Celebrity culture and ageing

Fairclough, K

Abstract

Despite the proliferation of images of ageing in Western popular culture online and in print
media in recent years, it is striking that media and cultural studies has virtually ignored the subject
of ageing until recently. However, in recent years the burgeoning field of celebrity studies
has begun to consider the ways in which ageing celebrities are both represented and configured
in popular culture. This has focused mainly on the ways in which ageing women are portrayed
in social media; in lifestyle television such as makeover shows; and in gossip websites, tabloids
and magazines. Interestingly, there has been little work undertaken addressing men and ageing,
except for some analysis of ageing Hollywood stars such as Sylvester Stallone (Feasey 2012). This
chapter will review the emergent and key debates surrounding ageing, social media and celebrity,
and provide an overview of a developing area within media and cultural studies.

Citation

Fairclough, K. (2015). Celebrity culture and ageing. In J. Twigg, & W. Martin (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Cultural Gerontology. Routledge

• Publication Date: Jun 30, 2015
• Deposit Date: Jun 9, 2015
• Publisher: Routledge
• Book Title: Routledge Handbook of Cultural Gerontology
• ISBN: 9780415631143
• Related Public URLs: http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415631143/