The idea of no privacy has become
the norm for most celebrities, as privacy is something that you usually don’t
associate with in regards to the lives of celebrities. It is undeniable that
celebrities are aware that through the uproar of social media outlets such as
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other similar mediums in this century, getting
access to personal and private information on our favorite celebrities is much
easier than necessary. And “with these new media platforms greater portions of
the populace are now constructing online public personas.” (Marshal, 2010)
Marshal (2010) describes the term
‘specular’ as “a two-way mirror projection on to the screen and the circulation
of and interaction with those images and texts into the wider world.” With
this, we can discuss the impressions that celebrities are leaving on us through
social media. On our beloved celebrities social media profiles, they’re
projecting their personas out to the world. But unlike us, their beautiful
black and white profile picture was taken by a world-renowned photographer,
it’s rare that you’d see a typical ‘shameless selfie’ taken at arms length and
edited with a few filters to look a little more appealing by someone such as
Emma Watson.
Emma Watson grew up under the
spotlight, so ultimately she would have changed in the response to the rise of
social media, since for her, growing up from child star to young celebrity
adult was under constant surveillance. Marshall (2010) describes our modern
world as “a well-developed specular economy whose foundations are derived from
the much longer tradition of celebrity culture and whose repercussions relate
to an emerging comfortability with a society of surveillance.” With this we can
understand how the privacy of celebrities such as Emma Watson, was no way near
as valued as any other individual. But of course, nothing stopped Emma Watson
from admitting in an interview to getting extremely drunk, which many
celebrities wouldn’t have the nerve to do in risk of putting a damper on their
reputation. This is understood as celebrities are not only representing
themselves as they “evolve into a persona, then a brand, then an
empire, with the business imperative of grow or die — a process of expansion
and commodification that transgresses boundaries by substituting celebrity for
institutions.” (The New York Times, 2013)
The only downside of interactivity
and virtuality comes precautions such as being way too engaged in a virtual
world, which can lead to misinterpretations, and false expectations. And as we
all know, the media depicts people as they choose, by manipulating what we see
online.
References:
Marshal, P.D 2010, ‘The Specular
Economy’, Society, vol. 47, no.
6, pp. 498-502
Packer, G 2013, “Celebrating Inequality” in The New York Times, May 19 2013,
Accessed, September 3 2013,
