Week 7B

Marilyn Monroe's Connection to Celebrity

  • Quote: "I belonged to the Public and to the world, not because I was talented or even beautiful but because I had never belonged to anything or anyone else."

Celebrity Through History

  • Joseph Roach's view on celebrity in his 2007 book It:

    • Circulation of Images: Popular celebrities replacing religious and regal icons in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

    • Three Primary Features or Manifestations of Modern Celebrity:

      • Public Intimacy: The illusion of availability.

      • Synthetic Experience: Experiences become vicarious.

      • The It-Effect: Driven by personality and mass attraction.

Parasocial Relationships with Celebrities and AI Chatbots

  • Taylor Swift's Lyrics:

    • Themes of dating, heartbreak, and desire create relatability and emotional bonds termed "parasocial bonds."

  • Engagement Announcements:

    • Fans feel a connection to Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce despite no actual acquaintance.

  • Podcast Hosts' Role:

    • Their spontaneous and imperfect manner replaces real friendships and fosters parasocial relationships.

  • AI Chatbots:

    • Users treat AI like ChatGPT as close friends or romantic partners, leading to mixed emotional responses and concerns regarding the implications of such attachments.

Marxian Analysis of Commodities in Capitalism

  • Commodity Fetishism:

    • Defined features:

      • Fungibility: Products can be exchanged for one another.

      • Surface Appeal: Commodities are distinguished by their attractive packaging.

      • Disguise Relationships: Commodities obscure true economic relations.

      • Exchange vs. Use Value: Value is often misrepresented to consumers.

    • Implication of Fetishism:

      • Commodities have a social relation to a consumer resembling an intimate relationship.

      • Question: Is a celebrity a kind of commodity?

Celebrity as Commoditized Identity

  • Andy Warhol's Pop Art:

    • Mechanically Reproducible Images: Warhol's work showcases celebrities as commodified identities, comparable to Campbell’s Soup tins.

    • The process reveals the hidden labor behind celebrity production.

Emotional Impact of Performance

  • Judy Garland's Concerts:

    • Audiences deeply affected; their reactions described as "bedlam superimposed upon bedlam."

    • Garland's fans displayed extreme emotional responses, including intense admiration and grief.

  • Critics’ Responses:

    • Discourses oscillate between analytical and emotional; critics both study and praise Garland's talent.

    • Anecdotes illustrate her dedication and impact on audiences.

Insights from Judy Garland's Singing

  • Boyt’s noted truths extracted from Garland’s music:

    • Challenges lead to richness; future aspirations must be hopeful.

    • All feelings are valuable, with no feelings deemed worse than bad ones.

    • Loyalty is the essence of human systems; grief cannot diminish the human spirit.

    • Prepare for spontaneous opportunities; heart's fluctuations mark human experiences.

Historical Celebrity Phenomenon: Lisztomania

  • Lisztomania:

    • Term originated from poet Heinrich Heine, describing the intense emotional reactions toward pianist Franz Liszt in the early 1840s.

Heine’s Observations on Liszt's Popularity

  • Heine's reflections on Liszt's concerts displaying the evolving public response, from disdain to admiration.

  • Recognition of Liszt’s charisma and how it transcended the German sentimentality, notably in Parisian contexts.

The Role of Middlemen in Capitalism

  • Definition: Middlemen are workers who create value by connecting different entities in capitalistic systems.

  • Categories of Middlemen by Marina Krakovsky:

    1. The Bridge: Spans various distances (time, social, physical).

    2. The Certifier: Guarantees quality of services and products.

    3. The Enforcer: Ensures compliance with agreements.

    4. The Risk Bearer: Manages and spreads risk across groups.

    5. The Concierge: Simplifies transaction processes.

    6. The Insulator: Facilitates difficult communication or demands.

Historical Examples of Music Middlemen

  • Early music publishers like John Bland connected composers with audiences, enhancing their market presence.

  • Bland's contributions to Haydn's emergence in England after the composer’s death.

Affective Labor in Contemporary Capitalism

  • Distinctions drawn by thinkers like Hardt and Negri regarding the nature of 'affective labor', emphasizing emotional and social interactions in value creation.

  • Contemporary implications on service roles viewing emotional labor as necessary for commodity consumption.

Feminist Critique on Labor

  • Second-wave feminists critique the notion that only male workers create value, asserting recognition for women’s non-traditional roles in wage labor dynamics.

The Ongoing Influence of Middlemen in Cultural Production

  • Middlemen link artistic production to aesthetic appreciation, with implications on how labor translates into economic relations within capitalist frameworks.

  • They challenge the boundaries of what can be recognized as labor, potentially redefining all human activities as marketable labor.

Case Studies: Pearlman and the Backstreet Boys

  • Lou Pearlman: Key middleman in 90s boy band success; his Ponzi scheme ultimately overshadowed his music contributions.

  • Marketing strategy: Pearlman’s demographic profiles for boy band formation and character development.

Svengali Archetype in Celebrity Culture

  • Connection to George du Maurier’s Trilby dealing with the controlling ‘Svengali’ figure cast in a negative light.

  • The lasting impact of Svengali on perceptions of the powerful influences behind star-making.