Celebrities provide a way for people to talk publicly about very personal issues, according to a University of Queensland academic.
Director of the Media and Cultural Studies Centre within the University's English Department Dr David Marshall has been researching the cultural reasons behind the public's endless fascination with famous actors and musicians.
In his new book, Celebrity and Power: Fame in Contemporary Culture (University of Minnesota Press), Dr Marshall discusses celebrities over the past century.
'Celebrities provide the perfect vehicle for public gossip, a conduit to discussing the most private domestic issues such as divorce, motherhood and adultery as well as wider social issues such as religion (for example, Tom Cruise and Scientology) and race (for example, O.J. Simpson),' he said.
'They also represent shining examples of individual success, the very glue of our Western consumer, capitalist and democratic society. However, just as the public celebrates the rise of stars, it seems to revel in their fall as this is evidence of their connection with us, their fallibility.
'The British actor Hugh Grant was able to compress a rise, a sexually scandalous fall, and, through talk-show contrition, a return to general acceptance, all in the wonderful synergistic time frame of the publicity build-up for his 1995 Hollywood movie Nine Months'.
Dr Marshall said the public granted favoured celebrities wide scope to discuss not only their work but their opinions, feelings and philosophies, an opportunity not readily extended to other powerful individuals in society such as politicians or business leaders.
He said some stars, such as Sean Connery, Henry Fonda, Katharine Hepburn and Jimmy Stewart, were afforded even greater status, seemingly beyond criticism because of their ability and longevity.
'However, celebrity is also ridiculed and derided because it is seen as the centre of false value, attained sometimes without hard work or talent,' he said.
In his book, Dr Marshall also investigates the way politicians have adapted and adopted celebrity techniques in a bid to capture the same emotional attachment from the public.
'In recent times, the boundaries between popular and political culture have been eroded. The communication strategies and public relations employed by the entertainment industries have migrated to create political spectacle, especially in the United States,' he said.
'Politicians look jealously at the mass audiences generated by television programs such as Blue Heelers which attracts an average weekly viewing audience of a staggering 2.2 million Australians.
'Part of the show's success may be that it embodies the desires of Australians in its depiction of a simpler life in a small, country town. A politician may adapt his or her image and persona to tap into this attachment.'
Celebrities created a different kind of relationship with the public depending on the medium, he said.
'In film, an enigmatic distance between star and audience is maintained while in television, the most successful celebrities are those who present as familiar and approachable (for example, Oprah Winfrey),' Dr Marshall said.
'Music stars succeed through presenting a solidarity with a particular age group. Youth is represented through popular music with the theme that anyone can become a star (for example, the punks, New Kids on the Block and the Spice Girls). In popular music, the level of talent is not always as important as the expression of a popular emotion.'
Dr Marshall said politicians had increasingly developed public images modelled on these different approaches. 'For example, Gough Whitlam cultivated a kind of enigmatic distance (film) whereas John Howard prefers the familiar, everyman approach (television),' Dr Marshall said.
'Some film stars such as Elizabeth Taylor have lost their enigmatic distance because they no longer produce anything of note while others, most notably female stars, seem to choose one of two paths as they age.
'They either make themselves even more available to the public, for example Goldie Hawn, or they increase their distance, for example Rachel Ward. The latter approach can backfire as people forget about them.'
The book will be launched at Wordsmith, The Writer's Cafe, on Thursday, May 29, at 5.30pm.
For more information, contact Dr Marshall (telephone 3365 2712).
