Claims to Fame: Celebrity in Contemporary AmericaUniversity of California Press, 2023 M11 15 - 270 pages Moving from People magazine to publicists' offices to tours of stars' homes, Joshua Gamson investigates the larger-than-life terrain of American celebrity culture. In the first major academic work since the early 1940s to seriously analyze the meaning of fame in American life, Gamson begins with the often-heard criticisms that today's heroes have been replaced by pseudoheroes, that notoriety has become detached from merit. He draws on literary and sociological theory, as well as interviews with celebrity-industry workers, to untangle the paradoxical nature of an American popular culture that is both obsessively invested in glamour and fantasy yet also aware of celebrity's transparency and commercialism. Gamson examines the contemporary "dream machine" that publicists, tabloid newspapers, journalists, and TV interviewers use to create semi-fictional icons. He finds that celebrity watchers, for whom spotting celebrities becomes a spectator sport akin to watching football or fireworks, glean their own rewards in a game that turns as often on playing with inauthenticity as on identifying with stars. Gamson also looks at the "celebritization" of politics and the complex questions it poses regarding image and reality. He makes clear that to understand American public culture, we must understand that strange, ubiquitous phenomenon, celebrity. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1994. Moving from People magazine to publicists' offices to tours of stars' homes, Joshua Gamson investigates the larger-than-life terrain of American celebrity culture. In the first major academic work since the early 1940s to seriously analyze the mean |
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activities actor agent American Angelyne argues artificial attention audience authenticity Barnum become behaviors believe celebrity images celebrity industry celebrity production celebrity text celebrity watchers celebrity-based celebrity-watching client commercial coverage critical culture cynical discourse entertainment celebrity Entertainment Tonight example fact fame famous Fan Magazines fiction glamour going gossip Hollywood interest interpretation interview Jean Baudrillard journalists Julia Roberts Kevin Costner Latino look Lynn Whitfield manager manipulation manufacture Mass meaning Michael Michael Gurevitch movie Nia Peeples P. T. Barnum performance personal publicist photograph playing politics popular position postmodern promotion publicist questions relationship reporting Richard Schickel role Rolling Stone says Schudson sell semifictional simply social star system Stardom story strategy studio stuff tabloids talent talk show television tell there's thing tion Todd Gitlin truth TV Guide University Press viewer visible watching woman workers writing York
References to this book
The Place of Media Power: Pilgrims and Witnesses of the Media Age Nick Couldry No preview available - 2000 |