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A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile in the media and is easily recognized. Celebrity status might be associated with certain professions and frequent appearances in the media. It can arise as a result of career planning but it can also arise by accident or as a result of infamy.
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[edit] Instances in history[1]
Early recorded instances of celebrity include the winners at the Olympic games in ancient Greece. Winners of the games promoted their fame by commissioning hymns praising their exploits.
In ancient Rome portraits of powerful men appeared stamped on coins. Works of art bearing their likenesses further enhanced their fame. The renown of certain actors, such as Quintus Roscius Gallus, endured until the 19th century. Gladiators could also gain considerable fame as news of their victories spread by word of mouth.
In the 12th century news of the murder of Thomas à Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, spread across Europe. Relics and images of Becket became commonplace. His portrait was found from Iceland to Palestine. Manuscripts, wall paintings and stained glass were decorated with scenes of the saint's life. His reputation has endured: T. S. Eliot wrote about his death in Murder in the Cathedral in 1935 and a popular film about him appeared in 1964.
In the 16th and early 17th centuries repeated performances of Shakespeare's plays contributed to his fame. Writers gained recognition as literacy levels improved and reading became a form of entertainment. Many consider Lord Byron the archetype of "rock star status;" Having drawn extensively from his personal life in his poetry, and much of his works' early successes were based on the perceived similarity between author and poem, frequently touching on sex, alcohol, drugs, isolation and exoticism. On the success of his first long poem, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage Byron stated "I went to bed one night and simply woke up famous."
In the Victorian era authors such as Charles Dickens built up their popularity by publishing their work in newspapers and magazines.
Growth in the number of media channels in the late 20th century led to increased exposure for celebrities. In the early 21st century there are more celebrities than previously[citation needed].
People may become celebrities in a wide range of ways: from their professions, following appearances in the mass media, or even by complete accident or infamy. The term "instant celebrity" describes someone who becomes a celebrity in a very short period of time. In some places[which?], someone who achieves a small amount of transient fame (through, say, hype or mass media) may become labeled a "B-grade celebrity". Often the generalization extends to someone who falls short of mainstream or persistent fame but who seeks to extend or exploit it.[citation needed] In the 20th century, public fascination with celebrities and demand for celebrity gossip gave rise to the gossip columnist, tabloids, paparazzi and celebrity blogging.
The rise of international celebrities in acting and popular music originates in large part in the scope and scale of the media industries, enabling celebrities to be viewed more often and in more places.
[edit] Regional and cultural celebrities
Most cultures and regions have their own independent celebrity systems[citation needed], with distinct hierarchies of popular film, television and sports stars.[citation needed] A person who garners a degree of fame in one culture may be considered less famous or obscure in another. Some nationwide celebrities might command some attention outside their own nation; for example, the singer Lara Fabian is widely known in the French-speaking world, but only had a couple of Billboard hits in the U.S., whereas the francophone Canadian singer Celine Dion is well-known in both the French-speaking world and in the U.S.
Regions within a country, or cultural communities (linguistic, ethnic, religious) can also have their own celebrity systems, especially in linguistically or culturally distinct regions such as Quebec or Wales. Regional radio personalities, newscasters, politicians or community leaders may be local or regional celebrities.
A local celebrity is a person well known in one locality but are little known elsewhere.
A person might have celebrity status within a particular culture (such as Santa Claus) or might be unique to a particular diaspora.
English-speaking media commentators and journalists will sometimes refer to celebrities as belonging to the A-List or B-List, or C-List, D-List or Z-List, often in a disparaging context. These informal rankings indicate a placing within a hierarchy. However, due to differing levels of celebrity in different regions, it is difficult to place people within one bracket. A Nicaraguan actor might be a B-list action film actor in the US, but an A-list star in the Czech Republic. An objective method of placing celebrities from any country into categories from A-List to H-List based on their number of Google hits has been proposed,[2] but this method only works for people with distinctive names, e.g., Jason Mewes, not Kevin Smith.
It's hard to measure someone's fame. Even worldwide celebrities might still be unknown to people in isolated countries like North Korea, to villagers without access to international news media or to people who are simply uninterested in celebrities. Certain phenomena have however been called[who?] definitive proof of fame, such as appearing on the cover of Time, being spoofed in Mad, having a wax statue in Madame Tussauds, or receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[citation needed]
Certain people are known even to people unfamiliar with the area in which they excelled. Pablo Picasso's style and name are known even to people who are not interested in art; likewise many know that Harry Houdini was an illusionist, Bill Gates a businessman, Albert Einstein a scientist; Mozart and Beethoven classical composers; Luciano Pavarotti an opera singer. Many around the world know the name and face of the current American president.
[edit] Careers that produce celebrity
Some professional activities, being highly paid, exposed and in which it is difficult to excel are likely to confer celebrity status in themselves. For example, movie stars and television actors with lead roles in prominently scheduled shows are likely to become celebrities. High-ranking politicians, businessmen, national television reporters, radio personalities, daytime television show hosts, "supermodels",[3] successful athletes, porn stars and chart-topping musicians are also likely to become celebrities. A few humanitarian leaders such as Mother Teresa have even achieved fame because of their charitable work. Some people have achieved fame online and thus are Internet celebrities.
While some film and theatre directors, producers, fashion designers, artists, authors, trial lawyers, scientists, journalists and dancers have achieved celebrity status, celebrity is not necessary to success in these fields and in general they are less noted than actors of equal professional importance to the business.
[edit] Ensuing political career
- See also Category: American actor-politicians
[edit] Celebrity families
Another example of celebrity is a family that has notable ancestors or is known for its wealth. Examples are the Kennedy, Windsor, Osbourne, Chaplin, Barrymore, Hilton, Bush and Jackson families.
[edit] Celebrity as a mass media phenomenon
In the 1970s, academics began analyzing the phenomenon of celebrity and stardom. According to Sofia Johansson[citation needed] the "canonical texts on stardom" include Daniel Boorstin's The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America (1961) and articles by Boorstin (1971), Alberoni (1972), and Dyer (1979)[vague] which examined the "representations of stars and on aspects of the Hollywood star system." Johansson notes "more recent analyses within media and cultural studies (e.g. Gamson 1994; Marshall 1997; Giles 2000; Turner, Marshall and Bonner 2000; Rojek 2001; Turner 2004[vague]) have instead dealt with the idea of a pervasive, contemporary, 'celebrity culture'."[citation needed]
Bob Greene argues for "most of man's history...people of talent would work to create something--something written, something painted, something sculpted, something acted out--and it would be passed on to audiences." With the rise of reality TV shows, Greene points out audiences have been turned into the creators. He argues the "alleged stars of the reality shows Survivor and Big Brother, have become famous not for doing, but merely for being."[4]
You have to go through many hoops just to talk to a major celebrity. You have to get past three different sets of publicists: the publicist for the event, the publicist for the movie, and then the celebrity's personal publicist. They all have to approve you.—Michael Musto, [5]
Greene says "You simply have to be present, in the right place at the right time." Whereas publicly famous people "were once defined as such based upon the fact their remarkable skills had brought them to the attention of the public." Greene states with reality TV, "one can become a public person just by being a person, in public."
"Celebrities often have fame comparable to royalty," claimed[citation needed] author Micha Frydman. As a result, there is a strong public curiosity about their private affairs. Celebrities may be resented for their accolades, and the public may have a love/hate relationship with celebrities. Due to the high visibility of celebrities' private lives, their successes and shortcomings are often made very public. Celebrities are alternately portrayed as glowing examples of perfection, when they garner awards, or as decadent or immoral if they become associated with a scandal. When seen in a positive light, celebrities are frequently portrayed as possessing skills and abilities beyond average people; for example, celebrity actors are routinely celebrated for acquiring new skills necessary for filming a role within a very brief time, and to a level that amazes the professionals who train them. Similarly, celebrities with very little formal education can be portrayed as experts on complicated issues.
Tabloid magazines and talk TV shows bestow a great deal of attention on celebrities. To stay in the public eye and make money, more celebrities are participating in business ventures such as celebrity-branded items including books, clothing lines, perfume, and household items.
Chapter 1 of Chris Hedges' Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle (2009) is an extensive critique of what he calls "celebrity culture." Citing authors like Daniel Boorstin, Neil Gabler, James Bradley, and C. Wright Mills, Hegdes argues that celebrity culture is a exemplified in media exaltations of superficiality, cosmetic surgery, New Age spirituality mysticism, pop psychology, motivational speakers, success gospel evangelism, and TV shows like American Idol and The Swan. Hedges criticizes the "moral nihilism" inherent in celebrity culture, in which human beings become commodities while those who possess true power — corporations and the oligarchic elite — are veiled and rendered invisible.
[edit] 15 minutes of fame
Andy Warhol coined the phrase "15 minutes of fame". "Celebrities" in the 21st century can now be famous simply by being in the right place at the right time. These "celebs" are regular people who originally are not celebrities, becoming celebrities, and are often turned into celebrities based on the ridiculous things they do. An example of this is reality TV contestant Tiffany Pollard also known as "New York", from VH1's Flavor of Love. "In fact, many reality show contestants fall into this category: the only thing that qualifies them to be on TV is that they're real."[6] Other "15 minutes of fame" celebrities can be average people seen with an A-list celebrity, who are sometimes noticed on entertainment news channels such as E! News.
Warhol also hinted that these people would be famous for "15 minutes", or in other words "a really short time until the fad or trend has died out." This also explains why certain people can be world famous in a certain century, decade, year,... but already obscure soon after. Lorenzo de' Medici was a famous Florentine statesman during the 15th century, but today only people who are familiar with history might know his name. Film actors like Harold Lloyd and Louise Brooks, who were world famous in the 1920s are not as well known by the general public nowadays as they were back then. MC Hammer is famous to people who were young in 1990, but later generations are less familiar with his name or music.
The opposite can be true as well. Painter Rembrandt van Rijn and composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,[citation needed] who were successful during their lifetimes, both died almost forgotten. Their reputation grew only a few decades later. Vincent van Gogh was obscure during his lifetime and only sold one painting in his life. Only several years after his death was he regarded as an innovator and artistic genius and did his fame grow to international proportions. Blues singer Robert Johnson only recorded a handful of songs in the 1930s and then died, only becoming well known in the vicinity of the state where he used to live. He is now much more famous and respected as an artist, due to the legends surrounding his life.
Certain people are only remembered today because of a movie portrayal, certain story or urban legend surrounding their life and less for their accomplishments. Antonio Salieri was a famous and well known 18th century composer, who sank into obscurity the next two centuries. He was rediscovered thanks to the musical and film Amadeus, but his fictional portrayal as an antagonist has been more famous than his music since the end of the 20th century. Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and O.J. Simpson are more notorious for the murder scandal in which they were involved than for their respective movie and sports careers. Ronald Reagan is more famous as a politician today than as a movie actor. Centuries after his death, Andrea Mantegna now better known as the mentor of Leonardo Da Vinci than for his own paintings.[citation needed]
[edit] Celebrity and social networking
Celebrities have been flocking to social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace.[7] Social networking sites allow celebrities to communicate directly with their fans, removing the middle-man known as traditional media. Social media humanizes celebrities in a way that arouses public fascination as evident by the success of magazines such as Us Weekly and People Weekly.[citation needed] Social media sites have even catapulted some to fame. Tila Tequila for example, shot to stardom on MySpace.[8]
[edit] Celebrities and the law
Celebrities have many unique legal issues, of which the most important arise from personality rights.
California has an extraordinary concentration of celebrities in and around Los Angeles (particularly Hollywood), an important center of American culture. The California Legislature has thus enacted a number of laws to deal with celebrities' legal problems, such as the California Celebrities Rights Act. Many U.S.-based celebrities choose to file for divorce in California courts (even when they were married elsewhere) as California judges are experienced in handling celebrity divorces.
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