Celebrity and Power
Simultaneously celebrated and denigrated, celebrities represent not only the embodiment of success, but also the ultimate construction of false value. Celebrity and Power questions the impulse to become embroiled with the construction and collapse of the famous, exploring the concept of the new public intimacy: a product of social media in which celebrities from Lady Gaga to Barack Obama are expected to continuously campaign for audiences in new ways. In a new Introduction for this edition, P. David Marshall investigates the viewing public’s desire to associate with celebrity and addresses the explosion of instant access to celebrity culture, bringing famous people and their admirers closer than ever before.
P. David Marshall is research professor and holds a personal chair in new media, communication, and cultural studies at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia. He is editor of Celebrity Culture Reader, coeditor of Companion to Celebrity Studies, author of New Media Cultures, and coauthor of Web Theory and Fame Games.