CELEBRITIES IN AMERICA
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Lecture Titles and Readings
September 17:
"
An Introduction to the Study of Celebrity Culture"
No readings. An intro lecture on celebrity in America
September 24: “Barnum, Humbug, and Jenny Lind, America’s First Modern Star”
The Arts of Deception: Playing With Fraud in the Age of Barnum,
“Introduction: Thinking With Tricks,” James Cook
“E Pluribus Barnum: The Great Showman and the Making of U.S. Popular Culture,” Bluford Adams
October 1: "Creation of the Hollywood Star System and the Censorship of Mae West"
“The Discourse on Acting” Richard de Cordova
“Goodness Had Nothing to Do With It: Censoring Mae West” Marybeth Hamilton
October 8: "Stars As Images: Then and Now"
“Stars As Images” Richard Dyer
"Elvis and the American Dream" Peter Guralnick
October: 15: NO CLASS MEETING (Fall Break)
October 22: NO CLASS MEETING
Hitch Your Antenna to the Stars: Early Television and Broadcast Stardom,
“Chapter 1: Radio and the Saliency of a Broadcast Star System,” Susan Murray
October 29th: The Creation of the Radio Star & the Live TV Star
Hitch Your Antenna to the Stars: Early Television and Broadcast Stardom,
“Chapter 2: ‘A Marriage of Spectacle and Intimacy: Modeling the Ideal Television Performer”
November 5
:
"Vaudeville Stars & Early Television"
Hitch Your Antenna to the Stars: Early Television and Broadcast Stardom,
“Chapter 4: ‘TV Is a Killer’: The Collapse of the Vaudeo Star and Television’s Talent Crisis”
November 12: "Fans and Beatle-maniacs"
“Beatlemania: Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” Barbara Ehrenreich, Elizabeth Hess and Gloria Jacobs
“Fandom As Pathology: The Consequences of Characterization” Joli Jensen
November: 19: "Two Views on the Effects of Celebrity"
“From Hero to Celebrity: The Human Pseudo-Event” Daniel J. Boorstin
“Celebrity, The Tabloid and the Democratic Sphere,” Graeme Turner
N
ovember 26: "Scandal and Celebrity Journalism"
“Systematizing Scandal:
Confidential
Magazine, Stardom, and the State of California,” Mary Desjardines
“Intimately Intertwined in the Most Public Way: Celebrity and Journalism,” P. David Marshall
December 3: "Celebrity 'Ownership' and New Media's Effects on Celebrity"
“The Private Ownership of People” Kembrew McLeod
“New Media-New Self: The Changing Power of Celebrity,” P. David Marshall