Description
Book SynopsisIt 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.
Trade Review'The book we’ve been waiting for! At last, a lucid guide to the political economy of celebrity culture. Ranging from the gendered star system of eighteenth-century theatre to the abuse of "ordinary" people in contemporary reality TV, Milly Williamson brings historical and theoretical sophistication to her lively analysis of the mutating relationship between celebrity and capitalism – all the while foregrounding "competing ideals and values about what it means to be human".'
Jo Littler, City University, London 'There are myths about celebrity. Is it a sign of a decaying culture? Is it part of human nature to obsess over stars? Milly Williamson sidesteps these tired questions to get to the heart of the matter by providing the economic history that underpins the phenomenon. A game-changing contribution.'
Toby Miller, University of California, Riverside
"…a much needed contribution to the sprawling field of celebrity studies"
Communication
Table of ContentsContents
Acknowledgements
Chapter One: What is Celebrity? The Changing Character of Fame
Chapter Two: Celebrity and the Theatre: modernity and commercial culture
Chapter Three: Celebrity and the industrialisation of cultural production: the case of the mass press and the cinema
Chapter Four: Celebrity and News
Chapter Five: Ordinary Celebrity
Chapter Six: Social media and celebrity: the internet of �self�
Conclusion
Notes
References
Index
