Global Celebrity: Alternatively
focus on a single celebrity from a culture or nationality other than your own
(music, film, television sport, politics, etc) and provide a brief case study
with regards to the concepts examined in the Specular Economy.
The Specular Economy (Marshall
2010) identifies a world in which people are heavily focused the public
presentations of themselves, and the way in which their identities are
interpreted within society. The ability to share photos, videos, and personal
information about oneself through presentational media (social media platforms
etc.) all within an instant has encouraged an outward impression of celebrity
culture within common society. No longer are beauty-poses, pouted lips, make-up
and baby smothering restricted to celebrity activity in hope for impressing the
photo hungry paparazzi. Instead, the constant exposure of identity across
public platforms - ‘free’ access to ditigal media publishing sites, the popularity
of the selfie, smartphone technology etc. - has encouraged us ‘commoners’ to
construct online public personas in the hope of drawing societies attention to
only the filtered, refined, or even posed aspects of our identities, enhancing
the way they themselves are presented to society.
Growing up as a Gen Y’er, I
myself have been subject to the behaviour of presenting and re-producing myself
in order to appeal to online audiences. As the content that I produce across
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram is almost impossible to be completely
retracted, I am constantly feeling the pressures of a specular economy, having
to present myself in certain ways in order to impress the constant surveillance
from the online world.
According to the famous Chinese
proverb, ‘one picture is worth ten thousand words’ (Zelanzy, G. 2006).
Every picture that I place on these sites can not only be interpreted not only
in its original form, but can be downloaded, screenshot-ed edited, cropped,
enhanced, filtered, re-coloured, and de-contextualised by my ‘followers’ with
the end result being a parallax of meanings, and misled interpretations. Is
this behaviour beginning to sound familiar?
But I won’t stop
Until that boy is mine…
I’m your biggest fan
I’ll follow you until you love me
Papa-Paparazzi.’(
As rightly suggested by Lady Gaga in Paparazzi, there is no restricting the interpretations (‘that boy’) of online audiences, whether
made around the original photo, or from an edited version that may appear
somewhere else.
Image From: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8449/7951675012_8e6f5a0001_o.jpg
By allowing personal information to be leaked to the public online
audiences of digital media sites, we are, in turn, encouraging behaviour representational
of the paparazzi and celebrity culture in the ‘ordinary world.’ Not only is
formal content being released and communicated, but with the ease of
self-presentation via social sites, it is the diffusion of the boundaries
separating what’s public, private and intimate, that have led to what can be
considered as paparazzi-like behaviour. Hence the celebrity culture.
It is here, that the specular economy comes into play. In order to
impress our paparazzi, our followers, our fans, our audiences, potential
employers etc. there has become a great importance to manage and filter the
information, pictures and profiles through which personal information can be
leaked. As a result, ‘this has allowed the development of a surplus economy
related to personalities and a different structure through which…[one can]
construct their public image.’(Barbour K. and Marshall P.D. 2012). By
restricting what is produced online, we are thus, managing the rumours and
stories which can be formed under this celebrity culture.
Despite a history of posing for cameras, and life in the public
eye, celebrity behaviour is also subject to speculation in this modern economy.
Perhaps more well-adapted, some celebrities utilise the speculation produced by
the sharing of identity over digital media in order to produce an identity in
order to appeal to certain audiences, suit on on-screen role, or attract new
brand endorsement opportunities. The ability to interact with other online
personalities also adds a further pressure of establishing and maintaining
relationships with fans. The key to a successful economy is the effective and constant
passing of information and products between entities. This encourages communication,
and can be the base upon which perspectives are formed. As a result, it gives
the ability to us social media page holders, to further create a ‘public’ personality
with the opportunity for rebuttal and release of more information in a
conversational setting.
When researching for this blog, it was eye-opening to see just how
many celebrities had personal social media pages. On the one hand, this
suggested to me just how important these sites were at for the endorsement of
the page holders and their activity. However, in a more negative light, it made
my decision of which celebrity to focus on all the more difficult.
One
celebrity who particularly stood out to me was American pop star Chris Brown. Despite a so-far successful career, this R&B icon has experienced constant
run-ins with the media, being both scrutinised and praised for his behaviour, across
printed, screened, and online media platforms. In response to this, there has
been many a retaliation for Brown, creating and communicating his own, perhaps
co-existing, persona in order to defend his built-up reputation. His perhaps
more recent interaction with online society can also, according to Marshal (2010), be
representative of the specular economy.
One
of the ways in which Brown was able to become vocal was through the use of
twitter, a platform upon which he recently shared his opinions by tweeting the
following:
Image
From: https://twitter.com/katthomas85
In
doing this, Chris Brown is drawing public attention to a side that may not have
otherwise been exposed to society. Instead of the usual ‘bad boy of R&B’(Aitkenhead, D. 2013) that he has grown famous under, Chris Brown has acted in order to influence how
he as a person, is interpreted by society. By drawing attention to this sort of
behaviour across these digital platforms, Chris Brown is able to ‘present’
himself as the more charitable personality that may have otherwise not have
been recognised by the consuming public.
This
may have been in effort of recovery from the ‘bad boy’ image as created through
the various rumours of assault that escalated through the online society, through leakages in the media (the paparazzi!!). In order to counteract these visions, Chris
Brown has utilised the features of online media by connecting his fans with a more generous and giving persona, constructing a perhaps, an identity more accepted by society.
An example of his behaviour can be seen through Brown's use of Twitter, linking followers to an anti-gay violence campaign with which he is involved, and supporting a prior tweet as discussed above.
An example of his behaviour can be seen through Brown's use of Twitter, linking followers to an anti-gay violence campaign with which he is involved, and supporting a prior tweet as discussed above.
Similarly audiences are presented with further 'proof' of Brown's reconstruction through his fan page, being directed to a video representation of more of his recent charitable activity.
View video here: http://watch.accesshollywood.com/video/chris-brown-sends-a-positive-message-to-las-urban-community/2561970054001?utm_source=watch.accesshollywood.com&utm_medium=share-link
Chris Brown;s image of being the ‘Charity Man’ has also been plugged to society through Brown’s ‘coming out’ about his past in the to newspapers, and other media sources. This may have also been as part of Brown’s effort to lessen the negative connotations associated with his name.
View video here: http://watch.accesshollywood.com/video/chris-brown-sends-a-positive-message-to-las-urban-community/2561970054001?utm_source=watch.accesshollywood.com&utm_medium=share-link
Chris Brown;s image of being the ‘Charity Man’ has also been plugged to society through Brown’s ‘coming out’ about his past in the to newspapers, and other media sources. This may have also been as part of Brown’s effort to lessen the negative connotations associated with his name.
By purposely releasing this information, Chris Brown
was able to shift the focus of his followers, and re-present himself to society
as a re-constructed personality. Not only were we, as an audience, intensely drawn to Brown’s battle
of self, but could also celebrate in his success, recognised in Brown’s ‘improved’
public self. Who doesn’t love a happy ending?
Being a business student, I would consider these
actions much resemble that of a contingency plan, or crisis management. The efforts
of Brown to manage such information being circulated in society, has in turn, removed
the paparazzi-driven rumours and gossip, and moulded them into constructive
imagery that has resulted in a more positive public image.
It is this concept, of managing information, and promoting one's self through images, online activity, and social interaction that creates the ability to produce and communicate a public image within society. It is with this that we can witness the importance of the specular economy: The ability to construct public image through the promotion of certain profile aspects, as well as the exchange and interaction of filtered personal information, in order to create a desired public profile of oneself. From impressing potential employers, to the total reconstruction of oneself, the specular economy gives online users the ability to enhance their public image to not only appeal to the online community, but also in face to face reality. No longer can rumours be spread as easily and freely, as through the specular economy, people have greater ability to manage the output of information, creating their own distinct personality in socity; most certainly giving the paparazzi (and followers) a run for their money!
References:
Aitkenhead, D. 2013, "Chris Brown: It was the biggest wake-up call", The Guardian, [Online], , pp. 11/10/2013. Available from:http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/oct/04/chris-brown-rihanna-interview-x. [11/10/2013].
Marshal, P.D 2010, ‘The Specular Economy’, Society, vol. 47, no. 6, pp. 498-502
Barbour K. and Marshall P.D. 2012, The Academic Online: Constructing persona through the world wide web, First Monday, vol 17, no. 9, [available: HYPERLINK "http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3969/3292"http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3969/3292]
Marshal, P.D 2010, ‘The Specular Economy’, Society, vol. 47, no. 6, pp. 498-502
Barbour K. and Marshall P.D. 2012, The Academic Online: Constructing persona through the world wide web, First Monday, vol 17, no. 9, [available: HYPERLINK "http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3969/3292"http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3969/3292]
Fusari, R. & Germanotta, S. 2013, , Lady GaGa Lyrics - Paparazzi Lyrics [Homepage of Sony/ATV Music Publishing], [Online]. Available:http://www.metrolyrics.com/paparazzi-lyrics-lady-gaga.html [2013, October 11].
Zelanzy, G. 2006, Say it with Charts, 1st edn, McGraw-Hill Books, United States.
