DECONSTRUCTING PARIS HILTON BOOBS SHOT!

Dreamt up by two media studies academics – Su Holmes of the University of East Anglia and Sean Redmond, a lecturer at the University of Victoria, New Zealand – Celebrity Studies follows an increase in the publication of academic papers about celebs in recent years. To Dr Andy Miah, founder of the first celebrity culture conference in 2005, a publication of this kind was only a matter of time. "It doesn't surprise me. Celebrities have become a focal point of our value system which warrant our attention."But taking celebrity culture too seriously can seem ridiculous. Biographer and cultural commentator Graham McCann is sceptical of the academic approach: "There is plenty of room for irreverent commentaryas so much of the celebrity industry is complicit and mutually self-serving. The problem with analysis is that academics are obsessed with trying to identify patterns and processes, which leads to generalisations. They don't allow for the individuality or irrationality of a lot of celebrity culture. Looking at certain specific case studies may be illuminating; there might be moral lessons to be learnt. But academic findings of this sort are at best banal and at worst misleading."

The Independant
Nov 16 2008