This book looks back to the early days of new and social media, to examine the potential threat that such technologies and platforms posed to the mainstream corporate media’s gatekeeping, and its ability to exploit, humiliate, and even violate famous women. Drawing on her own experiences working as part of this gatekeeping system, Stephanie Patrick argues that, in order to combat this threat, the mainstream media doubled down on gendered narratives of meritocracy that legitimized certain (male) celebrities over others. Using a range of case studies spanning "old" media sites and "new," including Disney, Playboy, and reality television, this book demonstrates that sexual exploitation and violation could be considered constitutive of female celebrity, rather than a side effect. Patrick’s case studies include some of America’s most (in)famous celebrities, including Miley Cyrus, Lindsay Lohan, Anna Nicole Smith, Paris Hilton, and Donald Trump, urging readers to question their assumptions about these figures and their public trajectories. This nuanced exploration of patriarchal capitalism and women’s ongoing sexual exploitation by the media will be an important reference for scholars and students of digital and new media, journalism, celebrity studies, and gender studies.

An engaging introduction to the key terms, concepts, dilemmas and issues that are central to the study and critical understanding of celebrity, exploring the impacts of celebrity culture on the modern media and examining the influence that celebrity has on the way people place themselves in the modern world.

Understanding Media cites current scholarship to shed light on how celebrities are manufactured by media and why audiences respond as they do. With case studies ranging from King Louis XIV to pop star Kylie Minogue, it examines the construction of celebrity in four concepts: history, text, production, and audience. Areas of discussion include:

America is fascinated with celebrities—from chefs to athletes to television, movie, and rock stars, and even to people who are only famous for being famous. This book explores the effect of celebrity on Americans' public and private lives. The contributors examine how celebrities bring about change, whether intentionally or unintentionally, and whether those changes are good or bad for the public that loves and follows them. They also discuss the flattening of celebrity and what the rise of pseudo celebrity portends for a society that accords fame without substantial accomplishment. Topics explored include health, philanthropy, activism, and celebrity attitudes toward feminism and police brutality—all issues that fall under the cultural magnifying glass today. Recommended for scholars of media studies, popular culture, and sociology.

Presents an analysis of social media, discussing how a technology which was once heralded as democratic, has evolved into one which promotes elitism and inequality and provides companies with the means of invading privacy in search of profits.

It is a truism to suggest that celebrity pervades all areas of life today. The growth and expansion of celebrity culture in recent years has been accompanied by an explosion of studies of the social function of celebrity and investigations into the fascination of specific celebrities. And yet fundamental questions about what the system of celebrity means for our society have yet to be resolved: Is celebrity a democratization of fame or a powerful hierarchy built on exclusion? Is celebrity created through public demand or is it manufactured? Is the growth of celebrity a harmful dumbing down of culture or an expansion of the public sphere? Why has celebrity come to have such prominence in today’s expanding media? Milly Williamson unpacks these questions for students and researchers alike, re-examining some of the accepted explanations for celebrity culture. The book questions assumptions about the inevitability of the growth of celebrity culture, instead explaining how environments were created in which celebrity output flourished. It provides a compelling new history of the development of celebrity (both long-term and recent) which highlights the relationship between the economic function of celebrity in various media and entertainment industries and its changing social meanings and patterns of consumption.

What is celebrity? How do celebrities influence society? Why do we hang on their every word, tweet or status update? Celebrity Cultures offers a fresh insight into the field of celebrity studies by updating existing debates and exploring recent developments. From the PR campaigns of Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar to the election of Arnold Schwarzenegger as Governor of California, this book critically evaluates a number of diverse celebrity case-studies and considers what they reveal about contemporary global society. Taking into account issues such as gender, sexuality, ethnicity, economics, politics and the media, the book draws upon a range of cultural theorists including Theodore Adorno and Jean Baudrillard. Over the course of ten richly illustrated chapters, the book: Draws upon sociology, cultural theory, media analysis and celebrity commentary to explore and re-evaluate the study of celebrity. Examines the international appeal of celebrity including examples from India, China, South Korea and Indonesia. Includes chapter introductions identifying key points and annotated further reading suggestions. Celebrity Cultures is an invaluable resource for students of celebrity, media and cultural studies.

This insightful book traces the development of journalism and celebrity and their relationship to and influence on political and social spheres from the beginnings of capitalist democracy in the 18th century to the present day. Journalism and Celebrity provides the first account of its kind, revealing the people, places, platforms, and production practices that created celebrity journalism culture, following its origins in the London-based press to its reinvention by the American mass media. Through a transdisciplinary approach to theory and method, this book argues that those who place celebrity in binary to what journalism should be often miss the importance of their mutual dependency in making our societies what they are. Including historical and contemporary case studies from the UK and US, this book is excellent reading for journalism, communication, media studies, and history students, as well as scholars in the fields of journalism, celebrity, cultural studies and political communication.

Celebrity introduces the key terms and concepts, dilemmas and issues that are central to the study and critical understanding of celebrity. Drawing on two dynamic models from two different modes of enquiry – the circuit of celebrity culture and the circuit of celebrity affect – this book explores the multi-layered, multi-faceted contexts and concepts that sit within and surround the study of celebrity. Through building a critical story about celebrity, Sean Redmond discusses key topics such as identity and representation; the celebrity body; the consumption of celebrity and celebrity culture; and the sensory connection between fans and celebrities, gender, activism, gossip and toxicity. Including case studies on Miley Cyrus, David Bowie, Scarlett Johansson and Kate Winslet, Celebrity is a dynamic and topical volume ideal for students and academics in celebrity and cultural studies.