Reading Response Week 4

My guilty celebrity-obsessed website is Oh No They Didn’t.  When perusing it this morning, it occurred to me how many of the celebrities mentioned on the page were not film stars.  The page is bombarded with images of musicians, models, socialites—even Larry King got a post—which begs the question, what is it about film stars today that don’t seem to attract the attention they used to? 

 

Richard Dyer says that celebrities appeal to the public’s fascination with their extraordinary qualities, but are comforted by their everydayness.  Do contemporary celebrities still maintain this balance?  Are celebrities as glamorous or as ‘normal’ as they used to be?  Are Dyer’s celebrity images, the good joe, the tough guy, the pin-up, the rebel, and the independent woman, applicable to contemporary celebrities?  My first instinct is to say no; with the latest obsession with drug-users and clubbers (think: Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, Amy Winehouse, the Olsen Twins…), clearly celebrity status is more publicity-driven instead of promotion-driven as it was for stars during the golden years. While clearly the star system has mutated since Dyer wrote and published his book, I still wonder what categories celebrities are now put into.

 

Regardless, celebrities are still celebrities for the same reason: they represent the attainment of some twisted version of the American Dream.  I guess it just follows suit that as the American Dream mutates, so does our star system.  Cinema has failed to dominate the entertainment industry of late, which explains the growing population of non-actors in the celebrity realm.  Perhaps the so-called American Dream is more fairly represented by reality-TV stars and celebutants—those who didn’t have to actually work for fame and fortune—in a society that seems overwhelmed by get-rich-quick schemes and America’s Next so-and-so TV show contests.  

 

My biggest concern with the reading for this week is the lack of film stars in the celebrity market, when clearly they were the cause of mass stardom during the studio system.  Are film stars no longer as powerful publicity machines because they have to actually work for a living?  When did film stars just become actors?