The Influence of Celebrity Visibility

Introduction

Today, celebrities emerge from a variety of fields such as sports and entertainment. According to Cashmore (2006), they have high media visibility and sometimes their private lives are likely to be more attractive to the public than their professional life. In contrast with other groups of personalities such as politicians, the fame wielded by celebrities is not much dependent on their achievements or positions but rather, their fame tend to outstrip their claim for prominence once they are established (Connor, 2010). Ideally, according to Couldry (2012), modern celebrities tend to have no special achievements apart from the manner in which they attract the public’s attention. This is well exemplified in the case of Big Brother contestants or even the more famous Kim Kardashian. Consequently, as depicted in the case of Kim Kardashian, most media commentators may agree that the kind of public interest attracted by modern celebrities may be disproportionate for some reason or the other.

Ideally, it is the manner in which the celebrity phenomenon is perverted in the mass media that makes it possible to think that it is a recent development, rather than the fact that the celebrity phenomenon dates backs several centuries ago (Couldry & Hepp, 2010). In the recent past, there has been an observed exorbitance of celebrity cultural visibility, and an increased role of celebrities in shaping various aspects of the contemporary cultural field. However, according to Dakhlia (2008), there is still less consensus among scholars on what constitutes celebrity, and how to precisely understand and describe the phenomenon. Moreover, Dhonest (2005) acknowledges that while a proper assessment of the prevalence of celebrity, its commercial nature and how it is consumed is still undergoing; there is a paucity of knowledge on how to define certain issues. Therefore, the main aim of this paper is to continue with the discussion about the celebrity phenomenon, but with a specific focus on how they relate with their audience.

Study Objectives

To explore the traditional and contemporary understanding of celebrity phenomenon

To explore the relationship between celebrities and their audience

The scope of the Study

The study will make specific reference to the Kardashian phenomenon and how the Kardashians relate with their audience. The Kardashian phenomenon is especially nominated as the case study considering the manner in which it has wielded much public interest both in TV and social media. Moreover, the Kardashian phenomenon is also considered appropriate for the current study due to its multidimensional nature in regards to how it touches on various cultural issues that are of specific interest to this study.

Study Methodology

Search Strategy

This study used a systematic selection and analysis of literature material to achieve its objectives. The process involved the collection of evidence relating to the celebrity phenomenon and analysis of the findings to make a conclusion about the topic. Ideally, all the collected pieces of literature were evaluated to identify their effectiveness in achieving the research objectives and whether they can provide reliable and credible evidence that support the research objectives. Moreover, it was presumed that conducting a systematic process of data collection and analysis of data would allow for an easier replication of the study to emerge with similar conclusions and results. Hence, this allows more insight into the topic under investigation (Baumester, 2013).

Databases

The study retrieved literature materials from search engines and electronic databases such as EBSCO and Proquest. The databases allow for an easier search and retrieval of literature material using specific keywords relevant to the research topic. These databases were used due to their relevance to sociology and cultural studies (Fawler, 2013) and the fact that they contain a wide range of literature from which relevant pieces of evidence can be retrieved.

Keywords

The study used keywords such as celebrity, media, personalities, stars, culture, and Kardashian. Ideally, these search terms were chosen because they could enable an easier, quicker and more comprehensive search for the literature. In doing so, the keywords were modified to suit specific headings that were then used to identify various literature materials. Besides, there was a manual search of eligible articles that could enable the acquisition of relevant material.

Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria

Hek et al (2000) demonstrate that inclusion/exclusion criteria are specifically used in determining the relevance and scope of literature materials. Hence, the inclusion criteria of this study entailed:

• Literature materials written in the English language

• Materials in full-text

• Literature published after the year 2000

All other literature materials that did not meet the above criteria were excluded

Data Analysis

Collected evidence was subjected to thematic analysis and synthesis to make a conclusion regarding celebrity culture and fame, as well as how they relate with their audience. A thematic review is a systematic identification and reporting of the collected data in an easily understandable manner (Hart, 2001). Moreover, according to Rodgers (2000), it entails the identification and analysis of common themes emerging within different information sources so as to create a credible derivation of conclusions regarding the topic under investigation.

Understanding the Past and present of Celebrity Phenomenon

A traditional understanding of Celebrity

The concept of celebrity is defined as public attention and fame that is accorded by the public or mass media to groups or individuals, usually personalities, families or celebrity couples (Ferris, 2010). Fundamentally, celebrity is usually associated with wealth i.e. fame and fortune, which further opens the opportunity for such individuals or persons to earn revenue.

However, a deeper evaluation of the historical perspective of celebrity reveals a phenomenon that has weathered the tides of time to get to what it is currently construed to be. For instance, accounts by Galbrath & Karlin (2012) reveal that celebrity can be traced back to the time of ancient Greek athletes who were welcomed back home with songs of praise, poems, and honour. They also received gifts from other people who were seeking their endorsements (Goldsmith, 2009). Hepp & Couldry (2009) also identified the history of celebrity to be originating from Ancient Rome where notorious gladiators and actors were lauded.

In the early 12th century, the murder of Thomas Becket interestingly made him famous. Consequently, he was promoted as a Christian Martyr, whereby scenes of his life and images became widely popular and spread within a short duration (Hills, 2006). According to Kruismans & Perceval (2007), a repeated pattern of such celebrations and acknowledgments led to his much popularity (usually denoted by the prefix ‘mania’), which later turned into long-lasting fame. Besides, according to Kuhn (2002), the pilgrimages led made to and from his place of death became fashionable and the circumstances surrounding his lifestyle and death has become a major inspiration for films and play.

Fast forward to the 18th century, the cult of personality in the West can also be traceable to the Romantics. According to Kuhn (2010), the Romantics’ largely depended on their reputation to promote their artistic and poetic indulgences as sources of livelihood to them. Hence, in the process of generating fame, they created various cultural hotspots such as Paris and London in the 19th and 18th century respectively. According to Marshal (2010), Newspapers stared highlighting them and including them in gossip columns, while events and clubs were used as places of receiving publicity.

In the 20th century, there was an emergence and spread of the movie industry, which was accompanied by the spread of recognizable faces of superstars and popular personalities (McNamara, 2009). However, according to McElroy (2010), celebrities were not always tied to the film and movie industry, and neither were they tied to firm actors especially when cinema was beginning to take centre stage as part of the media. In fact, Galbrath & Karlin (2012) acknowledges that at the beginning of 20th century, film production companies in America preferred to withhold the names of the performers despite most audiences preferring the names to be publicised. Ideally, the reason why the companies feared publicising the names is that they feared publicity could make the performers demand higher salaries (Ferris, 2010). But, Marshal (2010) observes that public fascination was not only confined to films and television. Instead, their private life started to become news headlines, for instance, the affairs of Raj Kapoor and the marriage of Elizabeth Taylor.

In the Second half of 20th century, a new form of celebrity emerged from popular music and television. For instance, pop groups and rock stars such as the Beatles and Elvis Presley respectively emerged as a new form of celebrities who took the global center stage of fame (Hills, 2006). This idea is exemplified by John Lennon’s 1966 quote that “we are more popular than Jesus now.” According to Galbrath & Karlin (2012), an emergence of controversy over this quote saw John defend himself that he was not boasting didn’t mean to compare himself with Christ. Nonetheless, such events depict how much notorious and adulterated fame can make one become.

As opposed to movies, televisions led to the emergence of celebrities such as talk show hosts, news readers and presenters, and not necessarily actors. However, according to Kuhn (2002), most of these celebrities were only popular within the areas reached by their respective broadcasters. Contrastingly though, some of them such as David Frost, Jerry Springer, and Oprah Winfrey had penetrated to a wider area of influence (Ferris, 2010).

During the 1960s and 1970s, the book industry was experiencing a rapid rise, and they began to persuade various celebrities to append their names on autobiographies, a phenomenon that led to the emergence of a new genre called celebrity publishing (Hills, 2006). Galbrath & Karlin (2012) contend that the books were in most cases written by ghost-writers, and not necessarily the celebrity. Ideally, after the book publishing, the celebrity would be available for a book tour, where they appeared in talk shows to issue a review of the books.

The celebrity culture has taken over the society since the 1950s and 1960s. While today pictures of celebrities cover the glossy pages of magazines and newspapers, Marshal (2010) and Kuhn (2002) agree that it is celebrities such as Andy Warhol, a pop art master, who changed the collective notion of fame. According to Galbrath & Karlin (2012), Warhol mastered the art of creating celebrities, and whatever he did with his films or art gave a true definition of ‘celebrity’. Indeed, Galbrath & Karlin (2012) stipulate that personalities such as Warhol had a great influence on, and practically shaped what today is called social media and reality television.

Warhol was obsessed with top celebrities as evidenced by his collection of celebrity photographs, voice recordings, and autographs (Hills, 2006). However, Marshal (2010) remarks that Warhol was not only obsessed with top class celebrities but also participated in creating celebrities because as friends and family frequented his studio (Warhol’s Factory Studio), he also incorporated them in his film.

The role of Warhol in the development of celebrity phenomenon is widely evident in the way he gave visibility to various personalities who were otherwise not visible and did not star either because of their sexual orientation or because of their class (Ferris, 2010). Warhol highlighted such personalities and brought out the value within them.

Andy Warhol’s main role in celebrity creation can be seen in the case of Marilyn Monroe and Beatrix. In regards to Marilyn Monroe, Andy Warhol produced a paint of Marilyn Monroe which brought him under the spell of silkscreen art especially due to its simplicity and the manner in which the paint could be quickly modified over and over again (Ferris, 2010). Ideally, this spectacular painting not only made Marylyn famous but also Andy Warhol himself.

On the other hand, Beatrix was a queen’s series and had a different focus from that of Marilyn Monroe. According to Kuhn (2002), Beatrix was a large screen field photo that featured the most famous queens by birth i.e. queens who were not married to the royal family but rather born in the royal family. Marshal (2010) argues that these portraits led to the emergence of Queen Margrethe II (Denmark), Queen Elizabeth II (England) Queen Beatrix (Netherlands) and Queen Ntombi (Swaziland) as major celebrities that were later recognized worldwide.