Celebrity As a Postmodern Phenomenon, Ethical Crisis for Democracy, and Media Nightmare

The role of cultural production in celebrity politics: Comparing the campaigns of Jesse ‘The Body’ Ventura (1999) and Donald Trump (2016)

“…In his recent review of existing definitions of ‘celebrity politics’, Street (2018) notes that the majority of such analyses focus attention upon the political , rather than celebrity dimension of this phenomenon; yet, as Thimsen (2010: 46) warns in her analysis of the campaign successes of Ventura and Schwarzenegger, if close attention is not paid to the specific ‘cultural production’ of celebrities themselves – that is, the context within which they are moulded, formed, and presented – then such analyses of celebrity politics risk becoming either simplistic narratives outlining how pre-existing fame leads to political success, or polemical attacks upon the threat of mass culture to politics (cf. Babcock and Whitehouse, 2005). Viewed from this perspective, what Ventura and now Trump lead us to question is the ‘presumption of separation’ between entertainment and politics as separate spheres, already called into question by the political communication literature (Williams and Delli Carpini, 2011), and thus how their different ‘texts’ should be analysed (Thimsen, 2010: 45).…”

Contesting the Fit Citizen: Michelle Obama and the Body Politics of The Biggest Loser

“…Famous for her toned arms and strict personal workout regimen, Michelle Obama quickly became a popular figure on afternoon and late‐night television programs such as Dr. Oz and The Tonight Show where she would challenge hosts to contests of strength and endurance. Given the range of media that are now used to generate public interest in government policy, national figures like Michelle Obama blur the line between entertainment and politics, as they are projected through the lens of the postmodern milieu (Babcock and Whitehouse 176). Harnessing the seductive qualities of popular culture as a means to manage public policy has become an essential ingredient to political success, but one that also poses certain dangers.…”

Mortars and memes: Participating in pop culture from a war zone

“…Yet the idea that video memes qualify as cultural participation makes some scholars uncomfortable. The concern is that this mode cheapens public discourse (Babcock and Whitehouse, 2005;Corner and Pels, 2003;Weiskel, 2005). For example, Johnson's (2012) 'Information Diet' argues that we are consuming too much unhealthy 'comfort food' in the form of pop culture.…”