Vehicle Strand Celebrity Culture Celebrity Gossip Celebrity Culture

Vehicle Strand Celebrity Culture/ Celebrity Gossip

Celebrity Culture B&S: celebrity, stardom & marketing: rise of the movie star, stars and product endorsement, celebrity news The pleasures of celebrity gossip Key terms: extended family, melodrama

Celebrity Gossip Andy Warhol: “In the future, everybody will be world famous for 15 minutes. ” Today = more celebrities, more magazines, more gossip Why?

Who are the Celebrities? ‘stars’: film and TV actors musicians and sports royalty, politicians, business reality TV chefs and nutritionists fashion advisers famous for being famous why the interest? consult the experts…

Celebrity Gossip Why do people find this so interesting? Joke Hermes has an answer…

Hermes’ Theory Joke Hermes (1999) 2 kinds of pleasure from celeb. gossip: (1) extended family (2) melodrama

1. Extended Family Celebrities are brought down to earth You ‘get to know them’ Become part of your life/family They embody ordinary life: relationship problems, (potential) parenthood, frustrations, ambitions Readers relate to the celebrities Pleasure = get to know celebrities

E. g. heat’s big questions: Geordie Shore’s Vicky Patterson, 25: struggling with weight issues. Before and after photos. Article opens: “Just 600 seconds a day to get fit? ” Vicky: “It’s tough, you definitely get a sweat on. But my workouts are only ten minutes long – so come on, who can’t do that? And the results are worth it – this is the slimmest I’ve ever been and the sexiest I’ve ever felt in my life. ”

Fitness expert, Laura Williams: “The reason that these ten-minute workouts are so beneficial is because they are doable. If you’re doing ten minutes of high-intensity exercise that get the heart rate up four or five times a week and you’re watching what you eat, you’ll soon see the benefits. ” heat: “Right, there’s our lunchtimes sorted for the next year. ” Relatable issues Possible solutions Inspiration: if Vicky can do it, so can I!

2. Melodrama Celebrities are elevated into stereotypes/larger than life characters Melodrama: over-the-top, sensational, clichéd, unrealistic Emotional, sentimental, overacting, heroes and villains, good and evil e. g. Made in Chelsea e. g. The Only Way is Essex e. g. Hollyoaks

Melodrama & Sensation Pleasure = celebrities doing outrageous things We enjoy the drama, misery, sensationalism, sentimentalism Life is magnified Celebrities play stereotypical roles (heroes and villains)

Melodrama & Morality Pleasure = passing judgement We enjoy the moral tone of stories Pleased if ‘hero’ succeeds Pleased if ‘villain’ punished Makes you feel good about own life All part of the melodrama

E. g. heat exclusive Article = like an episode of a soap Actors = larger than life “I think she’s a very insecure person and a very difficult person to maintain; I found that she can be quite possessive, jealous and insecure. ” We love the drama and speculation Justice = Life with Jordan is exposed in an “amazing no-holds-barred interview. . . ”

The Good, The Bad and the Monster #2 Celebrity 100 (2013); # 19 (2014) #2 in press (2013); #2: 101. 5 mil followers; #4 (2014) #3: 40. 7 mil followers on Twitter (2013) #6: 60. 8 mil fans on Facebook (2013) #7 in TV/radio #9 in money; # 55 (2014) ‘monstrous’/ multiple personality? Singer Activist Entrepreneur

Internet Celebrities E. g. : Beckii Cruel (aka Rebecca Flint, 19 yrs) #You. Tube vlogger #pop idol in Japan aged 14 #dance cover videos, beauty, hair, gaming #91, 000 subscribers #approx. 20 m total views

Internet Celebrities E. g. : Beckii Cruel "I think the appeal of You. Tube is that it's a very personal relationship that people feel they form with their viewers. . It's a different kind of celebrity. Kids now trust their You. Tube stars more than regular celebrities with endorsement. "

Summary Hermes’ two kinds of pleasure from celebrity gossip: (1) extended family: celebrities brought down to earth pleasure = get to know them (2) melodrama: celebrities become larger than life pleasures = drama and passing judgement Mutations in celebrity culture?

Exercise: Family Melodrama (1) Why do you like celebrity gossip? If you don’t, why not? (2) Is Hermes’ account accurate? Are there any other pleasures to celebrity gossip? (3) What is new about new/internet celebrities?

Environment Strand Classroom or Cave?

Environment Strand Classroom or Cave? Mc. Luhan (a 60 s celebrity) Education & entertainment ‘Classroom without Walls’ (1960) There is no fundamental difference …

Audio-Visual Aids Today’s audio-visual aids in class: You. Tube, DVD, live-streaming, PPT Implication = book is primary Others are all just ‘aids’ This not always the case. . .

Books: From Acoustic to Visual from acoustic to visual space: prior to the book, instruction was oral: people learned by listening, watching and doing book = a new ‘visual aid’ to oral instruction (remember Socrates’ worries) book is primary ‘aid’ in the classroom everyone has same book (e. g. B&S) learning is now primarily from books

Today Most learning achieved outside classroom: TV, magazines, the press, film, radio, internet, etc, i. e. ‘the media’ Schools and books now less important “the classroom walls have cracked”

Entertainment or Education? Many teachers denounce new media The evils of TV, games, social media… ‘mere entertainment’ New media threaten education: Students are ungrammatical, poor attention, more interested in reality tv etc Mc. Luhan: students know better We must remember two points…

1. Classics All classics were first light entertainment e. g. Shakespeare’s Henry V For everyone in Shakespeare’s day 16 th century Hollyoaks or Made in Chelsea Now considered great classics Which will be the TV classics of the future?

2. New Media Forms New media aren’t merely “mechanical gimmicks for creating worlds of illusion” Not just entertainment They are new and unique means of communication and expression Mc. Luhan’s interest: how media work and what they do to us Two effects are interesting here…

(i) Increasingly Acoustic New media = increasingly acoustic Use of language evolves More spontaneous and free New media push written English toward the spoken form e. g. email e. g. instant messaging apps e. g. texting e. g. twitter these written forms are more like spoken language

(ii) Increasingly Expressive New media = increasingly expressive Emphasis on facial expression and bodily gesture (compared to books) e. g. East. Enders argument close-ups e. g. : ) : P : o ; ) + SHOUTING

The Evils of New Media? New media thus make communication less formal Traditional teachers: this is terrible Students write essays like txts or email (forum vs. case study) Mc. Luhan: mass media do change verbal culture We must try to understand the changes…

Mc. Luhan’s Conclusions (1) New media are important for education for 2 reasons: 1. “Whatever pleases teaches more effectively” to teach new theories, start from what people enjoy e. g. post-feminism > Sex and the City e. g. ideology > The Matrix

Mc. Luhan’s Conclusions (2) 2. Education should also be about understanding ordinary social experience Social experience today is mediated Most people today can’t: analyse a newspaper, e. g. The Times analyse a film, e. g. The Matrix It is important to consider these media

Conclusion No fundamental distinction between entertainment and education People are learning all the time We must seek to become aware of what we’re learning Any Questions?

Digital Games Criticized for violence, time-wasting Not just entertainment, but a technology Look at medium, not message

BBC An explicit combination of education & entertainment Free: http: //www. bbc. co. uk/schools/games Science, numeracy, history – EYFS, 4 -7 yrs, 11 -16 yrs, 16+ a pleasing teaching medium accessible form for digital natives

Minecraft meets The Tate: Tate Worlds http: //www. tate. org. uk/about/projects/tate-worlds-art-reimaginedminecraft Minecraft ‘maps’ that present virtual environments inspired by artworks from Tate’s collection. The maps allow players of Minecraft to explore a range of paintings and sculpture, undertaking various activities and challenges that relate to themes of the artworks, or exploring how they were made.

Mc. Luhan argues: there is no fundamental difference between education and entertainment what pleases teaches effectively education should help us understand ordinary experience How effective is BBC School Games or Tate Worlds? Classroom or Cave exercise…

Classroom or Cave? (1) New Media (2) Classroom Tuition (3) Understanding Media (4) Plato's Cave (5) Illusion and Reality (6) Red or Blue?

Understanding Media 2 approaches to understanding media: media as vehicles: conveying messages & meanings media texts: Derren Brown, The Matrix, Buffy, Star Wars, Sex and the City, This is England, Bowling for Columbine, Videodrome, the news, Benetton, Heat theories: semiotics, genre, narrative, representation, audience, realism, new media, ideology, branding, melodrama

Understanding Media media as environments: create new social surroundings media technologies: literacy, print, television, film, radio, telephones, hypertext, blogs, Wikipedia, magazines digital games, social media probes: visual and acoustic space, hot and cool, tetrad, discarnate man, global village, rear-view mirror, ubiquitous publishing, anti-environments, educational media

Module Evaluation I hope you’ve found the module interesting, challenging and enjoyable! Module Evaluation Form: U 75102 Understanding Media