While The Atlantic is mostly known for focusing on global topics and politics, the April 2008 issues surprised many when none other than Britney Spears ended up on the cover. However, after reading the article I was pleasantly surprised to find out that they were giving some dirty and slimy account of Britney Spears drama but rather focusing on the new age of celebrity coverage. The article relates to many of the topics covered in class about media, celebrities, paparazzi, etc. In the article, Bonnie Fuller, from Us Weekly Magazine, said it’s important to understand her audience. “Every day, we’d look at tons of pictures that came in and lay them all out on a conference table,” Fuller said, “And what was interesting to me was a look at celebrities going to the dry cleaners and pumping gas. I loved looking at these pictures of celebrities who were just like us.” The idea that fuller was also interested in the common thread between celebrities and ourselves directly correlates with Gamson’s idea of celebrities being “ordinary.” This ordinariness promotes a connection between the celebrity and the audience and this is why we enjoy the “Celebrities are just like us” section in Us Weekly. These pictures, as Gamson says, makes them seem “real” – like the real person behind the “reel image.”Check out the article here!!!
2 comments:
At first I was a little shocked that the Atlantic put Brittany on their cover...a respectable magazine stooping to celebrity gossip. But, they did it in a different way than the tabloids...it almost gave a more educated account on Brittany and celebrity gossip in general. Maybe if more people become educated on how the machine works, less people will be interested?
I completely agree with your post that society as a whole loves hearing that celebrities are "just like us." However, I always laugh when I read these because I always think to myself, "Are they serious? Do they really think that they don’t go grocery shopping or pump gas sometimes?" I mean if celebrities weren't doing any "normal" things then they wouldn’t be human. But I guess people love to read these types of things because there always is a section in certain magazines that have a "JUST LIKE US!" in bold letters grabbing the reader’s attention!
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