Swivelling the spotlight: stardom, celebrity and ‘me’

Su Holmes*, Sarah Ralph, Sean Redmond

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

14 Citations (Scopus)
70 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Celebrity studies critiques the ways in which celebrity culture constructs discourses of authenticity and disclosure, offering the cultural and economic circulation of the ‘private’ self. Rarely, however, do we turn the spotlight on ourselves as not only scholars of stardom and celebrity, but also part of the audience. Autoethnography has become increasingly important across different disciplines, although its status within media and cultural studies is less visible and secure, not least because the emphasis on personal attachments to media forms may threaten the discipline’s still contested claim to cultural legitimacy. The study of stars and celebrities has often found itself at the ‘lower’ end of this already debased continuum, perhaps making such tensions particularly acute. Based on three personal narratives of engagements with stars and celebrities, this co-authored article explores the potential relationships between autoethnography and celebrity studies, and considers the personal, intellectual, and political implications of bringing the scholar into the celebrity frame.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)100-117
Number of pages18
JournalCelebrity Studies
Volume6
Issue number1
Early online date19 Jan 2015
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2015
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • autoethnography
  • emotion
  • personal
  • subjectivity

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Swivelling the spotlight: stardom, celebrity and ‘me’'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this