Famous for being famous, or famous for nothing, in popular culture terminology, refers to someone who attains celebrity status for no particular identifiable reason such as acting, music, writing, politics, or modeling, or who achieves fame through association with a true celebrity.[1] The term is a pejorative, suggesting that the individual has no particular talents or abilities. Examples are Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie, and the Kardashian sisters, Kim, Khloé and Kourtney.[2] Even when their fame arises from a particular talent or action on their part, the term will sometimes still apply if their fame is perceived as disproportionate to what they earned through their own talent or work; that is, if the person used to be "famous for something" earlier, but has not done anything noteworthy for a long time; such a person is often referred to as a has-been.
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Term origin [edit]
The term originates from an analysis of the media dominated world called The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-events in America (1961), by historian and social theorist Daniel J. Boorstin.[3] In it, he defined the celebrity as "a person who is known for his well-knownness".[4] He further argued that the graphic revolution in journalism and other forms of communication had severed fame from greatness, and that this severance hastened the decay of fame into mere notoriety. Over the years, the phrase has been glossed as 'a celebrity is someone who is famous for being famous'.[3]
The British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge may have been the first to use the actual phrase in the introduction to his book Muggeridge Through The Microphone (1967) in which he wrote; "In the past if someone was famous or notorious, it was for something—as a writer or an actor or a criminal; for some talent or distinction or abomination. Today one is famous for being famous. People who come up to one in the street or in public places to claim recognition nearly always say: 'I've seen you on the telly!'"
Neal Gabler more recently refined the definition of celebrity to distinguish those who have gained recognition for having done virtually nothing of significance — a phenomenon he dubbed the “Zsa Zsa Factor” in honor of Zsa Zsa Gabor, who parlayed her marriage to actor George Sanders into a brief movie career and the movie career into a much more enduring celebrity.[5] He goes on to define the celebrity as “human entertainment,” by which he means a person who provides entertainment by the very process of living.[5]
Similar terms [edit]
Famesque [edit]
Amy Argetsinger coined the term "famesque" to define actors, singers, or athletes whose fame is mostly (if not entirely) due to ones' physical attractiveness and/or personal life, rather than actual talent and (if any) successful career accomplishments.[6] Said Argetsinger, "The famesque of 2009 are descended from that dawn-of-TV creation, the Famous for Being Famous. Turn on a talk show or Hollywood Squares and there'd be Zsa Zsa Gabor, Dr. Joyce Brothers, Charles Nelson Reilly, so friendly and familiar and -- what was it they did again?" She also used actress Sienna Miller as a modern-day example; "Miller became famesque by dating Jude Law . . . and then really famesque when he cheated on her with the nanny -- to the point that she was the one who made Balthazar Getty famesque (even though he's the one with the hit TV series, Brothers & Sisters) when he reportedly ran off from his wife with her for a while."
Celebutante [edit]
Celebutante and celebutant are portmanteaux of the words celebrity and débutante. The term has been used to describe individuals such as Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie in entertainment journalism.[7] The term has been traced back to a 1939 Walter Winchell society column in which he used the word to describe prominent society debutante Brenda Frazier, who was a traditional "high-society" debutante from a noted family, but whose debut attracted an unprecedented wave of media attention.[7][8] The word appeared again in a 1985 Newsweek article about New York City's clubland celebrities, focusing on the lifestyle of James St. James, Lisa Edelstein and Dianne Brill, who was crowned "Queen of the Night" by Andy Warhol.[7][9]
With the hyperbolized cult of celebrity in the Internet age, the word gave rise to a multitude of other words with the prefix "celebu-", mostly derogatory: "celebutard" (with "retard"), "celebuskank" (with "skank"), etc. [7]
See also [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ Jenkins, Joe (2002). Contemporary moral issues. Examining Religions (4, illustrated ed.). Heinemann. p. 178. ISBN 0-435-30309-0, 9780435303099 Check
|isbn=value (help). - ^ Jones, Jen (2007). Being Famous. Snap Books: 10 Things You Need to Know about. Capstone Press. p. 20. ISBN 1-4296-0126-4, 9781429601269 Check
|isbn=value (help). - ^ a b Richards, Jeffrey (2007). Sir Henry Irving: A Victorian Actor and His World. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 259. ISBN 1-85285-591-6, 9781852855918 Check
|isbn=value (help). - ^ Boorstin, Daniel Joseph (1961). The image: A guide to pseudo-events in America. New York: Vintage. ISBN 0-679-74180-1.
- ^ a b Gabler, Neal. Toward a New Definition of Celebrity. The Norman Lear Center.
- ^ Argetsinger, Amy (August 10, 2009). "They Must Be Stars Because They Get So Much Press, but What Is It They Do Again?". Washington Post. Retrieved 2009-08-15.
- ^ a b c d Zimmer, Ben (January 20, 2007). "Celeb-u-rama". Language Log.
- ^ Winchell, Walter (April 7, 1939). "On Broadway (syndicated column)". Daily Times-News.
- ^ "James St. James profile". Newsweek. June 3, 1985.
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