Table Of ContentCelebrity and Youth: Mediated Audiences, Fame Aspirations, and Identity Formation
29
makes an examination of contemporary celebrity culture with an emphasis on how
young celebrities are manufactured, how fan communities are cultivated, and how
young audiences consume and aspire to fame. This book foregrounds considerations
of diversity within celebrity and fan cultures, and takes an international perspective on
the production of stardom. Chapters include interviews with professional athletes in the
C
United States about their experiences with stardom after coming out as gay, and inter-
views with young people in Europe about their consumption of celebrity and aspirations
E
of achieving fame via social media. Other chapters include interviews with young Cana- CELEBRITY
L
dian women that illuminate the potential influence of famous feminists on audience
E
political engagement, and critical analysis of media narratives about race, happiness,
cultural appropriation, and popular feminisms. The current anthology brings together B
scholarship from Canada, the United States, Spain, and Portugal to demonstrate the
and
R
pervasive reach of global celebrity, as well as the commonality of youth experiences
with celebrity in diverse cultural settings. I You th
T
“Offering both intersectional and international perspectives on young people and con- Y
temporary celebrity culture, Celebrity and Youth: Mediated Audiences, Fame Aspira-
a
tions, and Identity Formation is a rich contribution to the fields of celebrity studies,
n
youth studies, and media studies. The chapters collected here are sure to expand our
d
critical understanding of not only young celebrities but also how young people engage
Y
with fame as they explore, fashion, and perform their own identities.”
o
—Mary Celeste Kearney, Director of Gender Studies and Associate Professor
u
of Film, Television, and Theatre, University of Notre Dame
t
“Celebrity and Youth: Mediated Audiences, Fame Aspirations, and Identity Formation h Mediated Audiences, Fame Aspirations,
offers a much-needed interdisciplinary examination of the ways in which celebrity and
and Identity Formation
its relationship to youth and identity are both understood and reconfigured in a digital
age. This collection deftly illuminates how the construction and production of cultural
identity is so influenced by celebrity. Duvall presents a wide range of essays which offer
deeply insightful contemporary analyses of the perspectives of young people as they
navigate an increasingly complex celebrity culture.”
—Kirsty Fairclough, Associate Dean: Research and Innovation, D
E
School of Arts and Media, University of Salford DITuv
Oa
Rl
l
Spring-Serenity Duvall is Associate Professor of Communication and Media Studies at
Salem College. She is the co-author, with Leigh Moscowitz, of Snatched: News Cover- EDITED BY
age of Child Abductions in U.S. Media (2016). Her research appears in Celebrity Studies;
Communication, Culture, and Critique; Feminist Media Studies; and Journal of Children Spring-Serenity Duvall
& Media.
P
E
T
E
R
L
A
N
G
www.peterlang.com
Celebrity and Youth: Mediated Audiences, Fame Aspirations, and Identity Formation
29
makes an examination of contemporary celebrity culture with an emphasis on how
young celebrities are manufactured, how fan communities are cultivated, and how
young audiences consume and aspire to fame. This book foregrounds considerations
of diversity within celebrity and fan cultures, and takes an international perspective on
the production of stardom. Chapters include interviews with professional athletes in the
C
United States about their experiences with stardom after coming out as gay, and inter-
views with young people in Europe about their consumption of celebrity and aspirations
E
of achieving fame via social media. Other chapters include interviews with young Cana- CELEBRITY
L
dian women that illuminate the potential influence of famous feminists on audience
E
political engagement, and critical analysis of media narratives about race, happiness,
cultural appropriation, and popular feminisms. The current anthology brings together B
scholarship from Canada, the United States, Spain, and Portugal to demonstrate the
and
R
pervasive reach of global celebrity, as well as the commonality of youth experiences
with celebrity in diverse cultural settings. I You th
T
“Offering both intersectional and international perspectives on young people and con- Y
temporary celebrity culture, Celebrity and Youth: Mediated Audiences, Fame Aspira-
a
tions, and Identity Formation is a rich contribution to the fields of celebrity studies,
n
youth studies, and media studies. The chapters collected here are sure to expand our
d
critical understanding of not only young celebrities but also how young people engage
Y
with fame as they explore, fashion, and perform their own identities.”
o
—Mary Celeste Kearney, Director of Gender Studies and Associate Professor
u
of Film, Television, and Theatre, University of Notre Dame
t
“Celebrity and Youth: Mediated Audiences, Fame Aspirations, and Identity Formation h Mediated Audiences, Fame Aspirations,
offers a much-needed interdisciplinary examination of the ways in which celebrity and
and Identity Formation
its relationship to youth and identity are both understood and reconfigured in a digital
age. This collection deftly illuminates how the construction and production of cultural
identity is so influenced by celebrity. Duvall presents a wide range of essays which offer
deeply insightful contemporary analyses of the perspectives of young people as they
navigate an increasingly complex celebrity culture.”
—Kirsty Fairclough, Associate Dean: Research and Innovation, D
E
School of Arts and Media, University of Salford DITuv
Oa
Rl
l
Spring-Serenity Duvall is Associate Professor of Communication and Media Studies at
Salem College. She is the co-author, with Leigh Moscowitz, of Snatched: News Cover- EDITED BY
age of Child Abductions in U.S. Media (2016). Her research appears in Celebrity Studies;
Communication, Culture, and Critique; Feminist Media Studies; and Journal of Children Spring-Serenity Duvall
& Media.
P
E
T
E
R
L
A
N
G
www.peterlang.com
ADVANCE PRAISE FOR
Celebrity and Youth
“Celebrity and Youth: Mediated Audiences, Fame Aspirations, and Identity Formation is
an outstanding contribution to the growing literature on how conceptions of youth
play a central role in the production, circulation, and reception of celebrity culture.
Taking the reader through various interconnecting strands of analysis, including the
construction of young star images, the manufacture of youth as a desirable and
desiring subjectivity, and the ebbing agency that is found within and across fan
communities, this volume places young people at the heart of why and how celebrity
matters. With fascinating case studies that take us from the schools of Flanders to the
vlogs of Portuguese micro-celebrities, from the creativity of One Direction girl fan
practices to the ‘come of age’ fans of Emma Watson, and from the colorblind politics
of Kendall Jenner to the First Children status of the Obama daughters, we find the
most brilliant forms of empirical, cultural, and contextual scholarship in interaction.
Why do young people want to be famous? Read this excellent, timely volume for the
complex answers we need.”
—Sean Redmond, Editor of Celebrity Studies Journal and
Professor of Screen and Design, Deakin University
Celebrity and Youth
Sharon R. Mazzarella
General Editor
Vol. 29
The Mediated Youth series is part of the Peter Lang Media and Communication list.
Every volume is peer reviewed and meets
the highest quality standards for content and production.
PETER LANG
New York Bern Berlin
Brussels Vienna Oxford Warsaw
Celebrity and Youth
Mediated Audiences, Fame Aspirations,
and Identity Formation
Edited by Spring-Serenity Duvall
PETER LANG
New York Bern Berlin
Brussels Vienna Oxford Warsaw
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Duvall, Spring-Serenity, editor.
Title: Celebrity and youth: mediated audiences, fame aspirations, and
identity formation / edited by Spring-Serenity Duvall.
Description: New York: Peter Lang, 2019.
Series: Mediated youth; v. 29
ISSN 1555-1814 (print) | ISSN 2378-2935 (online)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018042640 | ISBN 978-1-4331-4310-6 (hardback: alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4331-4309-0 (paperback: alk. paper) | ISBN 978-1-4331-4311-3 (ebook pdf)
ISBN 978-1-4331-4312-0 (epub) | ISBN 978-1-4331-4313-7 (mobi)
Subjects: LCSH: Youth—Social conditions. | Fame—Social aspects. | Ambition. |
Celebrities. | Identity (Psychology) in adolescence.
Classification: LCC HQ796 .C3965 | DDC 155.5/182—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018042640
DOI 10.3726/b14527
Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data are available
on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de/.
© 2019 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York
29 Broadway, 18th floor, New York, NY 10006
www.peterlang.com
All rights reserved.
Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm,
xerography, microfiche, microcard, and offset strictly prohibited.
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Spring-Serenity Duvall
Chapter 1: Social Media Celebrities as Salient Resource for Preteens’
Identity Work 17
Annebeth Bels and Hilde Van den Bulck
Chapter 2: WTF: Digital Ambassadors for the Young Generation? 37
Ana Jorge and Thays Nunes
Chapter 3: “INSANE PREGNANCY PRANK ON BOYFRIEND!”: Performing
Gender, Domestic Assault, and Sexism via Couple’s Prank Videos
on YouTube 57
Jessica Birthisel
Chapter 4: Adolescents as Cultural Activists: Remixing Celebrities in Fandom
Communities 81
Pilar Lacasa, Julián de la Fuente, Sara Cortés, María Ruth García-Pernía
Chapter 5: Out in Play: Openly Gay Male Athletes Navigate Media, Celebrity,
and Fandom 101
Leigh M. Moscowitz and Andrew C. Billings
vi | table of contents
Chapter 6: Believing in Emma Watson: Casual Fandom and Emerging
Feminism in Audience Support for the United Nations #HeForShe
Campaign 129
Spring-Serenity Duvall
Chapter 7: Under Western (Girls’) Eyes: Cultural Appropriation and
Feminism in the Celebrity Fashion of Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid 151
Jessica E. Johnston
Chapter 8: All-American Girls: Examining the Media Coverage of Malia
and Sasha Obama as Young Political Celebrities 172
Newly Paul
Chapter 9: Getting “Out of the Woods” and Coming “Clean”: Narrating
Happiness in the Music and Celebrity of Taylor Swift 200
Maghan Molloy Jackson
About the Contributors 223
Index 227
