The Drama of Celebrity
Written by Sharon Marcus
Narrated by Olivia Vinall
()
About this audiobook
A bold new account of how celebrity works
Why do so many people care so much about celebrities? Who decides who gets to be a star? What are the privileges and pleasures of fandom? Do celebrities ever deserve the outsized attention they receive?
In this fascinating and deeply researched book, Sharon Marcus challenges everything you thought you knew about our obsession with fame. Icons are not merely famous for being famous; the media alone cannot make or break stars; fans are not simply passive dupes. Instead, journalists, the public, and celebrities themselves all compete, passionately and expertly, to shape the stories we tell about celebrities and fans. The result: a high-stakes drama as endless as it is unpredictable.
Drawing on scrapbooks, personal diaries, and vintage fan mail, Marcus traces celebrity culture back to its nineteenth-century roots, when people the world over found themselves captivated by celebrity chefs, bad-boy poets, and actors such as the “divine” Sarah Bernhardt (1844–1923), as famous in her day as the Beatles in theirs. Known in her youth for sleeping in a coffin, hailed in maturity as a woman of genius, Bernhardt became a global superstar thanks to savvy engagement with her era’s most innovative media and technologies: the popular press, commercial photography, and speedy new forms of travel.
Whether you love celebrity culture or hate it, The Drama of Celebrity will change how you think about one of the most important phenomena of modern times.
Sharon Marcus
Sharon Marcus is Associate Professor of English at the University of California, Berkeley.
Related to The Drama of Celebrity
Related audiobooks
Confidential Confidential: The Inside Story of Hollywood's Notorious Scandal Magazine Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5How You Get Famous: Ten Years of Drag Madness in Brooklyn Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKick Out the Jams: Jibes, Barbs, Tributes, and Rallying Cries from 35 Years of Music Writing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gatecrasher Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Matrimony, Inc.: From Personal Ads to Swiping Right, a Story of America Looking for Love Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFlappers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dead Famous: An Unexpected History of Celebrity from Bronze Age to Silver Screen Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Girls on Film: Lessons From a Life of Watching Women in Movies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Nostalgia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Audience-ology: How Moviegoers Shape the Films We Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5From Hollywood with Love: The Rise and Fall (and Rise Again) of the Romantic Comedy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Best Pick: A Journey through Film History and the Academy Awards Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance and the Rise of Independent Film Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Camera Man: Buster Keaton, the Dawn of Cinema, and the Invention of the Twentieth Century Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5True Story: What Reality TV Says About Us Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Scandals of Classic Hollywood: Sex, Deviance, and Drama from the Golden Age of American Cinema Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Fame: The Hijacking of Reality Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Big Picture: The Fight for the Future of Movies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5As If!: The Oral History of Clueless, as Told by Amy Heckerling, the Cast, and the Crew Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'll Be in My Trailer: The Creative Wars Between Directors and Actors Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hollywood: The Oral History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Way Hollywood Tells It: Story and Style in Modern Movies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Seduction: Sex, Lies, and Stardom in Howard Hughes's Hollywood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Icons and Instincts: Choreographing and Directing Entertainment's Biggest Stars Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhatever Happened to Hollywood? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 30 Rock Book: Inside the Iconic Show, from Blerg to EGOT Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Popular Culture & Media Studies For You
Do You Know Who I Am?: Battling Imposter Syndrome in Hollywood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 50th Law Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Freakonomics Rev Ed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Predictably Irrational Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Burn Book: A Tech Love Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Don't Panic: Douglas Adams and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Burn It Down: Power, Complicity, and a Call for Change in Hollywood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Butts: A Backstory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Among the Bros: A Fraternity Crime Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sybil Exposed: The Extraordinary Story Behind the Famous Multiple Personality Case Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Cosmic: UFOs, Religion, Technology Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women's Anger Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Of Dice and Men: The Story of Dungeons & Dragons and The People Who Play It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hell's Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Extremely Online: The Untold Story of Fame, Influence, and Power on the Internet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hate Inc.: Why Today's Media Makes Us Despise One Another Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Religion of Sports: Navigating the Trials of Life through the Games we Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Don't Trust Your Gut: Using Data to Get What You Really Want in Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Psychology of Zelda: Linking Our World to the Legend of Zelda Series Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Zombie Spaceship Wasteland: A Book by Patton Oswalt Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Reviews for The Drama of Celebrity
0 ratings0 reviews