We cannot escape celebrity culture: it is everywhere. So just what is the cultural function of celebrity?

This is the first comprehensive overview of the production and consumption of celebrity from within cultural and media studies. The pervasive influence of contemporary celebrity, and the cultures it produces, has been widely noticed. Earlier studies, though, have tended to focus on the consumption of celebrity or on particular locations of celebrity - Hollywood, or the sports industries for instance. This book presents a broad survey across all media as well as a new synthesis of theoretical positions, that will be welcomed by all students of media and cultural studies. Among its attributes are the following:

-It provides an overview and evaluation of the key debates surrounding the definition of celebrity, its history, and its social and cultural function

-It examines the ′celebrity industries′: the PR and publicity structures that manufacture celebrity

-It looks at the cultural processes through which celebrity is consumed

-It draws examples from the full range of contemporary media - film, television, newspapers, magazines and the web