Penguin Children Classics
Thursday 29 November 2012
Context of Practice: Lecture 7 - Celebrity Culture
Celebrity Culture
Helen Clarke
helen.clarke@leeds-art.ac.uk
This lecture provides a short history of celebrity through photography, film and television of
the 20th and 21st Century.. It maps the shift from the Victorian celebrity, who were men and
women of the arts; to the Hollywood Era; through Andy Warhols Factory and into the
contemporary celebrity where the line between Joe public and star, between fan and idol is
easily crossed, or even erased.
In doing so it aims to lead into an examination of contemporary ‘liquid’ identity as Zygmunt
Bauman describes it, which is facilitated by technology and social media.
The lecture also touches on the entry of the politician into the celebrity market and aims to
present this as a side effect of our increasingly ‘spectacular’ society.
The camera and the eye are always trained on the famous. Their movements are mapped.
Papparazzi will stalk celebrities with telephoto zoom lenses to capture their private moments
and with flashes to memorialise their public displays and promotions. Perhaps celebrities
represent the vanguard of the surveillance society , where ones anonymity is surrendered to
the benefits of the cybernetic consumer culture. Our desires are mapped , recorded and
thereby become the material for more precise and directed appeals than mass advertising
could ever achieve.
Despite their regular protests about the invasion of privacy, celebrities are complicit in being
surveilled and monitored: it is part of their job. The camera thus becomes their mirror and the
celebrity’s cultural reflection via the camera is internalised into celebrity culture itself. It is a
form of narcissism, an obsession with image and the body, and concern over presentation
and representation that pervades a city such as Los Angeles. The ripples of this reflecting
pool widen outwards to the audiences themselves into a much more expansive
internalisation of the look and the desire to be looked at. In the era of new media where
blogs and webcams spar for our affections with film and television, the reflections of the
private self sometimes become the material for the individuals desire to be recognised in the
public world- to be famous.
(Marshall: 2006:549)
Further Research
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Lady Gagas meat dress http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11297832
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Bordo, Susan (1990) Material Girl: the Effacements of Postmodern Culture
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Rahman, M () Is straight the new Queer? David Beckham and the dialectics of Celebrity
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Street, J () The Celebrity Politician: Political Style and Popular Culture
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Johnson, R () Exemplary Differences: Mourning and not mourning a Princess
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Hinerman,S () ‘I’ll be there with you’: Fans, Fantasy and the figure of Elvis
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Debord, Guy (1967) Society of the Spectacle
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Baumann, Zygmunt (2004) IdentityThose in bold can be found in The Celebrity Culture Reader (2006) edited by P. David Marshall, RoutledgeBelow Baron Wolman Groupies
why are celebrities important? what does that say about society itself?
culture and celebrity intertwined
photographers of celebrities - round since the beginning
royals, poets, writers of the day - victorian traditional
sepia toning - very pictorial
soft focus enhances the romantic themes
actress almost performing the line of a poem
mythological or religious themes to the work
actors, artists, poets where the celebrities of the time
style seen her work
sitter for particular artists - subjects for her photography to
difference in the treatment of the male and the female
photographed in a different way - no sepia, not as much soft focus
treatment of the male sitters - celebration of what they did rather than how they think
representation of his craft and poetry
pocket watch - symbol of status
pose - much more definite pose - less stage and mythological
important of the development and publicising of the celebrity
still from one of the very first moving images
vanishes in 1890 - others take credit for his work
eras looked at in recent film - no soundtrack except music
story portrays the rise and fail of actor/actress - he's established and she stubbles upon it as an extra - she rises - he declines
american mixed heritage - found fame in french as an exotic dancing
nickname the black pearl, dark venus
very popular - banana skirt
part of the resistant - married to a jew
spied on the nazis through her performance career
help mount a production in marbay - helped people get visas and passports so they could leave the war
outfit based on her banana skirt
referencing in a modern way of the glamour in that era
Beyonce often uses references to her
racial stereotyping or confirming it
first to use dialogue
female mae mcavoy - invisible editing - make us forget the scyronoising of visual and soundtrack
celebrities and actors becoming example for everyday people on how to live your life
he is an onscreen hero and off screen hero - was in the war - mixing off the off/on screen celebrity
sets up status of god like
female star of hollywood - interesting approach to acting and roles
more unlikeable and less attractive roles instead of the passive female
strange canteen for servicemen - they could visit and be waited on my celebrities
reversal of roles of ordinary people and stars
private life coming through on film
being the thin that destroys her - conspiracy of trying to get rid of her
marlin face - recognise it immediately - an image we can't away from
makes it mask - endless repeated
in ability to conceive
hyper real
objects are placed in the image for significance
floating paintbrush - reminds us its a painted image
reflection of her image in the mirror
does the same to elvis
recognises him as a classic american hero - repeats it endless
blurs the vision - see past the character
consumer culture
hollywood - churning out stars - all about money
50 minutes of fame
art space for alternative expression
subcultural people to hang out in the factory
bohemian/artists/musicians
iconic call the factory - people who have fairly low status the photographed and made status
partys / sex / drugs - 60s time - reflection of the politics
people on the edge of society being made into stars
politicians start being celebrities
fashionable wife - become famous
setting up of the drama of his destruction
almost seems indestructible after the Marilyn situation until he's shot
recorded by bystander
this itself becomes the most valuable film footage - $16 million for it by government
top president with the advent of television
speeches appear on the tv
figure like a star
decline in cinema viewing - don't see the stars there
from public domain to private domain - now in the home
television star to influence peoples everyday lives
reality tele - early example of the jackson family - comedy as they act as themselves
scripted scenes for comic value
emerges as a star for being the youngest
change in appearance - documented extremely in the press
symbolic of the society - obsessed with appearance
reaction to his childhood drama at the hands of his father
reflect social trends and values
celebrity and identity played with by madonna
change with each tour and album
reference to the age of wealth is celebrated rather than seen in bad taste
mark of success to show your wealth openly
recycling of the marilyn icon
makes herself an iconic
lists all the icon - fashion for vogue
dance in gay clubs and the time
looks completely different from one album to the other
postmodern recycling of the past
postpostmodern icon
shes referencing to madonna
recycles image every time shes in public
back in the day - just one image that was attached to there whole life - was everything
inventions of herself - just about the spectacle not about her at all
lobster - surrealism - artists work
trying to trump madonna
suggests different explanations
feminist statement - not being a piece of meat as a celebrity - economic object - moved around for financial need - reference to herself
the contemporary obsession with convenient packaged food
the red dress down the red carpet?
doesn't mean anything at all - simply there for shock
isn't something specific to her - recycling the past
elevate her appearance to art
can be turned around
use politics for there own celebration
for there own self promotion
people use the politics back - distorted
pop president - young, good looking, musical, sings in public
reach out through popular culture
fairly street artist to access the outer voting audience
celebrity status to royals
started with charles and diana
royal figures of status to look towards in a nationalistic way
diana - younger than him, less status then him, innocence, seen as a fitting match for him
starts to reinvent herself as she separates from charles
remark herself as a fashion icon - as a beauty
status elevates in the fashion industry
she can't continue in the position she is in - conspiracy she's killed
mass mourning emerges in society
idea to mourn like a close family or friend but in a mass amount
share in the grief and the drama of the end of it
mass mourning is repeated
broadcast and shown online because people wanted to be part of the event
commercial value to the deaths
27 of her singles are expected to chart
gets more expensive - reaction to her death - more likely to die
crossing of ordinary into super hero status he is now
hes a brand
invincible superhero - overcomes marriage difficulty of rumours
celebrity informs and individual or mass identity
comic version of elvis impersonator
bands who imitate other bands
commercial value to this - people will be happy to see impersonators
industry evolved around the celebrity market
elvis home - museum
celebrities in compromising and questionable situations
paparazzi in her photography - long lens - looking through a window
spied on moment - blurred door frame
just using lookalikes - sets up scenes but taps in unconscious of providing us with moments we want to look at - beyond the mask
created unimaginable moment of the rumour of diana being pregnant with another mans baby
asos - as seen on stars
so you can wear clothes that stars have been seen worn
you become like the celebrity by wearing clothes like them
god like figures from there work
kitsch mannar - photographed in studio but retouched to appear like a painting - hyper real feel to the image
intense colour
manipulation by hand
similar colours to indian god images
image of sacred heart - god like
painting of the last supper
sets up the figures in the same positions as da vincis
to worship the celebrity
fashion designer and his muse
both died - he killed himself
image seems prelatic of that moment - shoots to fame and stuck in this circle of artistic objects
parallel imagery
collage of female and male stars to create third person
not necessary identifiable as a star
uncanny - spooky image of combined faces
direct reference to hollywood period
we get in contact with contemporary celebrities
subscribe to there thoughts - the line is crossed
inappropriate line between public and private
real life consequence to the gossip - court cases
no longer have to wait for the magazines
what i this saying about us as a society
dont just want to dress and look like them but want there dan
consumer of images the less we do in real life
replacement for real life
passive identification
more about looking and not so much doing
20 celebrity culture makers who are asking us to join the campaign against KONY
to promote the charity
date set and spread virally
successful in the advertising sense
make him famous
want his image to be in our made
use the idea of fame to bring KONY down
the film maker has a breakdown prior to the date - the success destroys him - publicly breakdown in the press
buying the poster pack or the wristband
explosion well attended spectacle but not seen through the real life action the activism fall short
difference between the passive identification and the activation
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