4. Lz411 the celebrity industry 2013 v2

LZ411 – Critical Media Theory

Celebrities and Celebrity Culture

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Aims today …•Sociological perspectives on celebrity•Semiotic perspectives on celebrity•The function of celebrity

LZ411 – Critical Media Theory

What is a celebrity?

• A sign?• A product?• A construction?• A brand?• A commodity?• A person?• A ‘semiotic link between

the worlds of production, consumption and identity’

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What is celebrity?

THE HERO CREATED HIMSELF; THE CELEBRITY IS CREATED BY THE MEDIA …

THE HERO WAS A BIG MAN, THE CELEBRITY IS A BIG NAME …

THE CELEBRITY IS A PERSON WHO IS KNOWN FOR HIS WELL-KNOWNNESS …DANIEL BOORSTIN 1961

The Guardian 17th October 2011

The rise of discourses of the ‘star’

•The discourse on acting

(deCordova 1991, p.25)

Our New Errand Boy (1905)

Director: James Williamson

•The picture personality

•The star

(“Is your REEL hero ever a REAL hero?”)‘The motion picture classic’ (February 1916)

Florence Lawrence

Celebrity as (complex) ‘sign’

• The work of Richard Dyer on the ‘star as sign’.

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Management and publicists

Appearance expertsCoaching experts

Katie Price – Celebrity/product/brand

The individual

Celebrity production/construction

The ‘production’ of Jade Goody2002 2003

20112009

The ‘production’ of Susan Boyle

Celebrity production/construction

• Reality shows, competition shows

• Cross media production and promotion

Celebrity gossip and news magazines

Tabloids & Middle Market newspapers

Celebrity: The role of the print industry

Journalism and Publicity

• When is journalism publicity?

• When is publicity news?

Daily Mirror 23rd Sep 2005

Daily Mirror 15th Sep 2005

However …

Jamie Oliver – TV Chef

Jamie Oliver - Advertising

Jamie Oliver – Political campaignerJamie Magazine

Celebrity as brand, commodity and face of advertising

‘Jamie’ – Celebrity Chef

An example

• Name all the celebrity - media relationships in this example

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Summary: The sociological perspective

• Celebrities as a ‘remarkable’ social phenomenon

• Key part of the media industries• Key part of consumer culture (i.e.

promoting products, brands etc.)• Celebrities are themselves

commodities and brands (i.e. can be bought and sold on the market)

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The semiotic perspective

• Celebrities are (only) media images which can be analysed using semiotics and cultural theory to inquire into the social meanings of celebrity (as a whole system) and about specific celebrities.

• We do this in order to find out about how celebrity meanings are produced/constructed and why.

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Examining the ‘sign’ Jamie Oliver

• A clip from ‘Jamie and Jimmy’s Food Fight Club’ (Channel 4 2012)

• Questions–What are the connotations of the sign

‘Jamie Oliver’ you already know?–What meanings are prevalent in the

programme about celebrities?–What is the programme saying about

the identities of those involved and the identity of the intended audience?

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“Generally, celebrities’ behavior is representative of the expression of individual preferences and desires and the acting on those preferences and desires. The celebrity is the independent individual par excellence; he or she represents the meaning of freedom and accessibility in a culture”(Marshall 1997: 246)

Celebrity and individual identity

The distinctively produced individual ….Rather like a brand … (it is a brand)

Celebrity as connecting the worlds of objects and people

• “Celebrities function in consumer culture as a connecting fiber between the materiality of production and culturally contextualized meaning of consumption and its relation to collective identity. The celebrity then, is a commodity that possesses in its humanness and familiarity an affective link in consumer culture to the meaning that is bestowed on consumer objects by groups” (Marshall 1997: 245)

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To finish …

• Celebrities are produced by the media industries

• We can regard celebrities as ‘signs’ (semiotically)

• Celebrities are signs with meanings for audiences

• Celebrities ‘tie in’ audiences to the media industries (i.e. celebrities connect people and media products)

• Celebrities as signs are powerful ways of connecting people and products (consumerism)

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References

• Marshall, P. (1997) Celebrity and power, Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Press

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