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An analysis of celebrity in relation to the entertainment industries

The term ‘celebrity’ simply defined is a famous person in the entertainment industry, the

term originated in Late Middle English. However, in the context of the entertainment

industries different academics have offered up what they categorise and define the term to

mean, for instance, Rojek considers the term to be defined as ‘the accumulation of attention

capital’ , he further goes on to split the term into three categories being ‘Ascribed celebrity’,

‘Achieved celebrity’ and ‘Celtoids’ (Rojek, 2015) similarly, Sternheimer (2011), defines a

celebrity as ‘anyone who is watched, noticed, and known by a critical mass of strangers’.

This essay will analyse the term celebrity whilst surveying different definitions in the context

of the entertainment industries from key academic sources and offer an in depth focus on

the term in relation to the music industry and finally summing up the overall argument of

the essay before

In defining the term celebrity and understanding who a celebrity is, Boorstin (1971)

states ‘the celebrity is a person who is well known for their well-knowness’, they are

individuals who have been ‘fabricated on purpose to satisfy our exaggerated expectations of

human greatness’, this leads to the understanding that the celebrity does not develop fame

through the achievement of great things, but rather through differentiating their own

personality from the multitude of rivals in the public space, Boorstin concludes the reason

entertainers dominate the ranks of celebrity is ‘because they are skilled in the marginal

differentiation of their personalities’, this leads on to the notion of authenticity, if an

individual is able to market themselves as being unique amidst a sea of clones, they are able

to stand out and use that uniqueness as a factor which distinguishes them from the rest.

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Marshall (1997), understands a celebrity to be ‘overtly public individuals’ permitted

to ‘move on the stage while the rest of us watch’, a celebrity then starts to become a form of

entertainment for the general public to watch and make commentary – which may include

criticisms- on, for instance, the Daily Mail offers readers who use their website and mobile

apps the opportunity to make comments as well as make a response to other comments,

commenters are able to praise a celebrity, criticise a celebrity or even sympathise with them

regardless of whether the comments will ever be seen by the individual. In a similar manner,

Turner (2014), comments on understanding when a public figure becomes a celebrity,

stating ‘it occurs at the point at which media interest in their activities is transferred from

reporting their public role … to investigating the detail of their private lives’ (2004: 8), a

popular example of this being the life of the late Princess of Wales, at the end of her

marriage and beginning of her humanitarian work, the media interest became her personal

life, from her relationship with her children to her other romantic relationships which

ultimately led to her death.

Cashmore (2014), on the other hand, takes a more cynical approach on the term

celebrity ‘The cast of characters that make up today’s generation of celebrities couldn’t be

more saleable if they had barcodes… the instant someone makes it into the headlines or

onto television, they start selling.’ His argument focuses on the fact that celebrity culture is

not an extension of a collective preoccupation with the famous but rather, celebrity culture

is not just about celebrities being devices for marketing and promoting the products they

endorse, the celebrities themselves have become commodities in the sense that they can be

bought and sold in the marketplace, consumers then buy into their representations which

stems from the products they are associated with. Cashmore further maintains this cynical

understanding by arguing celebrities have no labour or expertise to sell to the consumers

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whilst some celebrities ‘just appear´, although, we are fascinated by the personal lives of

these celebrities.

While present day thinkers and academics focus on whether celebrities have an

influence on the public, Alberoni (1962), refers to celebrities as being the ‘powerless elite’,

contending that although they have a significant amount of wealth and fame, they have very

little real power. Their fame may be used to draw attention to political and environmental

causes and as a result tend to have more power than the average citizen, they however do

not hold authoritative power, celebrities such as Angelina Jolie, Ewan McGregor and

Michael Sheen, all UNICEF ambassadors who have appeared in adverts for and made trips

with the organisation have campaigned for help from the public, with no authoritative

power, they cannot command for the public to support their cause.

Redmond & Holmes (2007) define celebrity as a term which ‘indicates someone

whose fame rests overwhelmingly on what happens outside the sphere of their work and

who is famous for having a lifestyle’ the basis of their definition is that the celebrity is

constructed through gossip, press, television reports, magazine articles and public relations.

According to Keats (2007), the standing of a celebrity as cultural prototypes provides

society with valuable communizing potential – as society divides into smaller segments,

people are less likely to collectively come across the same cultural experiences, celebrities

then provide us with cultural touchstones at the same time serving as cultural totems for

how or how not to behave.

According to Holmes & Redmond (2006), the celebrity identity is in a state of flux, in

relation to the music industry it begs the question ‘who is the artist?’, with music stars

appearing in a different manner to fans as they normally would, this leaves fans searching

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for who the real person behind the star image really is. Dyer (1998) states fandom and the

construction of stars and celebrities, has always involved the ‘search’ for the ‘authentic’

person that lies behind the manufactured mask of fame, the creation of social media has

effectively helped fans to ‘see’ the celebrities as they really are, from behind the scenes

images of concert preparation to pictures taken in the recording studio enables fans to also

comment on these. In 2002, People Magazine created a series of weekly street photograph

series in which they offer readers the opportunity to see celebrities as they have never been

seen, the series titled ‘Stars – They’re Just Like Us’ shows these famous individuals to not be

necessarily better than the average person, it offered up the chance for the readers to be

able to see celebrities as being just like them, carrying out regular, everyday tasks.

However, the search for the star requires a focus on the issue of authenticity. The

‘Just Like Us’ series was successful at turning street photographs into becoming the

commodities they are today, many striving celebrities call photographers about their plans

to do things such as shopping, car washing or even turn up at paparazzi hotspots. The

development of social media websites such as Instagram and Twitter have altered the way

in which fame maintenance works, celebrities no longer require the co-operation of

paparazzi’s, they no longer need to be ‘busted’ behaving like regular people and as such no

longer require the paparazzi to prove just how real they are. Social media lets them share

everyday occasions on their own, wearing the right outfit, images captured at the right

angles with the right friends such as Taylor Swift’s ‘girl squad’ often captured as being the

best of friends doing what friends would normally do or even Rihanna portrayed as being no

different to a regular, young party girl. Klein (2000), observed what is depicted in a

celebrity’s image is not just an individual, but their brand as well, the contemporary

celebrity is often linked to a series of products, and millions of dollars can hinge on the

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celebrity’s image. Celebrity portraits are designed to embody the celebrity’s own brand, in

this case it serves to boost and reinforce their brand further, Taylor Swift being the

‘wholesome’ role model who seemingly can do no wrong and Rihanna’s ‘bad girl’ persona of

being young and free to do whatever she wants, being an embodiment of the dreams of

young adults who live vicariously through her.

It should, however be understood that the development of new media technological

platforms provides celebrities with the opportunity to be seen, celebrities are now ever

present, contactable, with immediate and constant access. The social media accounts takes

fans to a new level of para-sociality, fans no longer have to wait to read the news to know

what is happening in a celebrity’s personal life, music stars are able to keep fans guessing as

to when new music will be released and even offer teasers for their next projects to keep

fans happy, in turn they gain more publicity. Marwick & Boyd (2011) contend Twitter allows

celebrities to create a sense of closeness and familiarity between themselves and their

followers. Highly followed social media accounts vary in the intimacy they perform; some

mostly broadcast information about upcoming tours or music release, others may post

personal subjects, post exclusive content, or discuss their daily lives. Rojek (2001) criticises

this type of strategic revealing as ‘second order intimacy’ or the ‘illusion of intimacy’ as

Schickel (1985) and Turner (2004) put it.

The music industry in similarity to the film industry, thrives on media rituals such as

the GRAMMY awards, Video Music Awards (VMAs), Billboard Music Awards (BMA), BRITS

and others, the countless award shows crafted to recognise the achievements of well-

known chart toppers and other big names throughout the year, these awards shows serve

to legitimise the music industry (most particularly the GRAMMY awards) by celebrating the

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art of music, it confirms music as an art in itself. As Couldry (2003), states media rituals are

‘actions around key media-related categories and boundaries, whose performance

reinforces, indeed helps legitimate, the underlying ‘value’ expressed in the idea that the

media is our access point to our social centre.’ Alongside the awards are musical

performances from various artists which enhances the importance of liveness where it

becomes more about the music than about the a filmic presence, however, even in this

scenario, artists are still able to take on a cinematic approach to a live performance via a

pre-recorded clip which is shown alongside, for instance, Beyoncé’s performance at the

2016 VMAs featured her hitting a camera with a baseball bat to signal the beginning of the

song ‘Hold Up’ or even Kanye West’s premiere of the song and music video for ‘Fade’.

As Auslander (1999) states, liveness relies on ‘immediacy of connection’ to the event

which means anything can happen at any time as it is unscripted, this has proved to be an

issue in terms of the music awards show, most particularly the VMAs with controversial

acts, in 2008, Kanye West famously interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech which is

still being repeated, in 2013 after the birth of West’s first child, Swift posted a tweet making

reference to the event five years prior. In 2013, Miley Cyrus famously twerked on the stage

with Robin Thicke during his performance of blurred lines, 2015 saw Miley Cyrus insulted by

Nicki Minaj on the stage during Minaj’s acceptance speech. The liveness of these

events have proved to have an inherent cultural value with these moments being repeated

across social media, becoming viral and get turned into ‘memes’, media events are no

longer restricted to being seen only the television, they can now be watched live on the

internet which adds to the intimacy and the liveness of the event.

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Music awards tends to be exclusionary, the winner of the award gets the most

accolades, according to McDonald (2013) these award shows ‘Enact a ritual of exclusion,

conducted under the authority of professional peers’, in this case awards become a winner

takes it all event, although in the case of celebrities in the media industry, not being

nominated for an award is seen as excluding either way, as demonstrated by the online feud

between Nicki Minaj and Taylor Swift in 2015 due to Minaj not being nominated for an

award whilst Swift was.

In conclusion, the term celebrity in the entertainment industries has been

considered by various academics to which has been demonstrated in this essay, and while

the term has been applied to the music industry, it should be understood that this term

cannot stand on its own, it has to be linked to other concepts such as authenticity, social

media, liveness, and media rituals, all of which has been used in the body of the essay. The

concept of the term cannot function on its own without considering the role authenticity

plays with celebrities and how their fans react to their identity, nor can it function without

understanding liveness in terms of celebrity and the music industry as a very important

concept which links back to authenticity particularly in music performance, just as social

media leads back to authenticity and media rituals links to liveness.

Bibliography

Boorstin, D. J. (1971). The image: A guide to pseudo-events in America. Atheneum.

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Cashmore, E. (2014). Celebrity/ culture. New York: Taylor and Francis (Routledge).

Dyer, R., & McDonald, P. (1998). Stars. London: British Film Inst.

Keats, J. (2007, May 22). Open-Source Celebrity: The Wisdom of the Audience. Retrieved October 26,
2016, from Wired, https://www.wired.com/2007/05/st-essay-7/

Marshall, D. P. (1997). Celebrity and power: Fame in contemporary culture (2nd ed.). Minneapolis,
MN: University of Minnesota Press.

Marwick, A., & Boyd, d. (2011). To see and be seen: Celebrity practice on Twitter. Convergence: The
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Redmond, S., & Holmes, S. (Eds.). (2007). Stardom and celebrity: A reader. London: SAGE
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Rojek, C. (2015). The Wiley Blackwell encyclopedia of consumption and consumer studies. United
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Schickel, R. (1985). Intimate strangers: The culture of celebrity. United States: Doubleday Books.

Sternheimer, K. (2011). Celebrity culture and the American dream: Stardom and social mobility.
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Turner, G. (2004). Understanding celebrity. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications.

Turner, G. (2014). Understanding celebrity (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications.