in order to deliberately circulate coins that
featured his face merged with mythical figures such as Hercules and Dionysus
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The advent of
sound served to further strengthen the starfan relationship’ (2000: 24) (25)
Fame and Image Manipulation
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The first age of cinema illustrated the speed (and methods) by which anonymous
individuals could be catapulted from obscurity to fame in a matter of days, but
effectively, as Joshua Gamson argues…with a tight system of control of name and
image (25)
Louis XIV was a figure at the heart of an extensive publicity machine that was
focused exclusively upon the creation of a specifically idealized image of him as king
and as the divinelyordained ‘Viceroy of God’ (26)
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The individual drive for fame, to stand out from the mass, is a longstanding human
drive (27)
While the means of attaining celebrity have been transformed extensively throughout
human history, some factors seemingly remain the same (27)
CELEBRITY – CHRIS ROJEK
‘Celebrity and Celetoids’
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The modern meaning of the term
celebrity
actually derives from the fall of the gods,
and the rise of democratic governments and secular societies (9)
Glamour is associated with favourable public recognition
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Notoriety is a subbranch of celebrity culture and, arguably, an
increasingly important one (10)
What connects notoriety and glamour is CULTURAL IMPACT (10)
Celebrity status always implies a split between a private self and a public self
...
So much so,
that celebrities frequently complain of identity confusion and the colonization of the
veridical self by the public face (11)
Johnny Depp, during the filming of
Sleepy Hollow, is reported to have attacked
photographers at a London restaurant for their intrusion, complaining that ‘I don’t
want to be what you want me to be tonight
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Renown, in
this book, refers to the informal attribution of distinction on an individual within a
given social network (12)
Whereas renown follows from personal contact with the individual who is
differentiated as unusual or unique, celebrity and notoriety assume a relationship in
which the individual who is differentiated by honorific status is distanced from the
spectator by stage, screen or some equivalent medium of communication (12)
Those who command public acclaim and desire often suffer severe distress when
approval is not demonstrated in private life (12)
I believe that massmedia representation is the key principle in the formation of
celebrity culture
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However,
that is because their presence in the public eye is comprehensively staged
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Interestingly, this point extends to notorious celebrity figures
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Timothy
McVeigh, who was executed on 11 June 2001, had received four proposals of
marriage (15)
Easier to understand fan base of notorious figures when we consider their place in
democracy – possesses colour, and instant cachet, and may even, in some circles,
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be invested with heroism for daring to release the emotions of blocked aggression
and sexuality that civilized society seeks to repress (15)
Sense of failure – in extreme cases, people who do not attain achieved celebrity
resort to violent behaviour in order to acquire acclaim (15)
Celebrity must be understood as a odern
m
phenomenon, a phenomenon of
masscirculation newspapers, TV, radio and film (16)
Celebrities simultaneously embody social types and provide role models (16)
Outofface encounters between celebrities and fans tend to produce three results:
o Confirmation
– the public face of the celebrity is eventually regained and
verified through direct interaction with fans
o Normalization
– celebrity status is rendered transparent through the
articulation and recognition of common traits between the psychology and
culture of celebrities and fans (becomes like us momentarily)
o Cognitive dissonance – encounters radically conflict with massmedia images
of celebrity, exposing the public face to critical condemnation as a calculated
façade or prop (17)
Celebrity status comes in three forms:
o Ascribed
concerns lineage: status typically flows from bloodline
o Achieved
– derives from the perceived accomplishments of the individual in
open competition
o Attributed
the result of the concentrated representation of an individual as
noteworthy or exceptional by cultural intermediaries (18)
Sensationalism is the massmedia’s response to the routines and predictabilities of
everyday life (18)
Bigots, forgers, criminals, whores, balladeers and thinkers have been objects of
public attention since Greek and Roman times
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That is, they were items of public discourse, and
honorific or notorious status was certainly attributed to them
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The veridical self is a site of perpetual public
excavation (19)
Strictly speaking, the public faces that celebrities construct do not belong to them,
since they only possess validity if the public confirms them
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Perhaps this accounts for the higher than
average levels of neurosis and mental illness found among the celebritariat (19)
The fact that celebrity status depends on public recognition is ironic
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One hit wonders, lottery winners, mistresses of public figures
It is in the nature of celetoids to receive their moment of fame and then to disappear
from public consciousness quite rapidly (21)
Celetoids are often constructed around sexual scandal, where they symbolize the
hypocrisy or corruption of public figures (22)
Celeactor
– a fictional character who is either momentarily ubiquitous or becomes an
institutionalized feature of popular culture (23)
● Celeactors are invariably satirical creations
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This carries with it a psychological tension
for the actor portraying the celeactor: the public face threatens to stifle or suffocate
the veridical self (27)
● Three approaches to understanding celebrity:
o Subjectivism
– fasten on the putative singularity of personal characteristics
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While it
may be refined and polished through discipline and practice, its singularity is
presented as a wonderful gift of nature…one should, so to speak, let
celebrities ‘speak for themselves’, and marvel, not meddle, at the reasons for
their fame
FAME ATTACK: THE INFLATION OF CELEBRITY AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
Supply side factors in celebrity inflation; demand side factors
● The biggest supply side factor in the development of celebrity culture is access
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7m readers
● Star
21% growth 1
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This extended the repertoire of programmes and
enlarged and intensified celebrity culture (89)
● ‘Parasocial relationships’ the culture and psychology of audience clusters relating
to mediated (television) stars as if they are on firstname terms with them (Horton
and Whol, 1956) (89)
● Increasing media access also catered directly to the desire of young audiences to
see the new pop and rock and roll stars created by the reinvigorated postwar music
industry (89)
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Elvis Presley
Ed Sullivan Show Jan 1957 82
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They produced
roundtheclock international broadcasting
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More
channels meant more programmes and more intense competition for advertising
revenues (90)
● Today, satellite and cable are being challenged by the domestic system of celebrity
production
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The celebrity meme refers to catchphrases, dance moves, songs and entire
persona unveiled on the Internet that has instant appeal… They can generate high
economic rewards and build a cultural profile for the Internet celebrity (91)
● In some ways the celebrity meme is akin to the celetoid
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is that
celetoids are generally created by the media, whereas celebrity memes emerge from
the domestic system of celebrity which seize media attention from below (91)
● A celebrity meme requires the intervention of dedicated public relations staff to
manage exposure… After the first pang of public interest abates, the overwhelming
majority of celebrity memes sink without a trace (91)
● The prominence and durability of this culture suggests that the world of fame is
fulfilling a public need that is not satisfied by traditional relations of family and
community (92)
Branding
● It is estimated that 20% of American advertisements now feature celebrities (Story,
2006)
● Distinctions within branding:
■ celebrity brand: images, symbols and associations built around a
celebrity
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Even independent that a celebrity
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has touched, let alone owned, a commodity has market value
(Newman
et al
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Things and money take on a life of their own (94)
The cost of sponsorship is passed onto the consumer by increasing the price of the
commodity
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This is not confined to the celebrity brand
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Gillette, Accenture, EA, Gatorola, Nike after Tiger Woods incident
Demand side factors
● Demand side explanations fall into three categories:
■ articulation and the culture of display
■ hero worship and narcissistic idealization
■ religion, and its decline in the West (98)
● All three identify celebrity as the response to the recognition of some sort of
emotional deficit in personal relationships and public life (98)
● Power is concentrated in the hands of the suppliers Bernays (1928) it is the vision
of ‘the invisible government’ in celebrity culture that drives the show (98)
● Demand side approaches start with the proposition of want and vulnerability in the
body politic people hanker after, and in some cases, obsessionally crave, larger,
sanitized versions of themselves or idealized substitutes… From this vantage point, it
is the emotional loneliness, powerless and insecurity of the public that is the key to
celebrity culture (99)
● Projection can elevate some celebrities into positions of political and social
significance
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If personal and public
problems were simply a matter of getting the right celebrity to articulate and tackle
them, they would have been banished from the chart of human history long ago
Articulation and the culture of display
● Some celebrities may appeal more strongly to one class or race, or combination or
classes and races, than to others
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Underexposure is the reverse condition, in which consumer demand
exceeds supply (78)
It is also a question of impact factors, which has to do with more elusive, esoteric
qualitative relationships of image aggregation and image accumulation (79)
Bernays: the challenge for the PRMedia hub is to ‘know how to regiment and guide
the masses’ (Bernays, 1928: 127)
CELEBRITY VAMPING EXAMPLES:
○ Bono: three times Nobel Peace Prize; 29 charity associates including
Amnesty International, UNICEF & War Child
○ Kate Moss: Burberry, Calvin Klein, Rimmel, H&M
○ David Beckham: Pepsi, Adidas, Gillette, Calvin Klein
Paul Theroux criticism of Bono’s support for the Bill & Melinda Gates fund
superficial understanding of Africa’s real needs
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sees Bono
as a wellintentioned, outoftouch rock superstar, who steamrolls glamour relief
projects into the developing world
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The novelty song was an embarrassing contrast with Bowie’s new
bisexual, cuttingedge art image
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Forerunner to ‘I did not have sexual relations with that woman’ both
comments damaged Clinton’s presidency, because they suggested an
untrustworthy, slippery leader
○ Madonna nudes had opposite effect her reputation as a modern girl free
from outmoded conservative hangups was enhanced
● This formula exaggerates the power of cultural intermediaries to control image and
impact factors, and it underestimates public literacy about celebrity brand
construction and management
● Attainment and exposure management is what might be called, the prelife of the star
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The general purpose behind image aggregation
is to build the brand (83)
● Image accumulation refers to the total number of images consumed, produced and
exchanged by the public
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If you take a photo of Miley Cyrus or Nicole
Richie and post it on your website you are adding to image accumulation
● Hard to control external factors
● TIGER WOODS LOST MULTIPLE ENDORSEMENTS FROM $100m EARNINGS
INCLUDING WITH GATORADE AND GILLETTE
● Woods was the first athlete to earn $1 billion from sporting tournaments and
sponsorship deals
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The revelations about Woods’s private life have
produced deep cracks in the public face of his celebrity (84)
● Woods took the hit of being publicly identified as an adulterer, but gained credit for
openly and quickly confessing to his misbehaviour (Letterman) and gained public
sympathy by citing the private anguish he suffered at the hands of the blackmailer
(87)
Celebrity cognitive dissonance
● Cognitive dissonance is the enemy of exposure management
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Impulsive behaviour and recklessness are
commonplace
● Do celebrities sometimes get too big for their boots and get involved in social and
political issues that are beyond their competence?
Celanthropy and its discontents
● ‘Celebrity philanthropy’ celebrities helping those in need
● Paul Theroux’s (2006) condemnation of Bono’s African aid programme for privileging
publicitysensitive relief over more durable reforms of infrastructure
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In
sum, who are white, privileged superstars to speak for ‘the world’? (143)
● That the economically advanced world produces celebrity knowalls and celebrity aid
packages that are insufficiently informed about local conditions is a familiar
complaint:
■ Oprah Winfrey 2007 sexual abuse allegations at Leadership Academy
for Girls in Johannesburg accusations OW had ‘unwittingly created a
gated community in which unscrupulous individuals might easily shield
sexual misconduct from public scrutiny’
● Subjecting native pupils to principles of Western education, even if it takes account of
sensitivities to local conditions, is regarded by some commentators as being
colonialism in modern dress
● Angelina Jolie & multinational adoption
■ 2001 named UNHCR field missions to more than 20 countries eg
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It is one thing to work tirelessly
on behalf of the races of mankind, but it is another to seek to combine
these races, with their different histories and cultural traditions, in one
family unit (145)
Madonna, raising Malawi and adoption
■ Supported Afghanistan Relief Organisation, BID 2 BEAT AIDS, Live
Earth, UNICEF etc
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Madonna matches every dollar raised through
corporate, community and academic support
■ 2006 adopted oneyearold David Banda from Malawi
■ Human rights organizations objected on the grounds that that Malawi
law forbids intercountry adoption
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They argued that in a globalized world these
requirements are invalid because the rights of the child living with non
domiciled parents can be guaranteed by bilateral agreements
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Comparing it with the use of black and white photographs to heighten
consciousness about famine and hardship in the colour supplements,
Parr contends that the image was designed to make Madonna look
romantic and idealistic
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Many
human rights organisations object to the relaxation or elimination of residency
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requirements in adoption on the grounds that it inadvertently paves the way for
trafficking in children (147)
Related issues of judgement and proportion
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People are free to agree or reject Cruise’s case against Ritalin,
psychiatry and the rest
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Cruise presents himself as a lone ranger, backed by the authority of
Scientology, to defend public interest
Russell Brand & Jonathan Ross: Sachsgate
■ In some cases celebrities have developed a powerful sense of
omnipotence and untouchability that allows them to treat anything and
anyone as fair game
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The attitude of the
media is portrayed as frenzied and that of the BBC as exaggerated
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The attitude of the
media is portrayed as frenzied and that of the BBC as exaggerated
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The attitude of the media is portrayed as frenzied and that of
the BBC as exaggerated
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But this is hard to swallow
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Presumed intimacy is the
badge of unity because it conveys the impression that the invisible viewers would act
just like the celebrity if only they knew the real state of affairs and had the power to
make things better
(Brooke Shields postnatal depression incident) Cruise’s superstar glamour, which he
is magnanimously putting to the service of the little people, and his lone ranger
willingness to act as the public advocate against psychiatry and the pharmaceutical
giants, invites approval and hero worship
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He presents himself as putting himself on the line for the
public good (158)
Ross and Brand exploit and develop the personal element in a different way
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They are unable to see what the fuss about
the obscene phone calls is really about
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It is
concentrated on the media furore and the negative public reaction
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It’s not funny’
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The frontier existence of celebrity involves stridency,
narcissism and entitlement, but it is also compatible with selfcorrection and learning
(160)
In expressing relevance, balance or responsibility for national or world issues,
celebrities run the gauntlet of inadvertently revealing incompetence and arrogance
Title: Celebrity - Rojek readings
Description: 15 page package of reading notes on Celebrity & Society, including celebrity cultures, the inflation and business of celebrity, and self-promotion/exposure management. Mainly taken from Rojek readings. Originally used for a Celebrity & Society module for a Journalism BA.
Description: 15 page package of reading notes on Celebrity & Society, including celebrity cultures, the inflation and business of celebrity, and self-promotion/exposure management. Mainly taken from Rojek readings. Originally used for a Celebrity & Society module for a Journalism BA.