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Pamela Anderson and Marilyn Monroe: sex symbols and the naked truth Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2024-02-29 Jeffrey A. Brown
Pamela Anderson is one of the latest in a long line of Hollywood sex symbols that reveal a persistent obsession with celebrities as arbiters of sexual standards and knowledge. Specifically, Anderso...
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Surviving authenticity: Acun Ilıcalı and/as his reality-entertainment enterprise Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2024-02-08 Gökçe Baydar Çavdar
This article focuses on Acun Ilıcalı, the adapter of global formats Fear Factor, The Voice, and Got Talent (among others) since the mid-2000s, one of the most trusted celebrities, and the owner of ...
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#blacklivesmatter in the WWE: professional wrestlers negotiating kayfabe and authentic rhetoric through online political engagement Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2024-02-05 CarrieLynn D. Reinhard, Christopher J. Olson
In traditional professional wrestling, kayfabe involves the performance of fictional characters and matches as authentic. Such performances may involve a presentation of self that does not reflect ...
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‘Forget it’s between two women’: negotiating a queer Virginia Woolf in Chanya Button’s Vita & Virginia Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2024-01-31 Lisa Stead
This article explores the gendered authorial negotiations at work in adaptations of Virginia Woolf’s works and celebrity image in screen media, focusing on a case study of Vita and Virginia (2018) ...
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Editor’s introduction: professional wrestling and authenticity Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2024-01-22 Thomas Alcott, Tom Phillips
Published in Celebrity Studies (Vol. 15, No. 1, 2024)
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Introduction: celebrity between invisibility and hypervisibility Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2024-01-10 Gaston Franssen
Published in Celebrity Studies (Vol. 15, No. 1, 2024)
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Being ‘real’ in a staged sport: the process and negotiation of authenticity in wrestling star images Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2023-12-21 Thomas Alcott
Authenticity can be seen as a point of convergence between celebrity and wrestling studies and is considered to be a central concern to both. The elastic nature of authenticity has been discussed a...
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Becky Lynch: ‘the Man’ behind the brand Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2023-12-21 Tina Simak
Professional wrestling has changed significantly over time, where the lines between fiction and reality have become increasingly intertwined. The days of keeping ‘kayfabe’ have made way for a more ...
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‘The Scottish Warrior’ Drew McIntyre: celebrity-commodity, symbolic ethnicity and authenticity Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2023-12-21 John Quinn
While domestic articulations of Scottish identity represent a shifting and complex arena for political discourse, North American articulations of Scottishness often rely on stereotypes. Enter Drew ...
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‘Enter the Brocktagon’: authenticity, artifice & the creation of the hybridised combat sports star Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2023-12-19 Dan Ward
Professional wrestling, and WWE in particular, has consistently utilised stars with mainstream crossover appeal as totems, not only to draw new audiences to the product, but also to signify new dir...
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Cults of personality: the micro-celebrity work of independent professional wrestlers Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2023-12-19 Sam West
For a new generation of independent professional wrestlers, the combat art of wrestling is no longer confined to the ring (where wrestling matches take place), it spills out across the digital spac...
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Just Like Us: Digital Debates on Feminism and Fame Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2023-12-11 Red Chidgey
Published in Celebrity Studies (Ahead of Print, 2023)
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Celebrity in the Time of Covid: Fandom and the Influence of Pandemic Messaging Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2023-12-12 Matt Hills
Published in Celebrity Studies (Ahead of Print, 2023)
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Mother Teresa. the Saint and her nation Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2023-12-06 Tine Van Osselaer
Published in Celebrity Studies (Ahead of Print, 2023)
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Marilyn Monroe’s mystery house: reappraising Fifth Helena Drive Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2023-09-13 Ana Salzberg
ABSTRACT Since Marilyn Monroe’s death in 1962, her final home has endured in popular culture as both a symbol of personal tragedy and a forensically analysed physical location. As the site of her passing, 12305 Fifth Helena Drive has attracted generations of tourists and has provided the backdrop for numerous theories related to her untimely end. This emphasis on Monroe’s death has, however, overshadowed
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Killing Conchita: celebrity persona (de/re)construction as artistic transformation Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2023-09-12 Jessica Carniel
ABSTRACT Conchita Wurst rose to fame as the bearded drag queen who won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2014. Through Conchita, the artist Thomas Neuwirth found greater success in his career than he had achieved performing under his own name and non-drag image. Despite this, the specific image and persona of Conchita quickly became limiting for his own artistic expression and growth, leading Neuwirth
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Statement of Retraction: From sacrificing sister to star sister: the history of queer celebrity in Turkey Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2023-09-06
Published in Celebrity Studies (Ahead of Print, 2023)
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You live, you learn: celebrity aging, emotional expression, and femininity in Alanis Morissette’s star story Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2023-08-24 Spring-Serenity Duvall
ABSTRACT Alanis Morissette has come to signify a particular kind of ageing Generation X female celebrity since her initial rise to fame almost three decades ago. This project traces her career and maturation in the glare of transnational media that often fail to accept evolutions in her music and identities as she ages. Exploring scholarship on intergenerational feminism, I seek to establish how Morissette
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Women Comedians in the Digital Age: Media Work and Critical Reputations After Trump Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2023-08-10 Kirsten Leng
Published in Celebrity Studies (Vol. 14, No. 4, 2023)
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‘Hazy Cosmic Jive’: composing presence and absence in Moonage Daydream (2022) Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2023-08-08 Cath Davies
ABSTRACT As the V&A museum in London announce their acquisition of over 80, 000 pieces from the David Bowie estate to be exhibited in 2025, and in the immediate wake of Celebrity Studies’ special issue on the ‘maintenance and reassessment of posthumous fame’ (Boyce and Dove 2022a, p. 485), this paper will perform a textual autopsy on Moonage Daydream (Morgen, 2022), highlighting how Morgen extends
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Cultural report: Turkish celebrity dossier Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2023-07-29 Neil Ewen
Published in Celebrity Studies (Vol. 14, No. 3, 2023)
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Fame and Fandom: Functioning On and Offline Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2023-07-08 Celeste Oon
Published in Celebrity Studies (Vol. 14, No. 4, 2023)
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Jon Hamm’s Post-Mad Men Persona and Representations of Hegemonic Masculinity Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2023-06-20 Alex Bevan
ABSTRACT This article argues that Jon Hamm’s post-Mad Men persona critically engages contemporary critiques of hegemonic masculinity. In particular, it analyzes Hamm’s cameo roles to argue for a reflective masculine persona that deploys representational, comedic strategies to deconstruct hegemonic masculinity. The meta-commentary sitting across his performances calls for more fluid interpretations
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A star is made, not born: the production and reproduction of Mae West as a screen icon Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2023-06-08 David R. Coon
ABSTRACT Mae West was one of the biggest stars of early Hollywood, and her influence can still be felt in the work of many contemporary performers. While numerous scholarly accounts have examined West and her star persona, few have considered the creative practices and labour that went into the creation of that persona. This essay explores the construction of Mae West’s star persona by examining West’s
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Streaming bloody murder: documentary celebrity and Sophie Toscan Du Plantier anniversary media (SAM) Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2023-05-05 Maria Pramaggiore, Páraic Kerrigan
ABSTRACT In 2021, three documentary series revitalised the unsolved murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier in 1996 in West Cork, Ireland, for a global audience of true crime enthusiasts. This article analyses the podcast West Cork (Audible 2018/iTunes 2021) and two streaming series, Murder at the Cottage: The Search for Justice for Sophie (Sky Crime 2021) and Sophie: A Murder in West Cork (Netflix 2021)
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Interpersonal dynamics of fame: celebrity discourses in commercial music artist’s romantic relationships Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2023-03-22 Katariina Kakko, Pekka Isotalus
ABSTRACT Commercial music artists seek celebrity capital, which has central value in the music industry and broader society. Previous literature suggests that besides advantages, fame is connected to interpersonal issues in close relationships. The marginalised celebrity discourses emerging from well-known artists’ close interpersonal relationships are examined to better understand the interpersonal
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Teen TV Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2023-03-12 Lauren E. Wilks
Published in Celebrity Studies (Vol. 14, No. 2, 2023)
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Celebrity and Youth: Mediated Audiences, Fame Aspirations, and Identity Formations Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2023-03-09 Shirley Xue Yang
Published in Celebrity Studies (Vol. 14, No. 2, 2023)
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Pop ubiquity: Cameo Performance as Star Management Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2023-03-01 Landon Palmer
ABSTRACT Since the early 1990s, proto-punk rock musician Iggy Pop has regularly appeared onscreen in supporting and cameo roles. While a rock star’s presence across media is hardly novel, the brevity of Pop’s screen performances rests its meaning and value upon a rejection of conventional stardom, persisting through the peripheries of moving image media rather than building a marquee status. This article
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Introduction Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2023-02-13 Alice Guilluy, Eleonora Sammartino
Published in Celebrity Studies (Vol. 14, No. 1, 2023)
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Celebrity myth-making: from Marilyn M. to Kim K Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2023-02-07 Lena Englund
ABSTRACT In May 2022, at the annual Met Gala, Kim Kardashian made an appearance in the iconic dress worn by Marilyn Monroe at President John F. Kennedy’s birthday celebration in 1962. Controversy ensued, relating both to the actual wearing of the dress and to the celebrity status of Kim vs. Marilyn and whether Kardashian had the moral and cultural right to wear the dress. In the aftermath of the Met
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Will the real Paris Hilton please stand up?: The personae, popular feminism, and female celebrity of Cooking with Paris Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2023-02-01 Stacey Overholt, Stephanie L. Gomez
ABSTRACT In August of 2021, Netflix released Cooking with Paris, a six-episode cooking series starring Paris Hilton. Instead of the mature, business-minded Hilton featured in the 2020 documentary This is Paris, Cooking with Paris showcased Hilton as the vapid socialite she played in the early 2000s, sparking public discourse that attempted to make sense of this apparent incongruity. In this essay,
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Razor-sharp charms: Hugh Grant’s image renegotiation and the turn to villains Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2023-01-24 Lennart Soberon
ABSTRACT In the last decade, Hugh Grant has been going through something resembling a career revival. After retreating from his roles as an English gentleman and romantic lead during the mid-2000s, Grant has recently re-emerged to garner critical acclaim in productions, such as Paddington 2 (2017), The Gentlemen (2019), and The Undoing (2020). What these roles have in common is that Grant has abandoned
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‘Such emotional sterility proves ideal for the role’: Hugh Grant’s proto-celebrity and its media (self-)construction around Maurice Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2023-01-23 Claire Monk
ABSTRACT Resumés of Hugh Grant’s career routinely note his performance as the repressed, upper-class Clive Durham in James Ivory’s groundbreaking gay Edwardian drama Maurice (1987) as his breakthrough role. However, Grant’s subsequent rise to global romcom stardom and celebrity since Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) has gradually occluded this earlier career phase from consideration as a significant
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Archiving Greer/Greer archiving: Germaine Greer’s curatorial labour, feminist celebrity studies and archival methodologies Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2023-01-10 Anthea Taylor
ABSTRACT This article draws upon my engagement with the archive of Australian celebrity feminist Germaine Greer to reflect upon the use of archival methodologies in feminist celebrity studies, especially given that the archive itself is heavily implicated in processes of celebrification. The acquisition of this extensive archive by the University of Melbourne enables a mapping of the wider cultural
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Just a famous actor sitting in front of a judge: Hugh Grant’s presentation of self in the Leveson inquiry Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2023-01-04 Lydia Millington
ABSTRACT With its attempts at humour, loosely controlled expressive behaviour and balance of haughtiness and deference, Hugh Grant’s testimony for the Leveson inquiry is rich territory for the analysis of celebrity self-presentation that complicates the dichotomous paradigm of ‘persona’ versus ‘veridical self’. Through detailed analysis of Grant’s physicality and use of prosody, this article focuses
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Fop, bounder and post-feminist father: Hugh Grant and the changing face of modern masculinity Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2023-01-03 Rebecca Feasey
ABSTRACT Extant research on Hugh Grant’s star image routinely combines issues of masculinity, sexuality and national identity. Such work concludes that the stumbling, stammering English gent that he mastered for the character of Charles Thacker in Four Weddings and a Funeral or the dishonourable bounder and morally reprehensible cad that he played so brilliantly in Bridget Jones’s Diary is a perfect
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The larceny of the last second: the case for transcendence Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2023-01-01 Chris Rojek
ABSTRACT This paper submits that the hegemonic order in celebrity studies is fixated upon questions of utility, yield and economic asset value. These technical considerations support a technocratic engagement with celebrity that exaggerates the importance of technology and linearity. By the same token, it devalues philosophical perspectives that address questions of Transcendence and Ultimate Meaning
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Millennials Killed the Video Star: MTV’s Transition to Reality Programming and Extraordinarily Ordinary: Us Weekly and the Rise of Reality Television Celebrity Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2022-12-26 Suri M. Pourmodheji
Published in Celebrity Studies (Vol. 14, No. 1, 2023)
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Scandal maketh the man? The evolution of Hugh Grant and the celebrity confessional Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2022-12-23 Renée Middlemost
ABSTRACT Following a range of supporting roles in the late 1980s, Hugh Grant’s breakthrough performance in Four Weddings and A Funeral (1994) established him as Britain’s ‘go-to’ romantic lead. And yet, a potentially career-ending sex scandal while on the verge of Hollywood stardom could be considered the making of the man. By analysing press coverage using analytical approaches and frameworks from
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Renaissance man: Hugh Grant’s performance of class, white Englishness, and joyfully mature masculinity Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2022-12-22 Marion Hallet
ABSTRACT Hugh Grant’s career and persona have undergone a cultural, personal, and professional shift since the 2010s. During a period of semi-hiatus from acting, Grant became associated with politics as he campaigned for the protection of privacy and opposed Brexit. At the same time, his image has been reshaped through fatherhood, often depicted by the press as the reason behind his ‘comeback’. Since
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‘There’s more to middle age than a saggy belly’: gender, ageing, and agency in Kate Winslet’s post Weinstein star image Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2022-12-16 Lisa Stead
ABSTRACT This article explores the changing star image of Kate Winslet as she enters middle age. It interrogates the media reception of her recent work and off-screen image, considering how discourses around women’s agency, visibility, and opportunity in the wake of #MeToo and #TimesUp have impacted this reception specifically in relation to age. Taking Winslet’s work in the HBO series Mare of Easttown
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Vegan celebrity activism: an analysis of the critical reception of Joaquin Phoenix’s awards speech activism Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2022-12-15 Claire Parkinson, Lara Herring
Acceptance speeches have long been used by celebrity activists as platforms from which to promote their personal, political or ethical agendas. The actor Joaquin Phoenix, an outspoken proponent for...
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The Elon Musk experience: celebrity management in financialised capitalism Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2022-12-08 Agustin Ferrari Braun
This paper critically interrogates Elon Musk’s celebrity image through an analysis of Musk’s appearance in the podcast The Joe Rogan’s Experience. It shows that the billionaire’s public persona is ...
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The Continental Exotic sex symbol – Gal Gadot Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2022-12-07 Jeffrey A. Brown
In every era, the Hollywood sex symbol signifies, in addition to the obvious trait of sexuality, a complicated matrix of social ideals, fantasies and prejudices. Central to many of the ideological ...
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Tragic blondes, Hollywood, and the “radical sixties” myth: Seberg and once upon a time in Hollywood as revisionist and reparative biopic Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2022-11-30 Estella Tincknell
In this essay I explore two recent ‘reparative biopics,’ Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino, 2019) and Seberg (Benedict Andrews, 2019), which share features found in the resurgent cyc...
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Death and celebrity: introduction Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2022-11-21 Charlotte Boyce, Danielle Dove
Published in Celebrity Studies (Vol. 13, No. 4, 2022)
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Spectacular remains: Black celebrity, death and the aesthetics of autopsy Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2022-11-04 Samantha Pinto
ABSTRACT This article analyses two ‘famous’ dissections that go into the Black material interior of Victorian era celebrity: Sarah Baartman’s dissection by French scientist George Cuvier as it is rehearsed by press of the day and artists, biographers and historians in its aftermath and Mary Seacole’s description of her autopsy of a New Grenadian infant, a victim of cholera, in her 1857 Crimean war
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RETRACTED ARTICLE: From Sacrificing Sister to Star Sister: The History of Queer Celebrity in Turkey Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2022-11-03 Yektanurşin Duyan
Published in Celebrity Studies (Ahead of Print, 2022)
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Posthumous celebrity, persona and memorialisation: French newspaper coverage of the popular music artist Johnny Hallyday Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2022-10-31 Chris Tinker
ABSTRACT Focusing on the popular music artist Johnny Hallyday in the immediate aftermath of his death in 2017, this article shows how his initial posthumous newspaper coverage in France exhibits many of the general features of celebrity news and journalism, draws a broadly positive consensus around his public persona when alive while opening up possible areas for discussion or debate and represents
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Senses of an ending: Danish reactions to the death of Elvis Presley in 1977 Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2022-10-31 Bertel Nygaard
ABSTRACT The death of Elvis Presley in August 1977 unveiled a field of contested interpretative and emotional positions regarding his public persona and its wider cultural implications. Closely studying the particular repercussions of such contestations in Denmark, using the totality of available source material, this article analyses a historically specific complex of temporal sediments and contested
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‘Natalie Wood Day’: sexual violence and celebrity remembrance in the #MeToo Era Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2022-10-31 Susanna Paasonen, Tanya Horeck
This article inquires after the ethics of posthumous outing and networked forms of remembrance connected to public figures accused of, or having admitted to, sexual violence and domestic abuse. Foc...
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‘Spill your guts or fill your guts’: Performative celebrity masochism and audience sadism in food challenge media Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2022-10-31 Odin O’Sullivan
This article argues for the consideration of food challenge media as a mode in which the audience’s sadistic desire for the levelling of celebrities ‘through personal humiliation’ is captured and r...
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‘Obituary, gender, and posthumous fame: the New York Times Overlooked project’ Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2022-10-18 Charlotte Boyce, Danielle Mariann Dove
ABSTRACT This article examines the New York Times’ ‘Overlooked’ project, an online memorialising enterprise dedicated to providing ‘forgotten’ celebrities (mostly women) with retrospective obituaries. Launched on International Women’s Day 2018 with the aim of addressing the gendered and racialised inequalities inherent in obituary selection, the project attempts to rectify the NYT’s omission of notable
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The death of the star: celebrity decay and the Gothic portrait in Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Diptych Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2022-10-17 Harriet Fletcher
ABSTRACT This article uses Gothic studies to examine the preoccupation with death in Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Diptych. Drawing on the Gothic convention of the decaying portrait, I argue that Marilyn Diptych communicates a wider tension between immortality and death at the heart of American celebrity culture in the 1960s. The decaying portrait is a traditional motif within the Gothic novel, but this article
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‘Are Di would of loved it’: reanimating Princess Diana through dolls and AI Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2022-10-13 Phoenix CS Andrews
ABSTRACT Princess Diana is a secular saint whose fame spans generations and borders and has never dimmed. Fiction, fashion, relatability and a diverse and fervent fandom keep Diana current and relevant over 25 years since her death. In this article, I argue that Diana’s death and persisting celebrity give fans the freedom to own and play with her image and persona, and to relate to her in new ways
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Jazz Jennings and Evie Macdonald: trans child celebrities, transnormativity, and childhood ‘innocence’ Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2022-09-08 Joanna McIntyre, Damien W. Riggs, Clare Bartholomaeus
ABSTRACT Since the turn of the century, mainstream media representations of trans people have significantly increased, and trans celebrities have been a determining force in this cultural movement. Media interest in trans people’s lives has expanded to encompass trans children, and the trans child celebrity has become a relatively new recruit in the realm of stardom. Nevertheless, little scholarly
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Heritage child stars on Disney+: the liquidities of child stardom in the SVOD era Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2022-08-30 Djoymi Baker, Jessica Balanzategui
ABSTRACT Disney is a brand long associated with the production of family content and a continually replenished suite of child stars. The 2019 launch of Disney+ leveraged these heritage child stars in its tightly curated home page, stressing nostalgia and a wholesome brand image around the figure of the child. This article explores how the Disney+ interface aesthetics, catalogue organisation and other
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The child celebrity as palimpsest: reconceptualising the interface between childhood and celebrity studies Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2022-08-30 Djoymi Baker, Jessica Balanzategui, Diana Sandars
Published in Celebrity Studies (Vol. 14, No. 2, 2023)
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‘Dolly “5 to 9”: manufactured authenticity, transmedia storytelling, and Parton’s star image’ Celebrity Studies (IF 1.167) Pub Date : 2022-08-25 Leigh H. Edwards
Singer-songwriter Dolly Parton has increasingly been using transmedia storytelling in a distinctive way, by retelling some of her signature songs in new contexts and turning them into television mo...