Manufacturing Celebrity: Latino Paparazzi and Women Reporters in Hollywood

Vanessa Díaz

Published by Duke University Press 2020

Manufacturing Celebrity

Latino Paparazzi and Women Reporters in Hollywood

Vanessa Díaz

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781478008880

Overview
Contents

About this book

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, her experience reporting for People magazine, and dozens of interviews with photographers, journalists, publicists, magazine editors, and celebrities, Vanessa Díaz traces the complex power dynamics of the reporting and paparazzi work that fuel contemporary Hollywood and American celebrity culture.

Author / Editor information

Vanessa Díaz is Assistant Professor of Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies at Loyola Marymount University.

Reviews

“Manufacturing Celebrity presents fascinating ethnographic details and piercing social analysis on the production of ‘celebrity’ through sophisticated discussions of Latinx paparazzi, red carpet photographers, and women reporters exploited by the cultural dynamics of tabloid and mainstream news-making. This insightful book will be valuable to communication scholars, feminists, critical race scholars, media anthropologists, and general audiences interested in the representation and production of celebrity culture. Vanessa Díaz writes with a confident and a distinctive scholarly voice.”

-- John L. Jackson, Jr., Walter H. Annenberg Dean of the Annenberg School for Communication and Richard Perry University Professor at the University of Pennsylvania

“Vanessa Díaz pulls back the curtain on Hollywood and the people who photograph and write about the movie stars of today and tomorrow. Manufacturing Celebrity is a must-read for anyone desiring keenly observed insights into the struggles of immigrants and women trying to catch some of the stardust in Hollywood's dream factory. Their stories reveal a Hollywood undergoing change that is often resisted as it grapples with the contemporary demographic reality of the United States.”

-- Leo R. Chavez, author of The Latino Threat: Constructing Immigrants, Citizens, and the Nation

"This book is a useful resource for entertainment industry practitioners (publicists, reporters, photographers) and media professionals interested in enhancing their understanding of key dynamics that (re)create the modern entertainment industry. Manufacturing Celebrity is also a must read for scholars and students studying communication, media studies, critical cultural studies, public relations, anthropology, sociology, and labor relations."

-- W. Alvarez Choice

“Manufacturing Celebrity is a compelling and revelatory study of the structural hierarchies and labor practices that produce celebrity media.... This book underscores how the ever-evolving boundaries between entertainment and news should not be overlooked.”

-- Joanna Arcieri American Journalism

“Díaz offers a vivid and engaging account of the complex and nuanced lived experiences and social struggles of both paparazzi and celebrity reporters.... Manufacturing Celebrity is a valuable resource for scholars interested in Latinx labor, feminist and gender studies, race studies, and cultural studies of production.”

-- Luis E. Rivera-Figueroa Media Industries

“Manufacturing Celebrity . . . is, most fundamentally, a valuable examination of the role of the worker within the celebrity media production industry. . . . Díaz draws on her unique former career background as a celebrity reporter, which allows her to offer unprecedented insight into the inner workings of the industry.”

-- Emily Rauber Rodriguez Celebrity Studies

“Díaz’s book provides rich ethnographic details into the working lives and conditions of those who manufacture celebrity status through their labor. . . . [Manufacturing Celebrity] will be of significant interest to scholars of race, gender, and labor, as Díaz demonstrates that celebrity media can teach us how hierarchies of labor are reproduced in a neoliberal economy.”

-- Gehad Abaza Exertions

“A stunning critical ethnography of the celebrity-industrial complex. . . . Manufacturing Celebrity is for everyone.”

-- Chelsey R. Carter American Anthropologist

"Díaz’s writing style throughout Manufacturing Celebrity is clear, powerful and compelling. Both thorough and accessible, Díaz is successful in grabbing the attention of both students and scholars of media as well as of the casual reader. Díaz writes a comprehensive and detailed account of the lives of those who are sidelined in the process of manufacturing celebrity and integrates theory without sacrificing the human perspective."

-- Jonathan Pye LSE Review of Books

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
List of Illustrations Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
INTRODUCTION The Precarious Work of Celebrity Media Production Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
I • Pappin’ Ain’t Easy
CHAPTER ONE. Shooteando The Real Paparazzi of Los Angeles Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	33
CHAPTER TWO. Latinos Selling Celebrity Economies and Ethics of Paparazzi Work Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	76
CHAPTER THREE. To Live and Die in L.A. Life, Death, and Labor in the Hollywood-Industrial Complex Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	95
II • Reporting on the Stars
CHAPTER FOUR. Red Carpet Rituals Positionality and Power in a Surveilled Space Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	125
CHAPTER FIVE. Where Reporting Happens Precarious Spaces and the Exploitation of Women Reporters Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	150
III • Crafting the Media and the Sociocultural Consequences
CHAPTER SIX. Body Teams, Baby Bumps, Beauty Standards Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181
CHAPTER SEVEN “Brad and Angelina: And Now . . . Brangelina!” The Cultural Economy of (White) Heterosexual Love Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	218
CONCLUSION. Reconsidering News and Gossip in the Trump Era Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	243
APPENDIX. Interview Sources Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	251
NOTES Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	255
BIBLIOGRAPHY Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	271
INDEX Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	301

Language: English
Publisher: Duke University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 328

eBook

Published: August 14, 2020
ISBN: 9781478008880