The Evolution Of The Current Celebrity System Through Parasocial Interaction

Ever since the start of commercial radio in the 20’s and the since the first silver screen entered the market, broadcasting messages by celebrities has been a tool employed to endorse products.”Just about every star was associated with one sponsor’s product he or she plugged.”(1). Over the years celebrity endorsement became an essential part of marketing (more than 25% of television ads feature celebrities)(5), for the endorser it became an easy way of generating an income while for the endorsing company it became a guaranteed way to reach a wide segment of potential clients.

This paper will examine relevant literature that can be applied to the wide-ranging Twitter responses to Justin Bieber’s release of Purpose: The Movement. The literature review will provide an overview of parasocial interaction theory, celebrity worship, and the involvement of social media in these areas. Following the review of relevant literature will be a list of research questions to guide future study in this field.

“Celebrity and media culture are probably the most overbearing pop-culture conditions that we as young people have to deal with, because it forces us to judge ourselves.” Lady Gaga perfectly describes the corrupt system of celebrity culture. Fame and celebrity culture is nothing new to human nature. As humans progressed from hunting and gathering, people who have been skilled in war, sports, and art have captured people’s undivided attention. As a result, celebrity gossip is an unhealthy distraction that undermines public discourse and sidetracks people from far more important issues. Celebrities are exploited as products to society, set an unrealistic standard of beauty, and the military having to face improper discrimination and a lack of support compared to professional athletes.

After reading “Privacy” by William Prosser, I find myself questioning whether the existence of “legitimate public curiosity about the personality of celebrities” is reason enough for the press to release trivial, exaggerated information about public figures’ lives (416). While I understand that with fame comes a dedicated fan base, it does not seem logical to conclude that consequently, because these fans are fascinated by celebrities’ lives, the press should have access to stars’ less publicized information. As Prosser points out, there is “an enormous amount of petty gossip” published so that newspapers can profit off of irrelevant, sensationalized stories that appeal to the public’s unquenchable thirst to live vicariously through stories

There are abundant reasons several of us are obsessed with celebrities. In Collin Palmer’s essay response, he believes that looking up to celebrities is okay as long as it is a positive obsession. I disagree with Palmer since he fails to notice that many of them have negative sides too.

Have you ever wondered what influences us to behave the way we do? Look a certain way? Or even looked for an explanation to what causes us to apply a certain perspective regarding personal and controversial issues? One of the answers to these questions may revolve around the influence we absorb from celebrities. A definitive term for celebrity is an iconic figure to a category or group who has achieved success in one or multiple aspects of their lives. As a result, these individuals have drawn in publicity and fame. Over the years with the advances in media and other forms of communication, celebrities have become topics of discussion worldwide, rather if it’s at school, with colleagues or at the dinner table, it is fair to say that

While only half of the hypotheses found statistical significance in the project, new questions are surfacing in regards as to how secretive fans view themselves and what being a “private” Brony means for them. Further research is needed to determine not only the political implications individuals face when disclosing their fan activities to others, but how fans delineate the terms “private” or “public” within the fandom since it appears that there is no definitive understanding. Looking at the quantitative data within the survey does illuminate facets of the fandom by providing a general picture of who a Brony is and some of their fan activities, however, those figures do not give a voice to the fans in the survey. In the following discussion

Parasocial relationships are relationships where only one side is aware of its existence. One person invests their emotional energy, interest and time into the relationship while the other party is completely unaware of the other person and the existence of their relationship. These relationships are commonly formed by fans with celebrities that they admire. Some claim a deeper connection and even go as far as proclaim their relationship as intimate. Parasocial Relationships are derived from what is called the Parasocial Contact Hypothesis. The Parasocial Contact Hypothesis was proposed and first coined by Allport (1954). This theory illustrated the workings of interaction between a person of tv and the viewer. The Parasocial Contact Hypothesis

Throughout time fans have idolized celebrities but in recent years It seems as though fandom has been elevated to a new intensity through the advent of social media. It seems almost as if every pop artist has a following of dedicated fans who use their particular fandom to identify and define themselves. Whether they call themselves Swifties, The Bayhive, Belibers, or Little Monsters, these super fans are engaging with recording artists on a much more personal level. The conversation may not be one sided. Thanks to websites like Twitter, celebrities can, and often do choose to cultivate a parasocial relationship, and encourage intimate interaction by engaging and responding to their fans. Why do they do this? Is it possible the Fan/Fan Object relationship is more symbiotic than not?

I have noticed that whenever you go to a store you always see magazines about celebrities, and we are always so intrigued. In an article titles “How Do Celebrities Really Affect Us? ” The author, Auriane Desombre, offers this example: “While a few of the other counselors chatted about the film’s plot, on our side of the campfire the conversation devolved to talking about the actors’ personal lives. This information enthralled

The survey results shows us that 77.3% of the participants do not encourage celebrity worship in which most of them agree that something must be done to stop celebrity worship. However, I also noticed that even though some participants said that they do not encourage worship, a few of them said that they have a celebrity they worship. This tells us that despite them not encouraging celebrity worship, they still worship a celebrity. From this research, people can now understand why it is not good to worship celebrities and those who actually worship them would know more about it. The participants that do not encourage celebrity worship agreed with me that celebrity worship is unhealthy and can cause fans to become overly obsessed over their

In introduction, celebrities are held one pedestal due to their access to the lavish lifestyle they are able to live that the general public is only able to dream of. They have glamour squads to get them ready each morning, and paparazzi chasing them endlessly throughout the day, which is

I think celebrity culture the world over infects vulnerable families with a sense of one 's public image being equivalent to one 's worth. In my family, it began with my show-star great-grandmother, and was handed down, as with that dictionary, that sense of fashioning a persona that not only shields you but is your best self. I think this fear is cultivated if one’s inner life is too quiet. And is why secrecy poisons the fragile filaments of love. Why I still have to check myself when I spend too much time gazing into a mirror and flexing as my father once did.

Digital Media Participation: How Fans Interact Online is a short documentary about how fans show their support to their celebrity idols with the emergence of social media. Our group chose this topic because we notice how fans show their support by going to mall shows or by using certain hashtags on Twitter and make them trend worldwide. This documentary film aims to change the perspective people have on fans that they are cheap, desperate, and low class.

Teenagers often turn to their favorite celebrities for guiding them in their everyday lives. Celebrities have become more mainstream role models for teens, as their images and lifestyles are normally splashed across magazines, television movies, and all throughout pop culture. The other day, as I turned on my TV, I saw a hit story where a