The key activity of pop culture is consumption, and this can be broken down into three contributing realms of consumption in our society: Power, rituals, and symbolic/material.
The goal of this post is to talk about how the consumerist culture we live in commoditizes celebrities and musical artists. More specifically, I thought it would be interesting to look into examples of the most literal and obvious ways we have turned people into products – the material. For example, we have already briefly referenced the Britney Barbie and how that can be used as a good model in understanding her function in the minds of us consumers. So what are some other ways in which we aid the commoditizing and objectifying of celebrities? Focusing not only on just images and rhetoric in the media, I have compiled a list of actually tangible and purchasable examples. Here are a few examples that came to my mind:
Trading Cards
It sounds bit ridiculous I know, but I can't help but wonder how this tradition of ownership, buying, trading, and coveting has aided the way we turn celebrities into commodities. Your classic baseball card trading is one thing, but this culture has broadened its horizons ranging from Pokemon to porn-stars.
Dolls
Branding
The list goes on. Any others that jump out to you?
No comments:
Post a Comment