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Starstruck: The Business of Celebrity
How was Nike able to take a gamble on an unknown Michael Jordan and transform itself from a $900 million company to a $9.19 billion company in less than fifteen years? Why did the artist Jeff Koons’s Balloon Flower (Magenta) sell for a record $25.7 million in 2008? What does the high school football star have in common with the Hollywood headliner? And why should an actor never, ever go to Las Vegas?
Celebrity—our collective fascination with particular people—is everywhere and takes many forms, from the sports star, notorious Wall Street tycoon, or film icon, to the hometown quarterback, YouTube sensation, or friend who compulsively documents his life on the Internet. We follow with rapt attention all the minute details of stars’ lives: their romances, their spending habits, even how they drink their coffee. For those anointed, celebrity can translate into big business and top social status, but why do some attain stardom while millions of others do not? Why are we simply more interested in certain people?
In Starstruck, Elizabeth Currid-Halkett presents the first rigorous exploration of celebrity, arguing that our desire to “celebrate” some people and not others has profound implications, elevating social statuses, making or breaking careers and companies, and generating astronomical dividends. Tracing the phenomenon from the art world to tabletop gaming conventions to the film industry, Currid-Halkett looks at celebrity as an expression of economics, geography (both real and virtual), and networking strategies.
Starstruck brings together extensive statistical research and analysis, along with interviews with top agents and publicists, YouTube executives, major art dealers and gallery directors, Bollywood players, and sports experts. Laying out the enormous impact of the celebrity industry and identifying the patterns by which individuals become stars, Currid-Halkett successfully makes the argument that celebrity is an important social phenomenon and a driving force in the worldwide economy.
Celebrity—our collective fascination with particular people—is everywhere and takes many forms, from the sports star, notorious Wall Street tycoon, or film icon, to the hometown quarterback, YouTube sensation, or friend who compulsively documents his life on the Internet. We follow with rapt attention all the minute details of stars’ lives: their romances, their spending habits, even how they drink their coffee. For those anointed, celebrity can translate into big business and top social status, but why do some attain stardom while millions of others do not? Why are we simply more interested in certain people?
In Starstruck, Elizabeth Currid-Halkett presents the first rigorous exploration of celebrity, arguing that our desire to “celebrate” some people and not others has profound implications, elevating social statuses, making or breaking careers and companies, and generating astronomical dividends. Tracing the phenomenon from the art world to tabletop gaming conventions to the film industry, Currid-Halkett looks at celebrity as an expression of economics, geography (both real and virtual), and networking strategies.
Starstruck brings together extensive statistical research and analysis, along with interviews with top agents and publicists, YouTube executives, major art dealers and gallery directors, Bollywood players, and sports experts. Laying out the enormous impact of the celebrity industry and identifying the patterns by which individuals become stars, Currid-Halkett successfully makes the argument that celebrity is an important social phenomenon and a driving force in the worldwide economy.
- GenresNonfiction
320 pages, Hardcover
First published November 9, 2010
6 people are currently reading
142 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 24, 2011
In today's age of celebrity tabloids, entertainment news shows, celebrity endorsed products, and overall obsession with all things famous, it's easy to see why I would pick up Elizabeth Currid-Halkett's Starstruck: The Business of Celebrity.
How is being a celebrity a viable business or source of income? Just ask Elizabeth Currid-Halkett. She will dazzle you with her first hand sources (media moguls, PR reps, psychologists, economists, etc.) and support her statistical findings with visual aids that really demonstrate what she is trying to say.
The only thing is, she spent too much time saying the same damn things. This book is short, coming it at just under 230 pages without the appendices, but it could have been a lot shorter. I felt like she was beating me over the head with the same concepts, maybe because she thought I had the IQ of a socialite with no discernible talent other than to be photographed. A lot.
I understand that the latest thing can happen in the blink of an eye and that what was in yesterday could be a distant memory tomorrow. But, it seemed as though Currid-Halkett was a year or two behind in her examples. She spent way too much time talking about Myspace. Last time I heard anyone talk about Myspace, it was 2009 and used primarily for hookups. The only times she mentioned Facebook was to discuss her obsession with her acquaintance she called 'M' probably because if she used his real name, he'd request a restraining order after she basically admitted to stalking his plentiful status updates. Then again, we all stalk status updates. According to Currid-Halkett, we spend over 55 minutes a day on Facebook. I hope it's not all spent playing Farmville.
I just don't understand how a book about the business of celebrity could fail to mention the Kardashian family, who have mastered the business of celebrity thanks to the business savvy tutelage of momager, Kris. These girls have reality shows, modeling gigs, their own line of products, product endorsements, and their own clothing stores. How could they NOT be mentioned? And how did she fail to mention the Teen Mom phenomenon on MTV? These teen moms are making a business out of being teenage mothers, spending their hefty paychecks on boob jobs and other get famous quick ideas.
Oh wait, she spent a lot of time talking about Paris Hilton, Tara Reid, and Lindsey Lohan. Paris and Tara who? I haven't heard about them in weeks, if not months!
I was also hoping Currid-Halkett would address my most often wondered celebrity question: Why the hell do we, the average people, even care about these people? This is an indirect question regarding the business of celebrity, but I was hoping it would be discussed more than it was, since the average people buying into this media circus of celebrity keeps the business of celebrity going.
Overall, it was an okay read. It isn't a complete waste of time because there are useful tidbits of information and insight that will give us ordinary people a better understanding of the celebrity machine.
It would have gotten three stars from me, but the author failed to mention in her comparison of Jennifer Aniston and Kate Winslet that the movie The Reader is an adaptation of a book by the same name. She mentioned Aniston starring in Marley & Me, a "runaway bestseller" but failed to mention that the movie she was comparing Marley & Me to was also a book. It's little things like this that really turn me off from a book sometimes.
How is being a celebrity a viable business or source of income? Just ask Elizabeth Currid-Halkett. She will dazzle you with her first hand sources (media moguls, PR reps, psychologists, economists, etc.) and support her statistical findings with visual aids that really demonstrate what she is trying to say.
The only thing is, she spent too much time saying the same damn things. This book is short, coming it at just under 230 pages without the appendices, but it could have been a lot shorter. I felt like she was beating me over the head with the same concepts, maybe because she thought I had the IQ of a socialite with no discernible talent other than to be photographed. A lot.
I understand that the latest thing can happen in the blink of an eye and that what was in yesterday could be a distant memory tomorrow. But, it seemed as though Currid-Halkett was a year or two behind in her examples. She spent way too much time talking about Myspace. Last time I heard anyone talk about Myspace, it was 2009 and used primarily for hookups. The only times she mentioned Facebook was to discuss her obsession with her acquaintance she called 'M' probably because if she used his real name, he'd request a restraining order after she basically admitted to stalking his plentiful status updates. Then again, we all stalk status updates. According to Currid-Halkett, we spend over 55 minutes a day on Facebook. I hope it's not all spent playing Farmville.
I just don't understand how a book about the business of celebrity could fail to mention the Kardashian family, who have mastered the business of celebrity thanks to the business savvy tutelage of momager, Kris. These girls have reality shows, modeling gigs, their own line of products, product endorsements, and their own clothing stores. How could they NOT be mentioned? And how did she fail to mention the Teen Mom phenomenon on MTV? These teen moms are making a business out of being teenage mothers, spending their hefty paychecks on boob jobs and other get famous quick ideas.
Oh wait, she spent a lot of time talking about Paris Hilton, Tara Reid, and Lindsey Lohan. Paris and Tara who? I haven't heard about them in weeks, if not months!
I was also hoping Currid-Halkett would address my most often wondered celebrity question: Why the hell do we, the average people, even care about these people? This is an indirect question regarding the business of celebrity, but I was hoping it would be discussed more than it was, since the average people buying into this media circus of celebrity keeps the business of celebrity going.
Overall, it was an okay read. It isn't a complete waste of time because there are useful tidbits of information and insight that will give us ordinary people a better understanding of the celebrity machine.
It would have gotten three stars from me, but the author failed to mention in her comparison of Jennifer Aniston and Kate Winslet that the movie The Reader is an adaptation of a book by the same name. She mentioned Aniston starring in Marley & Me, a "runaway bestseller" but failed to mention that the movie she was comparing Marley & Me to was also a book. It's little things like this that really turn me off from a book sometimes.
February 5, 2011
I can't quite decide what the author and researcher Elizabeth Currid-Halkett is going for with Starstruck: The Business of Celebrity. By studying Getty Images photographs and creating a statistical model of which celebrities are A-, B- or C-List, which celebrities hang out with which others, and where celebrities are most often found geographically, she has labored mightily to provide information that is readily apparent to any tweener with enough spare change to buy a supermarket tabloid, or enough wherewithal to go to eonline, ew.com or gawker.com.
I found myself skimming through the chapters presenting unnecessary statistics and charts that reveal nothing. Published in 2010, the book nevertheless cites MySpace (MySpace!) profiles and Us Weekly far too often to be taken seriously as any sort of hipster overview of the celebrity phenomenon.
I did, however, learn a few facts about the game culture of Warhammer, so I can use that to relate to Gen X loved ones a bit better.
I found myself skimming through the chapters presenting unnecessary statistics and charts that reveal nothing. Published in 2010, the book nevertheless cites MySpace (MySpace!) profiles and Us Weekly far too often to be taken seriously as any sort of hipster overview of the celebrity phenomenon.
I did, however, learn a few facts about the game culture of Warhammer, so I can use that to relate to Gen X loved ones a bit better.
January 11, 2011
Comprehensive, well thought-out review of the science and business of celebrity and how it's shaped in our world. Felt like it was going to be dry and academic, but held my attention.
February 16, 2018
This is a must-read. It's not just for those who are interested in social studies, celebrities or the latest research. It's time we realize that the business of celebrity is 'not so superficial after all.'
November 14, 2021
This book is an attempt to convert a quantitative sociological research about celebrity to a book to the public. The result was diluting the few lessons learned from the scholarly work an a very inflated text with many pages of repetition.
January 18, 2021
It was cute and fun but not earth shattering.
January 20, 2012
I saw an article about this book when it was first published, put it on my to-read shelf, and promptly forgot about it. Then, this week I was scanning news headlines on CNN.com and realized with not a little shame and humiliation that I'm about 1000 times more likely to click on the headline "Lohan returns to court for progress check" than I am a headline like "Children in Mexico: criminals or victims?" (Both actual headlines that appeared on CNN the same day.) I kind of hate it about myself that I'm more drawn to celebrity "news" than I am to actual news about things that matter in the world. So I decided to have a look at this book and see if I could figure out why. Here's the good, the bad, and the ugly.
The good: this book is clearly written and well-researched. She explains the relationship between talent, fame, and celebrity residual (that certain je nai se quoi that causes us to be fascinated with certain people even though they may not possess any talent or fame). She explores the celebrity of not just Hollywood, but also the art, gaming, business, sports, and academic worlds. I'm not a researcher or social scientist so I can't comment on her statistical methods, but the claims she makes about the economics of celebrity are backed up with lots of data. I'm sure some will complain about the shallowness of sources. But let's face it: when you're researching celebrities, gossip websites, Us and People Magazines, and entertainment photo databases are your primary sources. That's where they live.
The bad: if you loathe a vapid non-talent celebrity whose name rhymes with Maris Filton, I would avoid this book. It is kind of both a love letter to her and a scathing condemnation of her at the same time; as such, her name comes up in about every other paragraph.
The ugly (at least, for me): I felt like crying when I read how MANY billions and billions of dollars are flowing around the celebrity industry when you include all the handlers, agents, publicists, limo drivers, hairstylists, etc.; and then compared that to a book I read last year called "Half the Sky" (N. Kristof) that talked about how LITTLE money it takes to rescue girls who are being sold into sex slavery and give them economic viability. A week's worth of Jennifer Aniston's hair care money could literally change thousands of lives forever.
As the author points out, celebrity ultimately hinges on whether we pay attention to it or not. I guess enough of us are paying attention and always will. That makes the celebrity culture in the United States worthy of study, and that made this book worth reading to me. It certainly made me think about things I can do differently in terms of the celebrity culture that I consume.
The good: this book is clearly written and well-researched. She explains the relationship between talent, fame, and celebrity residual (that certain je nai se quoi that causes us to be fascinated with certain people even though they may not possess any talent or fame). She explores the celebrity of not just Hollywood, but also the art, gaming, business, sports, and academic worlds. I'm not a researcher or social scientist so I can't comment on her statistical methods, but the claims she makes about the economics of celebrity are backed up with lots of data. I'm sure some will complain about the shallowness of sources. But let's face it: when you're researching celebrities, gossip websites, Us and People Magazines, and entertainment photo databases are your primary sources. That's where they live.
The bad: if you loathe a vapid non-talent celebrity whose name rhymes with Maris Filton, I would avoid this book. It is kind of both a love letter to her and a scathing condemnation of her at the same time; as such, her name comes up in about every other paragraph.
The ugly (at least, for me): I felt like crying when I read how MANY billions and billions of dollars are flowing around the celebrity industry when you include all the handlers, agents, publicists, limo drivers, hairstylists, etc.; and then compared that to a book I read last year called "Half the Sky" (N. Kristof) that talked about how LITTLE money it takes to rescue girls who are being sold into sex slavery and give them economic viability. A week's worth of Jennifer Aniston's hair care money could literally change thousands of lives forever.
As the author points out, celebrity ultimately hinges on whether we pay attention to it or not. I guess enough of us are paying attention and always will. That makes the celebrity culture in the United States worthy of study, and that made this book worth reading to me. It certainly made me think about things I can do differently in terms of the celebrity culture that I consume.
February 24, 2011
You’ve seen all the pictures, heard all the paparazzi stories, seen an endless barrage of photos of celebs posing in front of and endless array of sponsored step-and-repeat red carpet backdrops. But have you ever wondered about the actual business of being a celebrity? Well, “Starstruck: The Business of Celebrity”, is a book that takes you behind the scenes of the real business of celebrification (yes, we made that word up) revealing what matters to whom and why. Did you know there is a rating system for determining celebrity “heat’? Do you know the difference between the A-listers (Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie) and the residual celebs (Paris Hilton, Carmen Electra), those who have to work at being famous rather than letting their onscreen work speak for itself. Does it sometimes all seem a bit circular?
From editors to airmiles, Currid-Halkett (an associate professor at USC) takes the wraps off the real world of the celebrity business – sometimes in a very data driven fashion – showing how it is much less spontaneous and more cut-throat than it might appear from a random glance at the supermarket tabloids. In its 310 pages “Starstruck” explores all the nitty-gritty; from the role of the publicist (some who make a reported twenty grand a month per client) to the studios to event planners to the ultimate lifeblood of the media itself, every aspect of the power struggle is exposed. Techniques like the “write-around” (when a journalist can’t get a direct interview), the L.A. vs. NY thing (stay away from Vegas, baby) to the often uncontrollable world of social networks and the internet are discussed in an intelligent, cohesive manner that sheds light on the various factors pushing and pulling the fast-paced world of celebrity media.
Although the book primarily covers the here and now, it also looks back on the recent past where publicists held sway over who would get an interview and what the rules of engagement would be. (The Pat Kinsley/Tom Cruise relationship being a prime example of who gets access and who does not.) In the final analysis, “Starstruck” is a look behind the curtain of the trials and tribulations of the business of the beautiful people, where despite the spotlight, flash bulbs and glamour on the outside, the side you don’t see is not always a pretty sight.
From editors to airmiles, Currid-Halkett (an associate professor at USC) takes the wraps off the real world of the celebrity business – sometimes in a very data driven fashion – showing how it is much less spontaneous and more cut-throat than it might appear from a random glance at the supermarket tabloids. In its 310 pages “Starstruck” explores all the nitty-gritty; from the role of the publicist (some who make a reported twenty grand a month per client) to the studios to event planners to the ultimate lifeblood of the media itself, every aspect of the power struggle is exposed. Techniques like the “write-around” (when a journalist can’t get a direct interview), the L.A. vs. NY thing (stay away from Vegas, baby) to the often uncontrollable world of social networks and the internet are discussed in an intelligent, cohesive manner that sheds light on the various factors pushing and pulling the fast-paced world of celebrity media.
Although the book primarily covers the here and now, it also looks back on the recent past where publicists held sway over who would get an interview and what the rules of engagement would be. (The Pat Kinsley/Tom Cruise relationship being a prime example of who gets access and who does not.) In the final analysis, “Starstruck” is a look behind the curtain of the trials and tribulations of the business of the beautiful people, where despite the spotlight, flash bulbs and glamour on the outside, the side you don’t see is not always a pretty sight.
November 29, 2010
As vacuous as Paris Hilton, but not as pretty. This book pretends to be a scientific analysis of the business of celebrity, backed by extensive research and analysis. As far as I can tell most of the research was reading Perez Hilton and other celebrity sites, from which you can learn more. The author would like to be a celebrity, and won't make it.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews