Celebrity Chat
When it is time to give a voice, there is no time to spare! On behalf of the Centre for Media and Celebrity Studies (www.cmc-centre.com), I am pleased to announce that board member Dr Jackie Raphael and I are now producers of the brand new video series Celebrity Chat. Celebrity Chat is a ground-breaking video series on the CMCS YouTube channel that is based on scholarly discussions on celebrity culture. It was launched at the NYC conference “Bridging Gaps: Where is the Persona in Celebrity and Journalism?” last month. Videos are now uploaded as a reliable resource for scholars, students, and...
Read MoreIs there a Caitlyn Jenner in You and Me?
You know I talk about celebrity culture and the notion of popularity. The popular is not limited to celebrities. In fact celebrities are part of popular culture, and the signs of fame shed light on the successful functioning of many other popular representations. A recent example of popular representations is the way in which social media users displayed their affective response towards the US same-sex marriage laws. When a plethora of Facebook users applied a translucent rainbow flag on their profile pictures, I was inspired to support it. At the same time, I did not understand the hype....
Read MoreKim or Caitlyn? Breaking Boundaries in Fame
A question that often comes to our mind: why is fame an important area to reflect on? For me, fame has had a pervasive presence in how fans engage in pleasures and identification, and in how they develop para-social relations with celebrities. The relationship is both material and symbolic. Fan practices such as circulation and re-mixing of celebrity images and texts have physical components. The practices also reflect and reinforce imaginary relations that hold affective and cultural values While the Kardarshians offer pleasures of hybrid identities, they also silence articulations of and...
Read MoreConference Corners
I have just over 7 days left for the inaugural Centre for Media and Celebrity Studies (CMCS) conference in Toronto – it will be an honour and pleasure to finally meet all delegates in person. Part of me is in New York as I am also organizing our next media conference there and being interviewed for Shannon Skinner’s new radio show this week. I am grateful for the opportunities to speak and looking forward to sharing views on celebrities at the conferences and in media. Historically, stardom had its origins in Hollywood where film played a role in creating the actor as a star....
Read MoreBeyond the Professoriate / Bridging Gaps – May 2015 Conferences
Dear Readers, Hope the last week of April is going well for all! May is coming with two empowering conferences that are highly recommended for career development: • Beyond the Professoriate by Centre for Media and Celebrity Studies (CMCS) panelist Jennifer Polk (www.fromphdtolife.com). Online conference for PhDs 2 and 9 May, 2015 Speakers include 25 PhDs from a variety of fields including communication, marketing, public relations, social media, engineering, ethnomusicology, genetics, German and more! Explore career options, ask questions of working professionals, learn skills and connect...
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