Page 221 - CULTURE IN THE COMMUNICATION AGE

STEPHEN HINERMAN

The future of celebrity
There is no escape from the culture of stardom. Famous images meet us on
buses, in magazines, and on Web pages. Their voices ring out from CDs, radios,
television sets, and personal computers. We cannot escape them by traveling to
distant lands or hiding in our homes.
Despite the growing uniformity of star images worldwide and the money-
driven services celebrities perform by selling product for global corporations, it
is unwise simply to condemn stars, the culture industries that promote them,
and the multitude of fans who love them. We most certainly are not creating a
world that is devoid of difference, nor are audiences turning into passive con-
sumers of some predigested media menu. In fact, the diversity of voices, types,
and ethnicities of stars today, as well as the creative and critical ways that people
evaluate the performances and lives of their favorite celebrities, make it clear
that star culture may be pervasive, but is by no means bland or banal.
Changes in the nature of time and space brought on by the advent of
modern and postmodern environments have made identity formation today
particularly problematic and complex. In the global context, stars act as
cultural resources that help audiences construct their identities and stable
selves. To assume that these audiences will automatically ‘misuse’ such symbolic
resources – turning themselves into unthinking zombies or desperate loners in
the process – simply ignores the vitality, intelligence, and creativity that people
bring to cultural enactment. It is time to appreciate the global star culture in
which we live with an open mind, and to acknowledge the determining roles
we all willingly play in its tireless creation.

References
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Aristotle (1962). The Rhetoric of Aristotle, trs. L. Cooper. New York: Appleton
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Baudrillard, J. (1988). Jean Baudrillard: Selected Works, ed. M. Poster. Cambridge: Polity
Press.
Boorstin, D. (1961). The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-events in America. New York: Harper
and Row.
Braudy, L. (1986). The Frenzy of Renown: Fame and Its History. New York: Oxford
University Press.
DeCordova, R. (1990). Picture Personalities: The Emergence of the Star System in America.
Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
—— (1991). ‘The emergence of the star system in America’. In C. Gledhill (ed.),
Stardom: Industry of Desire. London: Routledge.
Donald, J. (1985). ‘Stars’. In P. Cook (ed.), The Cinema Book. London: British Film
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