This presentation is a summary of a research paper written in the spring of 2015 for a Mass Communication Graduate Seminar.

2. OVERVIEW
 Topic Introduction
 Significance
 Justification
 Methodology
 Cultural Studies
 Literature Review themes
 1. celebrity as culture
 2. celebrity power
 3. celebrity obligation

3. THE PURPOSE
Significance
 Equal rights debate still
center of attention
 Federal Marriage at
Supreme court
 Fast public shift to
acceptance
 More visibility
justification
When citizens try to grapple with
conceptualizing societal
shifts, “we use culturally
salient notions of marriage,
rights, and morality”
-McFarland, 2011, p. 256

4. 1. Are celebrities significant in bridging the
knowledge gap and lgbtq culture?
1. Who influences the cultural shift on lgbtq
rights?

5. CULTURAL STUDIES
 An innovative and interdisciplinary field of teaching that investigates the way in
which culture creates and transforms:
 individual experiences
 everyday life
 social relations
 Power
“CULTURAL STUDIES SCHOLARS ARGUE THAT POPULAR CULTURE AND
SUB-CULTURE NEED TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY” - Macnamara, 2014, p. 80

6. “The fact is that no single, unproblematic
definition of ‘culture’ is to be found here. The
concept remains a complex one – a site of
convergent interests rather than a logically or
conceptually clarified idea”
– Hall (1980)
STUART HALL
02/03/1932 – 02/10/2014

7. Defined:
 Celebrity status is desired
 Entertainment is highly valued
 Fame has economic, sociocultural,
and political impacts
 “an aggregate of sense-making
practices whose main resources of
meaning are celebrity” – Driessens, 2014, p.
24

8. CELEBRITY POWER
 Celebrity attachment = parasocial behavior
 Defined as “the relationship a viewer or consumer has with
characters they interact with through some form of media” Laken,
2009, p. 6
 One-sided, influential and “not susceptible of mutual
development” – HORTON & WOHl, 1956, P. 215
 The higher the attachment level, the more influential a celebrity can be
 attitudes, behavior, beliefs, and loyalty are adopted – elteren (2013), Lindenber, Joly,
stapel (2011), Horton & wohl (1956)

9. CELEBRITY POWER
History of celebrity influence:
 Dixie Chicks (2003)
 Jane fonda (1970’s)

10. – FUREDI, 2010, P. 493

11. CELEBRITY POWER AND EQUAL RIGHTS
 Hollywood has made homosexuality mainstream (Wilson,
2013)
 Time is a relevant factor when observing celebrity discourse
 The glass Closet
 Symbols of hope
 Celebrity subcultures

12. CELEBRITY POWER AND EQUAL RIGHTS
 Hollywood mainstreamed
 Critical acclaim for lgbtq roles and actors
 Oscars
 Accepting community
 High visibility in tv and film (glaad 2014)
 “celebrity culture and content has become fundamental to the news media in the twenty-
first century” (Turner, 2010, p. 11)
 Cultural shift in celebrity career behavior

13. CELEBRITY POWER AND EQUAL RIGHTS
 Time is relevant!
 Chronological shift
1980-1990’s
• Ellen
• Mel gibson
• Donna Summer
• the glass closet
• doma
2000-2010’s
• ELLEN (AGAIN)
• 37 states have equal marriage laws
• 59% of americans support same-sex
marriage
• Tracy morgan & Tina fey (2011)
• Isiah washington & Shonda rhimes (2007)

14. CELEBRITY POWER AND EQUAL RIGHTS
 Does it even matter?
 Media perpetuates celebrity as cultural authority
 Does the public have a say?
 Yes, they do!
 Inconsistent reactions for celebrity actions : celebrity
subcultures!
Business moguls
Celebrity subculture: THE AUTHORITY CELEBRITIES OWN DIFFERS
BASED ON THE cultural values, norms, and expected behavior OF TARGET
AUDIENCE
rappers

15. CELEBRITY POWER AND EQUAL RIGHTS
 Lindenberg, joly, stapel (2011)
 Normative expectations of culture
 One must actively engage in cultural norm
 Values are non static, DEPENDENT ON TIME AND CONTEXT
 Lgbt youth
 More at risk for loneliness, depression, anxiety, suicide
 42% identify musician, actor, entertainer, or singer as role model
 Celebrity as cultural authority is supported

16. DO LGBTQ CELEBRITIES HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO COME OUT
AND ADVOCATE FOR EQUAL RIGHTS?
“Celebrities like ellen degeneres and rosie o’donnel
came out and gave every American a face to attach to
homosexuality” – Wilson, 2013, para. 6

17. CONCLUSION
 Celebrities do matter in cultural discourse
 They help shape and change social norms and trends
 The authority they hold changes depending on the norms of a subculture
 Celebrities are shifting with public trends
 Who is the agent of change?
 Theory-based Research questions:
RQ1: What societal implications arise from the subcultures of celebrity authority?
RQ2: How does the public process the meaning of how and why celebrities communicate their
sexuality?
RQ3: Do celebrities have a social obligation to come out as a rhetorical cultural strategy?