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Stardom and Celebrity
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Stardom and Celebrity
A Reader

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October 2007 | 400 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd
"Acts as a concise introduction to the study of both contemporary and historical stardom and celebrity. Collecting together in one source companion an easily accessible range of readings surrounding stardom and celebrity culture, this book is a worthwhile addition to any library."
- Kerry Gough
, Birmingham City University

"Absolutely wonderful. The inclusion of seminal works and more recent works makes this a very valuable read."
- Beschara Karam
, University of South Africa

"An engaging and often insightful book."
- Media International Australia

This book brings together some of the seminal interventions which have structured the development of stardom and celebrity studies, while crucially combining and situating these within the context of new essays which address the contemporary, cross-media and international landscape of today's fame culture. From Max Weber, Walter Benjamin and Roland Barthes to Catherine Lumby, Chris Rojek and Graeme Turner.

At the core of the collection is a desire to map out a unique historical trajectory - both in terms of the development of fame, as well as the historical development of the field.

 
PART ONE: STAR AND CELEBRITY CULTURE: THEORETICAL ANTECEDENTS
Max Weber
The Nature of Charismatic Domination
Walter Benjamin
The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
Theodor W. Adorno and Max Horkheimer
The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception
Roland Barthes
Myth Today
Roland Barthes
"THAT-HAS-BEEN"; The Pose; The Luminous Rays,Colour; Amazement; Authentification
Jean Baudrillard
The Ecstasy of Communication
 
PART TWO THE ANALYSIS OF FAME: UNDERSTANDING STARDOM
Franceso Alberoni
The Powerless Elite
Theory and Sociological Research on the Phenomenon of the Stars

 
Richard Dyer
Stars
Richard Dyer
Heavenly Bodies
John Ellis
Stars as a Cinematic Phenomenon
Christine Geraghty
Re-examining Stardom
Questions of Texts, Bodies and Performance

 
Rebecca Williams
From Beyond Control to In Control
Investigating Barrymore's Feminist Agency/Authorship

 
 
PART THREE: FAME - REMEMBER MY NAME?: HISTORIES OF STARDOM AND CELEBRITY
Richard deCordova
The Emergence of the Star System in America
Joshua Gamson
The Assembly Line of Greatness
Celebrity in Twentith-Century America

 
Su Holmes
'Torture, Treacle, Tears and Trickery'
Celebrities,'Ordinary' People, and This is Your Life

 
Chris Rojek
Celebrity and Religion
Leo Braudy
The Dream of Acceptability
 
PART FOUR: PRODUCING FAME: 'BECAUSE I'M WORTH IT'
Graeme Turner
The Economy of Celebrity
Rebecca L. Epstein
Sharon Stone in a Gap Turtleneck
Philip Drake
Who Owns Celebrity? Privacy, Publicity and the Legal Regulation of Celebrity Images
Jo Littler
Celebrity CEOS and the cultural economy of tabloid intimacy
Wenche Ommundsen
From the Alter to the Market-Place and Back Again
Understanding Literary Celebrity

 
 
PART FIVE: MADE IN CULTURE: STAR AND CELEBRITY REPRESENTATIONS
Roland Barthes
The Face of Garbo
Sean Redmond
The Whiteness of Stars
Looking at Kate Winslet's Unruly White Body

 
Mary C. Beltran
The Hollywood Latina Body as a Site of Social Struggle
Media Constructions of Stardom and Jennifer Lopez's "Cross-over Butt"

 
Lisa Holderman
'Ozzy Worked for those Bleeping Doors with the Crosses on them'
The Osbournes as Social Class Narrative

 
Mary Flanagan
Mobile Identities, Digital Stars, and Post-Cinematic Selves
 
PART SIX: CONSUMING FAME/BECOMING FAMOUS: CELEBRITY AND ITS AUDIENCE
Jackie Stacey
With Stars in their Eyes
Female Spectators and the Paradoxes of Consumption

 
Yiman Wang
A Star is Dead: A Legend is Born
Practicing Leslie Cheung's Posthumous Fandom

 
Catherine Lumby
Doing it For Themselves? Teenage Girls, Sexuality and Fame
Nick Couldry
Media Power
Some Hidden Dimensions

 

'...an often engaging and often insightful book... Among the best pieces in the 29 chapter collection are those by Australian academics Graeme Turner, whose clear and concise chapter "The Economy of Celebrity" illustrates the industrial imperatives of stardom, and Catherine Lumby, who brings the experience of contemporary teen girl fandom to life in "Doing It For Themselves? Teenage Girls, Sexuality and Fame". And Richard de Cordova's chapter on the emergence of the American star system delivers a fascinating analysis of the construction of the celebrity system in movies' - Media International Australia


"This welcome addition to the literature on fame goes beyond goes beyond stardom--though Redmond and Holmes cover that topic well--to discuss stardom and celebrity in general." 

A.L. Knight
The College of William & Mary
CHOICE

Absolutely wonderful. The inclusion of seminal works and more recent works makes this a very valuable read. I will make this essential reading for my MA students. A highly relevant book especially in light of the recent focus on celebrities and stardom.

Professor Beschara Karam
Department of Communicatin Science, University of South Africa
March 29, 2014

Using for new course on Acting & Stardom on Film & TV - key resource

Dr Russ Hunter
School of Arts & Social Sciences, Northumbria University
September 8, 2011

Great range and breadth of coverage - engaging and accessible.

Mr Philip Dixon
Faculty of Media, Arts and Society, Southampton Solent University
July 28, 2010

This acts as a concise introduction to the study of both contemporary and historical stardom and celebrity. Collecting together in one source companion an easily accessible range of readings surrounding stardom and celebrity culture, this book is a worthwhile addition to any library.

Dr Kerry Gough
Dept of Performance, Media and English, Birmingham City University
July 26, 2010

Braod ranging and appropriate for Level 2 on this module

Dr Sarita Malik
Mass Communications , Brunel University
April 29, 2010

For instructors

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