Analyze a celebrity whose star text was unexpectedly transformed by publicity and/or audience practices outside of their control at a specific time in their career.
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Unanticipated Star Text Transformation: Analyze a celebrity whose star text was unexpectedly transformed by publicity and/or audience practices outside of their control at a specific time in their career. Explain first their star text just before the change. Then describe the unexpected transformation and its impact. How specifically did the celebrity attempt to counter or engage with this change? Ultimately, what does your case study demonstrate about the role the press and/or public plays in co-authoring star texts?
Niche Media: Pick an ad-supported niche content provider (e.g., a website or cable channel) that caters to a demographic niche (e.g., age, race, gender, or sexuality). How does it present the value of the niche to advertisers? How does it define who is included as part of this niche? How has this changed over time? How does it represent its niche in its content choices? Again, how has this changed over time? Ultimately, what does your case study reveal about constructing an audience in niche economics?
Reviled . . . and Loved: Choose a media text overwhelmingly lambasted by critics but loved by a segment of fans. What overall criticism(s) did professional critics (not random commenters) make about the text? Apply these arguments to Adorno on mass media industrialization. What overall reason did fans cite in their appreciation of the text? Apply what they praise about it to Fiske’s conception of structuring social relations or embarrassment. Ultimately, what does your example illustrate about the relationship between critics and fans?