Kim 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 MoreNew York (2015) Bridging Gaps: Where is the Persona in Celebrity and Journalism?
The Terrace Club 25 W. 51st St. (Off Fifth Ave.) New York, NY September 2-3, 2015 In tabloid journalism and in social media, gossip, rumors and scandals about celebrities develop intimacy among fans. Such gossip and rumour mongering serves a purpose in society: to build a common moral ground on the backs of celebrity lives. However what about the celebrities themselves whose emotional lives are consumed by us? The production, circulation and reception of these celebrities then negate the democratic role of journalism in providing value-free information and undermine artistic talent and...
Read MoreDriving Words
“The dance is a poem of which each movement is a word”. Mata Hari’s beautiful and powerful saying is part of Bollywood actress Madhuri Dixit’s journey in which she explores dance as a metaphor of life. She quotes Carl Sandburg and further highlights that “poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance.” Read more on her dance page. Madhuri Dixit is one of the many famous actresses who not only acts but also dances, and shares it in interviews and on stage. That’s how I grew up – witnessing art as a creative element of fame. For me, fame...
Read MoreFrom Publications to Public Lectures
Dear Readers, I am writing from Toronto Pearson International Airport – had a lovely stay in Canada where I got covered in Chatelaine and Flare magazines. Thanks to writer Sydney Loney for her excellent interview and views. The article reached out to over 120K readers this month. Check out Chatelaine’s April issue for the print edition of her article – will be in newsstands across Canada soon! I am also thrilled to announce that my article “Theatre, Performance and Memory in Fame” is now part of the Double Special Issue: ‘Audiences for stardom and...
Read MoreWriting in Transit
Dear Readers, Hope March started off well for all! It is a pleasure to update that I just received Celebrity and the Media from University of Portsmouth in the UK. I am looking forward to reviewing the book for Routledge publishers next month. I received the offer while I was travelling from Australia to Canada. You can have a glimpse of my latest journey here: https://instagram.com/samitanandy. In Australia, my co-author Dr Hilary Wheaton and I had the honour and pleasure to speak at the inaugural Persona Studies symposium. The talk was based on an area that we are passionate about: the...
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