We take as a central theme in this course that it is not by accident
that certain people become celebrities.  Who and what celebrities
are thought to be signifies deep cultural investments about what we
value, what we fear, what we consider extraordinary, and what we
find interesting. Celebrity is all about the ways in which certain
narratives and identities conform to or depart from a set of
normative values. Gender plays no small part in this mix. Celebrity
is historically specific and culturally produced. Because of this,
our examination of celebrity will move across several modalities. We
will look to historical moments and to transnational phenomena,
guided by interdisciplinary discussions that think about media
culture, sociology, queer studies, race and class - all in full
discussion with gender theory. In addition to the heavy hitters in
fame studies, people like Richard Dyer, Josh Gamson, and Leo Braudy,
we will consider the following: Nancy Armstrong's discussion on
modernism, photography, and gender; Betty Paige's analysis of
Marilyn Monroe in the making of the body politic; Rosemary Combe's
theorizing on celebrity images and the subaltern politics of gender,
and much more.