Table of Contents
Media and Celebrity:
Production And Consumption of “Well-Knownness”
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
A. Section outline of this review . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2. Historical Approach: From Alexander the Great
to Reality TV Celebrities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
A. The historical origin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
B. The birth of celebrity journalism . . . . . . . . . . 6
3. The (Mass) Media’s Role in Creating Fame . . . . 9
A. Relationship between paparazzi,
Celebrities and their followers . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1. Battles for visibility and control . . . . . . . .12
B. Reality TV: Construction and
deconstruction of fame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
1. Altered (perception of) Celebrity
value through Reality TV . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
2. Reality TV production from an
economic perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
3. Balance of power between Reality TV
and its participants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
4. Media coverage of
Reality TV participants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
C. Interplay between mass and social media
communication channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
1. The place of social media in the traditional
media’s landscape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
2. Celebrities’ use of social media . . . . . . . . .18
3. Fame through social media and usergenerated
content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
4. Interaction between Audience, Celebrities,
and Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
A. The position of the audience in the celebrity
cultural industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
B. The Audience as a Consumer, Producer, and
Promoter of Mediated Celebrity Content . . .22
C. Relationship between Celebrities and their
Audience through Online Media . . . . . . . . . .23
5. From the Celebrities’ Point of View:
Case Study of Switzerland’s Beauty Queens . . . .24
6. Research Prospective for Media Celebrity
Scholars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
Additional Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32
Book Reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35
Recommended Citation
Hellmueller, Lea C. and Aeschbacher, Nina
(2010)
"Media and Celebrity: Production and Consumption of “Well-Knownness”,"
Communication Research Trends: Vol. 29:
No.
4, Article 1.
Available at:
https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/crt/vol29/iss4/1