Page 175 - Cultural Studies A Practical Introduction

Audience, Performance, and Celebrity 159

economy ’ s lower rungs appears as a caustic comment on a more liberal -
sounding expression of care regarding Spears and her illness. Those who
get away with things in this discourse, especially those who earn money
without a hard life and hard effort, are judged negatively. It is as much a
social position speaking as a person.

Student Exercise

Pick a celebrity you are interested in or are interested in studying,
and look up the gossip that is written about him or her on such sites
as prettyboring.com or ShowBizSpy.com. Analyze a gossip segment
for the values it contains.

Notes

1. “ Britney Spears Worried Tour Will Flop, ” ShowBizSpy.com, March 2, 2009,
http://www.showbizspy.com/article/182617/britney-spears-worried-tour-will-
fl op.html (accessed October 10, 2009).
2. “ Jennifer Aniston, Owen Wilson Plug ‘ Marley & Me ’ with Doggie Feast, ”
New York Daily News , March 2, 2009, http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/
2009/03/02/2009-03-02_jennifer_aniston_owen_wilson_plug_marley.html
(accessed October 10, 2009).
3. Lisa Vogle Songer, “ Britney Spears, Comeback Queen, ” Pretty Boring, http://
www.prettyboring.com/?q=node/9344 (accessed October 10, 2009).

Sources

On Celebrity Culture, see Paul McCaffrey , ed., Celebrity Culture in the United States
( New York , 2008 ); Sean Redmond and Su Holmes , eds., Stardom and Celebrity:
A Reader ( Los Angeles , 2007 ); Su Holmes and Sean Redmond , Framing Celebrity:
New Directions in Celebrity Culture ( London , 2006 ); P. David Marshall ,
The Celebrity Culture Reader ( New York , 2006 ); Ellis Cashmore , Celebrity/Culture
( Abingdon, UK , 2006 ); Chris Rojek , Celebrity ( London , 2001 ); and P. David
Marshall , Celebrity and Power: Fame in Contemporary Culture ( Minneapolis,
Minn. , 1997 ). On Britney Spears, see Leah Greenblatt , “ Britney Gets Back in