Celebrity culture has changed in a lot of ways thanks to social and digital media. The most obvious being that social media is another means by which they create and manage their personas. As David Marshall puts it, it is a different structure through which the famed construct their social image” (2010: 498). We, as new and social media users, are becoming more and more conscious of how we present ourselves as well as how others might perceive us. It has “produced a new regime of personal presentation (Marshall, 2010, 502) and in this surplus economy of celebrity and persona constructs, personalities are abundant and extreme.
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Social media has permeated previously private moments and demands composure of the self all of the time. Take unflattering photos of celebrities post-workout, for example. How dare they look as sweaty and gross as the other 99% of the population after a workout!
What I find interesting is Marshall’s second element of the changing celebrity economy, that of technology which “now affords and privileges the interaction and exchange between and among users” (Marshall, 2010: 498). In other words, the instantaneous and interactive aspects of social media that some celebrities choose to embrace. Lady Gaga, for example, is known for personally replying to messages on Facebook, as is Ricky Gervais on Twitter. On Facebook, I am “friends” with self-published authors I’ve ground through Amazon who regularly interact with their fans and other authors primarily by commenting, sharing and linking.
My favourite example though is John Green’s persona on Tumblr. The young adult author has inspired a game on the blogging site - #Is That John Green? - where he is notorious for popping up and commenting on text posts which are often quite amusing. He also shares a YouTube channel with his brother, Hank Green, where John Green teaches you humanities and Hank Green teaches you science.
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 There are many negative consequences of social media on celebrity culture which are not mentioned or debated here. Instead, I’ve chosen to focus on the ways new media does what it does best: closes the time and space gaps, bringing people closer together - even celebrities. References: Barbour, K & Marshall D 2011, 'Persona and the Academy: Making Decisions, Distinctions and Profiles in the Era of Presentational Media', World Congress on Communication and Arts, April 17-20, Sao Paulo, Brazil, pp. 14-18 Marshall, D 2010, ‘The Specular Economy’, Symposium: Celebrity Around the World, published on Springer, Vol. 47: pp 498-502 Marshall, D 2013, 'Persona Studies: Mapping the Proliferation of the Public Self', Sage, Vol. 0, No. 0, pp. 1-18 |
I have read many posts on this topic and yours is very interesting because as you say it does focus on the positive ways that the social media can illustrate a persons persona. The information that you provided about Lady Gaga and Ricky Gervais personally replying to online comments really does illustrate the quote you chose from Marshall, 2010, "exchange between and among users". This interaction being between a celebrity and ordinary person/fan shows how famous people can show how 'ordinary' they really are by chatting to other non celebrities. Without today's technology and the micropublic many celebrities would not have been able to illustrate this persona. As Marshall (2010, p. 498) says, "the celebrity economy goes beyond entertainment". With this example of celebrity communication with ordinary people, it really does!
ReplyDeleteClaire,
ReplyDeletefirstly I'd like to point out the engaging format of your post, it is really eye-catching and was refreshing to find. The point you make on different celebrities, through Marshall, on how they interact with fans on social media to be really thought provoking, perhaps a carefully crafted PR move?
John Green was a really good example and slotted in really neatly with the post. He almost directly relates to what we are talking about in much of his blogging. Thankyou as well for using him as an example, I think he is fantastic.