Essay Sample Document - Celebrities are a 'powerless' elite

1. Essay: Celebrities are a 'powerless' elite TOLL-FREE NO: +61 879057034 WHATSAPP NO: +61 424715655 EMAIL: help@assignmentprime.com WEBSITE: http://www.assignmentprime.com/ ASSIGNMENT HELP & WRITING SERVICES

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3. Celebrities are a 'powerless' elite In present era, celebrities in society are powerful people who are recognised in the eyes of the public and media. Due to the development of technology, celebrity’s influence can now be accessed or represented globally, reaching audiences outside of his/her country (Turner, 2013). They are able to convey message to the society in an effective manner as they have a large fan following and reputed image in the market. There are important factors that make up a celebrity and it influences their career. These factors include retaining a fan-base, gaining attention of the public, natural talent or quality which are recognised by agencies/companies. These factors assist them in advancement or promotion in their career. In this aspect, Graeme Turner had stated: “Among our compensations for the loss of community is an avid attention to the figure of the celebrity and a greater investment in our relations to specific versions of this figure. In effect, we are using celebrity as a means of constructing new dimensions of community through media.” – (Understanding celebrity, 2014, Graeme Turner) Statement provided by him is completely true and justified because celebrities are a medium to get connected with the society via response or reacting with the world. They are connected with people mentally and physically on many platforms (through media, networks, word of mouth) and creates an understanding which is both positive and negative in relation to the celebrity (Mills, 1999). As a result, celebrities gain both fame and power. Along with this, they create influences or movements which heavily can impact culture and personalities. “They are objects of desire and emulation, or they are provocations for derisions and contempt; they are genuine down-to-earth people or they are complete phonies.” - (Understanding celebrity, 2014, Graeme Turner). Statement provided by him completely true and justified because celebrities are a medium to get connected with the society via response or reacting with the world. They are connected with people mentally and physically on many platforms (through media, networks, TOLL-FREE NO: +61 879057034 WHATSAPP NO: +61 424715655 EMAIL: help@assignmentprime.com WEBSITE: http://www.assignmentprime.com/ ASSIGNMENT HELP & WRITING SERVICES

4. word of mouth) and creates an understanding which is both positive and negative in relation to the celebrity. As a result, celebrities gain both fame and power. Along with this, they create influences or movements which heavily can impact culture and personalities. “They are objects of desire and emulation, or they are provocations for derisions and contempt; they are genuine down-to-earth people or they are complete phonies.” - (Understanding celebrity, 2014, Graeme Turner). This is a powerful underlying statement which demonstrates the true definition for any superstar. It is because, many of the celebrities convey their emotions through words or art; which connect them to the audiences and it makes people become more and more interested in them. According to the Alberoni, celebrities are relatively insignificant phenomenon. It is because; they are opposed to substantive individuals are considered to be powerless elite (Redmond and Holmes, 2007). However, in some situation, celebrity culture is considered as indicative of powerful elites and established institutions. Present study focuses on two different singing personalities who had incredible talent and had earned tremendous fame. However, one of the celebrity was weakened due to her social life and one had attained leading image and still considered to be icon in music industry. These celebrities are Amy Jade Winehouse and Beyonce. Amy Jade Winehouse was an English singer and songwriter. She was famous for her eclectic mix of musical genres and deep expressive contralto vocals. Her singing talent in soul and jazz defined the music industry for its uniqueness, appearance and connectivity to the missing link that society had missing (Sackley, 2014). This area was one of the main driving forces which tapped into people’s feeling and appreciation of her abilities, despite the shortfall of jazz/soul singers. With the event of technology, broadcasting and media helped the singers rise her from a public figure to stardom with an increase of presence and popularity. Her debut (Frank in 2003) album was a big hit and it was also nominated for the Mercury Prize. In 2006, her album Back to Black had won five 2008 Grammy Awards. This had also created a record for highest awards won by a female artist in a single night. Along with this, she was first British female who had won five Grammys. TOLL-FREE NO: +61 879057034 WHATSAPP NO: +61 424715655 EMAIL: help@assignmentprime.com WEBSITE: http://www.assignmentprime.com/ ASSIGNMENT HELP & WRITING SERVICES

5. According to the Hasan (2011), Winehouse has stylish and bold image in the society. In addition to this, she had created a trend of beehive hairdo in society. Guy Trebay (Style reporter of The New York Times) had discussed about multiplicity of her influence even after her death. Just like her best music, her personal style was also a knowing collage (Hasan, 2011). She had a great image and by virtue of it she had joined various campaign. However, Amy Winehouse's struggle with addiction to drugs and alcohol. During the time of her success she had developed her reputation as an unstable party girl. She was often found too drunk to provide complete performance in her club or on TV. In addition to this, she had also started tumultuous relationship with the music video assistant Blake Fielder. He had introduced her to the hard drugs (Johnson, 2013). Various time in public they had created dramatic scenes and fistfights due to their arguments. However, in private their life was centered with drug and alcohol consumption, physical abuse and self harm. This topic has become one of the most popular topics worldwide. The singer was caught with possession of drugs with her husband and was admitted to the hospital, reportedly for heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol overdose. Despite of this fact, media coverage is also a main factor to be considered for powerless celebrities. According to the Wright Mills “If there are no common ideals and standards among them that are based upon an explicitly aristocratic culture that does not mean that they do not feel responsibility to one another.” - (The Power Elite, 1956, C. Wright Mills). This statement is conveyed to celebrities in groups or as a partner (Mills, 1999). If this statement is linked to life of Amy Winehouse, then it can be noticed that her husband was also a drug addict who was famed in a musical celebrity group. Both their addiction damaged their reputation as a superstar (Oleinik, 2014). However, negative media coverage was also a factor which conveyed the situation negatively affecting the people that follow the celebrity as their TOLL-FREE NO: +61 879057034 WHATSAPP NO: +61 424715655 EMAIL: help@assignmentprime.com WEBSITE: http://www.assignmentprime.com/ ASSIGNMENT HELP & WRITING SERVICES

6. idol as well as people who disliked the singer. The media had created added pressure and stress to a celebrity and send a message across to the public which can most certainly ruin their careers. “The great gap now existing between the underlying population and those who make decisions in its name, decisions of enormous consequence which the public often does not even know are being made until well after the fact.”- (The Power Elite, 1958, c. Wright Mills). This statement develops a strong influence of a celebrity on the public. In this aspect, main factor that is required to be considered is that, Amy Winehouse was also suffering from depression not only from the drugs, but also by added pressure and stress created by media through, to creatively come up with ideas to succeed with her career and improving her image and icon. Life and career were focus of critically acclaimed documentary Amy. This documentary was released in July 2015 and it was directed by Asif Kapadia. In accordance with The Hollywood Reporter, this documentary was a missed opportunity for the celebration of her life and talent (Gnanapragash and Sekar, 2013). According to them this movie was misleading and even it contains some basic untruths. Overall a celebrity does not need to represent themselves as perfect, despite all the negative reviews or fans, rumors and history. One important reminder is that since the death of Amy Winehouse, the entire public opinion on the matter of the star’s drug use was completely shifted and everyone began to share the singer’s compassion and love of her success as a talented young singer (Johnson, 2013). Another influential personality who had attained worldwide recognition is Beyoncé. She is also an American singer and songwriter. She had performed in various singing and dancing competitions as a child and rose to the fame in late 1990. Before the fame and recognition, Beyoncé was just an ordinary person who was involved in various activities surround singing which was demonstrated in school competitions (Zhou and Whitla, 2013). By her incredible talent, she had gained one of the longest fame in the history and is still leading in the music industry. She started her career as lead singer of R&Bgirl-group Destiny's Child. Beyoncé became more famous when the group labeled “Destiny's Child” braking new records and TOLL-FREE NO: +61 879057034 WHATSAPP NO: +61 424715655 EMAIL: help@assignmentprime.com WEBSITE: http://www.assignmentprime.com/ ASSIGNMENT HELP & WRITING SERVICES

7. introduced a more independent style to represent strong dominant females (Ji, 2014). The media spent a lot of attention on this particular group due to the strong emotional performances of the group dominated all other competition. However, the stardom of Beyoncé became more global due to her leadership of the group and added towards her global status as a singing artist due to her leadership of the group. She had also worked in various films in starring roles such as Dream girls (2006), The Pink Panther (2006) and Obsessed (2009). For her acting in Dream girls, she was also nominated for Golden Globe. In 2010 she had created record by wining six Grammy Awards in 2010. Her songs such as “I'm a survivor and say my name” had gained world popularity as there were increasing number of people who could relate to this emotionally, but also give people reasons to become part of that movement of being independently strong as a person (Croteau and Hoynes, 2013). Although being part of a group meant that everyone needs to follow and pursue the same dream. Beyoncé had a lot more than what the group could offer and therefore the reason to disband the group and let her grow her dream on a larger platform. As Beyoncé became a soloist in the music industry, her desire to showcase her talent in singing, abilities in performance and writing style of her songs became one of the strongest contenders in the music industry (Jewkes, 2015). The multi-talented singer became a celebrity due the popular song “Crazy in Love” which featured another popular rapper Jay-Z. The combination of the 2 singing artists created a new audience of fans, popularity for gossip and worldwide media coverage of events that followed. Celebrity Beyoncé even supported charities in order to remain positive in the public media and influence others due to her several abilities as a singer and performance artist. Celebrities of this magnitude usually focuses on much more of the media and music events in order to prolong her name and fame (Boyland and Halford, 2013). The release of autobiographies from celebrities are also another too which creates revenue, influence people to follow in the footsteps in or are just generally interested in their success. Beyoncé had worked with the Pepsi since 2002 and in 2004 she had also appeared in Gladiator. In 2012, she had signed endorsement deal with the Pepsi on which open letter was TOLL-FREE NO: +61 879057034 WHATSAPP NO: +61 424715655 EMAIL: help@assignmentprime.com WEBSITE: http://www.assignmentprime.com/ ASSIGNMENT HELP & WRITING SERVICES

8. provided by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPINET) for reconsideration of deal because product contains unhealthy ingredients. It is because, public will consume the drink as Beyoncé has large fan following and it can hazardous to their health. However, NetBase shows that Beyoncé campaign was most popular endorsement in 2013 and it had gained 70% positive response of audience (Beyoncé Knowles Biography, 2015). This aspect shows that celebrity has great influence on the society and they are in position to promote negative as well as positive through increasing technology and media. Furthermore, their lifestyle is also followed by general public without having thought of its future consequences. Despite the success of a celebrity, they also can find it extremely difficult to maintain their previous normal lifestyle. For example they cannot go to a shop alone due to high risks of attack and extreme media cameramen who are willing to go extra lengths to pursue a story could in fact endanger them (Johnson, 2013). These situational examples are some of which can add further stress throughout their time in fame which can result in depression or other mental or physical problems or react differently in the public eyes (Potter, 2013). This aspect shows that celebrities are not leading personalities that can create significant influence on the society in the long run. In addition to this, there life is directly affected the judgment of media, critics and public. They have to make changes in their living style in order to maintain this success and fame else they will have to face drastic consequences (Turner, 2013). Story of Amy Winehouse depicts this aspect only as she was drug addicted and have several personal issues and this had ruined his professional life. Due to the increasing pressure of media, she did not get time for recovery from her addictions and as a consequence she had faced tragic death. As per the viewpoint of Driessens (2015), life, career and success of celebrity is directly affected by public response. It is because; media plays significant role in developing their attitude. Individually, they cannot have huge influences as they are powerless Elite. They can deliver message through their art in an effective manner but they cannot develop power from this fame and art (Driessens, 2015). However, there are several exceptional celebrities who lead the society and industry but still they do not have complete power. In addition to this, impact of celebrity is overshadowed by upcoming talent and art and consequently there leading is for TOLL-FREE NO: +61 879057034 WHATSAPP NO: +61 424715655 EMAIL: help@assignmentprime.com WEBSITE: http://www.assignmentprime.com/ ASSIGNMENT HELP & WRITING SERVICES

9. limited time period. With the new talent influence of celebrity is reduced and their fame is also reduced. Although they are remembered, in way of their talent and art but with the passage of time it is replaced by artwork of other artists. In accordance with the present study, it can be articulated that celebrities are influential but they are also affected by their surroundings. The media and their response for a celebrity plays an important part of influencing and moving global cultures. However, the influencing and cultural part can take a longer duration for this to succeed if that is the true intent of the celebrity. Celebrity status would always create fan based groups. However, this fame is also supported by anti-fan groups, this is the mentality of people worldwide and an expected result of popularity. Such talent and abilities will always be recognized among celebrities however they can expect a suffocating environment due to constant observation of media and being in the public eyes. One negative word or speech, pulling a facial expression or reacting in a certain manner could damage their reputation that could result in their career ending. This relates directly to the powerless elite; the control and power will become limited whilst in the lime-light or fame. TOLL-FREE NO: +61 879057034 WHATSAPP NO: +61 424715655 EMAIL: help@assignmentprime.com WEBSITE: http://www.assignmentprime.com/ ASSIGNMENT HELP & WRITING SERVICES

10. REFERENCES Books and journals Boyland, E.J. and Halford, J.C., 2013. Television advertising and branding. Effects on eating behaviour and food preferences in children. Appetite. 62. pp.236-241. Croteau, D. and Hoynes, W., 2013. Media/Society: Industries, Images, and Audiences: Industries, Images, and Audiences. Sage Publications. Driessens, O., 2015. Expanding celebrity studies’ research agenda: theoretical opportunities and methodological challenges in interviewing celebrities. Celebrity Studies. 6(2). pp.192- 205. Gnanapragash, T.J. and Sekar, P.C., 2013. Celebrity-Aided Brand Recall and Brand-Aided Celebrity Recall: An Assessment of Celebrity Influence Using the Hierarchy of Effects Model. IUP Journal of Brand Management,10(3), p.47. Jewkes, Y., 2015. Media and crime. Sage. Ji, N. J., 2014. The impact of indiscriminate media coverage of a celebrity suicide on a society with a high suicide rate: epidemiological findings on copycat suicides from South Korea.Journal of affective disorders. 156. pp.56-61. Johnson, M., 2013. The aesthetics of diaspora in colonial fields of power: Elite nationalism, art and the love to die for. Ethnos, 78(2), pp.175-199. Mills, W. C., 1999. The Power Elite. Oxford University Press. Oleinik, A., 2014. Michael Urban, Cultures of Power in Post-Communist Russia: An Analysis of Elite Political Discourse. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010. xi, 216 pp. $85.00. Canadian-American Slavic Studies, 48(4), pp.503-505. Potter, W.J., 2013. Media literacy. Sage Publications. Redmond, S. and Holmes, S., 2007. Stardom and Celebrity: A Reader. SAGE. Sackley, N., 2014. The Power Elite. Reviews in American History. 42(1). pp.121-126. Turner, G., 2013. Understanding celebrity. SAGE. TOLL-FREE NO: +61 879057034 WHATSAPP NO: +61 424715655 EMAIL: help@assignmentprime.com WEBSITE: http://www.assignmentprime.com/ ASSIGNMENT HELP & WRITING SERVICES

11. Zhou, L. and Whitla, P., 2013. How negative celebrity publicity influences consumer attitudes: The mediating role of moral reputation. Journal of business research, 66(8), pp.1013- 1020. Online Beyoncé Knowles Biography. 2015. [Online]. Available through <http://www.biography.com/people/beyonce-knowles-39230>. [Accessed on 3rd February 2016]. Hasan, L., 2011. Amy Winehouse: Career Shadowed by Manic Depressio. [Online]. Available through <http://abcnews.go.com/Health/w_MindBodyNews/amy-winehouse-career- shadowed-addiction/story?id=14145112>. [Accessed on 3rd February 2016]. TOLL-FREE NO: +61 879057034 WHATSAPP NO: +61 424715655 EMAIL: help@assignmentprime.com WEBSITE: http://www.assignmentprime.com/ ASSIGNMENT HELP & WRITING SERVICES