"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
The Nature of Charismatic Domination - Max Weber
The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction - Walter Benjamin
The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception - Theodor W. Adorno and Max Horkheimer
Myth Today - Roland Barthes
"THAT-HAS-BEEN"; The Pose; The Luminous Rays,Colour; Amazement; Authentification - Roland Barthes
The Ecstasy of Communication - Jean Baudrillard
PART TWO THE ANALYSIS OF FAME: UNDERSTANDING STARDOM
The Powerless Elite - Franceso Alberoni
Theory and Sociological Research on the Phenomenon of the Stars
Stars - Richard Dyer
Heavenly Bodies - Richard Dyer
Stars as a Cinematic Phenomenon - John Ellis
Re-examining Stardom - Christine Geraghty
Questions of Texts, Bodies and Performance
From Beyond Control to In Control - Rebecca Williams
Investigating Barrymore's Feminist Agency/Authorship
PART THREE: FAME - REMEMBER MY NAME?: HISTORIES OF STARDOM AND CELEBRITY
The Emergence of the Star System in America - Richard deCordova
The Assembly Line of Greatness - Joshua Gamson
Celebrity in Twentith-Century America
'Torture, Treacle, Tears and Trickery' - Su Holmes
Celebrities,'Ordinary' People, and This is Your Life
Celebrity and Religion - Chris Rojek
The Dream of Acceptability - Leo Braudy
PART FOUR: PRODUCING FAME: 'BECAUSE I'M WORTH IT'
The Economy of Celebrity - Graeme Turner
Sharon Stone in a Gap Turtleneck - Rebecca L. Epstein
Who Owns Celebrity? Privacy, Publicity and the Legal Regulation of Celebrity Images - Philip Drake
Celebrity CEOS and the cultural economy of tabloid intimacy - Jo Littler
From the Alter to the Market-Place and Back Again - Wenche Ommundsen
Understanding Literary Celebrity
PART FIVE: MADE IN CULTURE: STAR AND CELEBRITY REPRESENTATIONS
The Face of Garbo - Roland Barthes
The Whiteness of Stars - Sean Redmond
Looking at Kate Winslet's Unruly White Body
The Hollywood Latina Body as a Site of Social Struggle - Mary C. Beltran
Media Constructions of Stardom and Jennifer Lopez's "Cross-over Butt"
'Ozzy Worked for those Bleeping Doors with the Crosses on them' - Lisa Holderman
The Osbournes as Social Class Narrative
Mobile Identities, Digital Stars, and Post-Cinematic Selves - Mary Flanagan
PART SIX: CONSUMING FAME/BECOMING FAMOUS: CELEBRITY AND ITS AUDIENCE
With Stars in their Eyes - Jackie Stacey
Female Spectators and the Paradoxes of Consumption
A Star is Dead: A Legend is Born - Yiman Wang
Practicing Leslie Cheung's Posthumous Fandom
Doing it For Themselves? Teenage Girls, Sexuality and Fame - Catherine Lumby
Media Power - Nick Couldry
Some Hidden Dimensions