2016 Chapters (Layout Features)

The Drama of Celebrity: Introduction

Marcus, Sharon

Why do millions of people care so passionately about celebrities? THE DRAMA OF CELEBRITY argues that celebrity culture allows celebrities, media workers, and publics to engage in an ongoing and endlessly engaging struggle over agency: the ability to form intentions and execute actions; to affect and influence others; to assign value and meaning; and to exercise or prompt capacities for creativity, originality, judgment, and action. In celebrity culture, three equally pitched parties—media workers, publics, and celebrities themselves—vie and unite to attain, exercise, and sometimes even surrender agency. The fluid and unpredictable nature of their interactions is what makes celebrity so compelling, dramatic, and entertaining to so many.