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The Influence of Celebrities
Celebrities and Their Influence
The Influence of Celebrities
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Throughout this essay I will use the theories surrounding power, spectacle and memory to analysis and explain the controversy surrounding Jimmy Savile, with the child/sexual abuse crimes that have come to light since his passing. I have chosen to use this example, as not only does it show the three elements in action but also shows the spectacle falling apart leading to the failure of the other elements. To do this I will explore power by focusing on celebrity culture and how he manipulated that, leading to exploring the spectacle he created by his charity work, which served as a smoke screen. Memory will be explored by contrasting the views and opinions of people before and after these crimes had come to light, how he manipulated people’s memory of him compared to people seeing through it after the spectacle had been broken and the downfall of his power which came after his death. …show more content…
When Louis Met Jimmy took place in 2007 and shows Theroux meeting Savile serving as more of an interview style documentary. Whereas, ‘Savile’, was released in 2016 and reflects off the earlier documentary and Jimmy Savile as a whole in light of the crimes, interviewing victims and former colleagues of Savile. Furthermore case studies and news reports with further evidence supporting or contradicting what is shown in the documentaries from various other news sources. During When Louis Met Jimmy, Savile appears very overexcited to be in the documentary being very talkative and over energetic, although this fitted with his public persona, he seems overconfident, perhaps knowing that he won’t get caught . Whereas, Savile takes place after his passing, focusing on him in light of his crimes depicts his behaviour and the act he put
In the true crime/sociology story, “Best Intentions: The Education and Killing of Edmund Perry” the author, Robert Sam Anson had provided an immense amount of information from reportings about Edmund Perry’s death and life before he died. Anson has developed Edmund’s character and experiences through reporting that I have related and connected to. Information reported by Anson has helped me find a deep connection towards Edmund Perry’s home environment, junior high experiences, and personality at Philips Exeter. Themes such as hopes and dreams, loyalty and betrayal, journey, and family ties are intertwined in the story and becomes blatant. The congruences between our lives have better my understanding of the story and Edmund’s life.
Searching for Sugar Man, a 2012 documentary directed by Malik Bendjelloul, contains many documentary-type aesthetics. The film tells the tale of an American musician named Sixto Rodriguez whose music encouraged the anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa. The characters within the film are all real people based off of a real-life situation. This particular film contains many on-camera interviews in order to get that documentary type feel. The film shows interviews from a construction worker, to all of Rodriquez’s daughters. Along with these interviews are also on-screen texts used to show the history of Rodriguez. Some on-screen texts display the interviewees names or some display the date and place where Rodriguez was. In one interview, the viewer is able to see the on-screen text of “Dennis Coffey- Co-Producer of Rodriguez’s First Album ‘Cold Fact’ (1970).” This type of on-screen information gives the audience a little background information on who is being interviewed.
The Casey Anthony case was one that captured the heart of thousands and made it to the headline of national TV talk shows, newspapers, radio stations and social media networks for months. The root of the case was due to a clash between the parental responsibilities, the expectations that went with being a parent, and the life that Casey Anthony wanted to have. The case was in respect to the discovering the cause of Casey’s two-year-old daughter, Caylee Marie Anthony’s, death; however the emphasis was placed on Casey and her futile lies, which resulted in a public outcry. The purpose of this essay is to delve into the public atmosphere and inquire about why the media and social media collectively attacked the case by uncovering the content of the case, the charges that were laid, and later dismissed, the “performers” of the trial and the publics reaction. It will further discuss how it defies universal ideologies and how the media represents this. The discussion of the complexities of the case and its connotations will incorporate Stuart Hall’s Representation and the Media, Robert Hariman’s Performing the Laws, What is Ideology by Terry Eagleton, The Body of the Condemned by Michael Foucault, and a number of news articles, which will reveal disparate ideas of representation in the media, and the role of the performers of the law and their effect on the understanding of the case.
Lussier, G 2013, /Film Interview: Sarah Polley Explains Secrets of her Brilliant Documentary ‘Stories We Tell’, Slash Film, accessed 2 May 2014,
...ses a threat of humiliation and maltreating from other individuals that can have a detrimental effect on their lives. A person can go from being a normal school student to a laughing stock on a popular social network or even trend from a emotionally stable individual to a deranged, depressed critter who now hides in the shadows of society hoping never to be revealed. The informative thought of the re-occurrence of public shaming throughout history from Bennett allows the reader to question if this is an issue that is perpetual and something that will never go away. Furthermore, the author conveys the idea that publicizing oneself can be a burden; the darkside of Internet fame. Wrapping up her article, Bennett portrays a warning to the reader stating, “Shame...will always be with you”(115). Harassment from Internet fame can alter a person's life-forever.
Power relationships in Craig Silvey’s Jasper Jones have been represented in various ways in the text’s and my own context. Through the representation of the Lus and Jasper Jones, racial power has been reflected in the context of the text being the 1960s. In the contemporary context, sexual power has been further reinforced through the point of view of Charlie and the death of Laura Wishart in the plot. Political power has been challenged in my current context as well as in the text’s context through the characterisation of Pete Wishart and the Sarge. Together with the changing society, power relationships are also changing and thus, over time there certainly will be changes to who hold the power in these relationships.
... about how much journalism can affect a person’s reputation. After the publication of Fatal Vision, MacDonald received a letter in jail from a reader. The reader was on vacation in Hawaii with his wife when he read the book and decided to write to the star of the novel. J.H, the Hawaiian vacationer, basically told MacDonald that he should rot in jail and not receive parole in 1991. (Malcolm, 145) Fatal Vision introduced the story of MacDonald to the world and a much larger audience than the case would have had if there was no book. With the publication of Fatal Vision, so many people did not get to hear MacDonald’s true voice, whether he was lying or telling the truth, the world would only see McGinniss’ viewpoint of the murder and trial, that is until Janet Malcolm wrote The Journalist and the Murderer.
In Harry Mulisch’s novel The Assault, the author not only informs society of the variance in perception of good and evil, but also provides evidence on how important it is for an innocent person experiencing guilt to come to terms with their personal past. First, Mulisch uses the characters Takes, Coster, and Ploeg to express the differences in perspective on the night of the assault. Then he uses Anton to express how one cannot hide from the past because of their guilt. Both of these lessons are important to Mulisch and worth sharing with his readers.
As the inspector begins to investigate the murders of the boys he collects history books that he believes will give him insight into Richard III and his horrible crime. The first history book he comes upon is a historical reader which bears “the same relation to history as Stories from the Bible bears to Holy Writ.” This book explains the tale of the princes in the tower using short paragraphs and full page illustrations which teaches an important moral, but adds no insight to the real story of Richard III. The second text he uses to investigate the crime is a proper school history book. The first realization he comes to while reading this book is that all school history books seem to separate history into easy to digest sections associated by the different reigns that never intersect or overlap. The second realization is that Richard III must have had a towering personality to have made himself “one of the best-known rulers” in two thousand years o...
Gabriel in the eyes of the world was a survivor whose life got taken away by two malicious caregivers. The Newscaster and reporters depicted Gabriel as a sweet and innocent little boy. The pictures they showed of Gabriel, he was always smiling, and they wanted all communities to view Gabriel as the victim. In contrast, when a picture was seen of Pearl and her boyfriend they was viewed as mean, and resentful. They never smiled, and never looked regretful about the incident. The social workers was also seen as the enemy, and was presented by the media as such. The newscasters interviewed people who blamed the social workers as much as they blamed Gabriel’s parents. The media presented Gabriel’s story in ways that will guarantee sympathy and empathy. People in the community were distressed over Gabriel’s death. After watching and reading the news about Gabriel’s story, and the torture he endured, there’s no debate on whose side the community would stand
The Oxford University Dictionary defines the word power as ‘authority or control’ over an individual and knowledge as ‘the sum of what is known’. In Angela Carter’s story The Bloody Chamber (1979) knowledge and power correlate with each other. The more information a character possesses the greater authority they have. In The Bloody Chamber Carter utilises a variety of literary techniques to express the importance of knowledge and power in the plot. This essay will analyse the way Carter applies these literary techniques to the story to express the importance of knowledge and power.
The Whitechapel Murders and those of Jack the Ripper are not generally one and the same. Over a period of three years towards the end of the nineteenth century a number of prostitutes were murdered under different circumstances – the murder of prostitutes was not an especially unique occurrence during those times but several of the murders drew particular attention on account of the savagery with which the victim’s bodies were mutilated. Within the Whitechapel Murders was a cluster of murders that demonstrated sufficient similarities as to suggest that they were committed by the same person. One of the first instances of serial murder was thus identified and sensationalised in the media as the work of ‘Jack the Ripper’, nicknamed on the strength of a letter, probably a hoax, sent to the Central News Agency and claiming responsibility for the killings. Jack the Ripper was a man, and the killer surely was a man, who did not have the intention to merely kill his victims; he needed to mutilate them. Such was the savagery of his attacks and the enthusiasm of the press, that he successfully terrorised the environs of Whitechapel in East London for several years. In spite of an extensive investigation of the killings, Jack the Ripper was never apprehended nor convincingly identified.
In 1993, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, aged ten at the time, abused and murdered a two-year-old boy, James Bulger. There was media uproar about the case with the two boys being described as ‘evil’, ‘monsters’ and ‘freaks’ in the media (Franklin & Horwath 1998). There were many references to evil in the newspapers; with the telegraph stating that Thompson’s nickname was ‘Damien’ (from The Omen) and declaring that Venables birth date was Friday the 13th. The majority of society was united in the belief that these two boys were the epitome of evil and it was the media that nurtured this belief. ‘Newspaper reports were unequivocal in their denunciations of Thompson and Venables as inherently evil, prompted perhaps initially by Justice Morland’s description of the murder as an act of unparalleled ev...
private lives without guilt or shame. Mendes as does Lester asks the spectator to be the voyeur.
The Marquis de Sade led a lifestyle that disgusted some but influenced others. “This was a life, then, of swashbuckling adventure, narrow escapes, wild abandon, and bloody crime” (Lever, introduction on front flap). He is famous for coining the term “sadism” from his known love for sexual violence in his own life and literature. The Marquis’ own libertine values, which allowed for him to escape the moral restraints of law and religion, allowed for his life and works of literature to challenge censorship.