Celebrity and Fan Magazines

Celebrity and Fame

Sociologist Leo Lowenthal argued that between 1901 and 1941, biographies in popular magazines underwent a striking change. Whereas earlier biographies of American society's heroes featured “idols of production”—they stemmed from the productive life of business, industry, and natural science—newer magazine heroes being featured were “idols of consumption”—they were directly or indirectly related to the sphere of leisure time, the worlds of entertainment and sports. What Lowenthal was describing was the shift in popular interest to the modern-day celebrity.

Other scholars believe that the development of visual technology was significant in fostering celebrity. As photography lent new importance to the representation of the individual and was increasingly employed in print media, the “dissemination of the face,” writes researcher Joshua Gamson, displaced the dissemination of ideas, laying the ground for the “publicizing of people.”

Fame is rarely achieved without assistance from partner industries and journalists often play a significant role. The companies and brands for which celebrities work, and not just the celebrities themselves, are responsible for creating and perpetuating the celebrity frenzy. A multifaceted process undertaken by the celebrity industry contributes to fame. As researcher Barbie Zelizer observed, stardom today is largely the result of advances in mass media technology and emerges from publicity activities coupled with repeated and routinized mass media appearances. These technologies and activities have made possible the extension of celebrity status to different kinds of public actors such as heiresses and socialites. This broadening of the term “celebrity” is perpetuated by an elaborate industry for public discourse exemplified not only by magazines, but by television shows such as Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood, Showbiz Tonight, the entire E! television channel, and websites such as http://TMZ.com and http://PerezHilton.com, which regularly engage in commentary and criticism about these figures' professional and nonprofessional activities.

The success of any given celebrity depends on the celebrity and media industries and on audience response. This last factor is vital to creating stars. People's social networks aid the dissemination of celebrity gossip and news. Industry production and distribution networks also circulate newsworthy items in hopes of increasing a celebrity's profile. From the beginning fame has required publicity, but celebrities are usually complicit in building up their own fame. As researcher Leo Braudy wrote in 1986, “societies always generate a number of people willing and eager to live at least part of their lives in the public eye.”

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