Many Celebrities Are Famous for Being FamousCelebrity Culture, 2011

"A new kind of fame ... is changing our celebrity culture, a fame that is increasinglydisconnected from the star's success in the field for which he or she is ostensibly famous."

Amy Argetsinger is a staff writer for the Washington Post's Style section. In the followingviewpoint, Argetsinger offers a new category of celebrity—"famesque"—wherein the star isprimarily famous for his or her fame. For instance, she claims that British actress Sienna Miller isbetter known for her personal life, fashion choices, and interview flubs than her film career ortalents. As entertainment news became a round-the-clock industry, the exploits of Miller, JessicaSimpson, and others began to fill the void of celebrity news, Argetsinger says. The author insiststhat famesque stars maintain the momentum of press with their provocative behavior and skilledpublicists.

As you read, consider the following questions:

According to the author, how is "famesque" different from other types of celebrity?1.

How did Miller gain fame, in the author's view?2.

What traits do the famesque share, as stated by Argetsinger?3.

For five years, we've followed the golden girl. Sienna Miller smiles from magazine covers. She dominatesthe red carpets. She's a regular on TMZ.

And she's suffered, so prettily, the burden of her fame: The humiliating breakups laid bare in the press.The blowback from careless interviews. The "homewrecker" catcalls in the blogosphere. The shame oftopless photos, caught on vacation, now all over the tabs; all the horrible invasions of privacy.

Right about now you're thinking, "Who's Sienna Miller again? Remind me why I'm supposed to know her?"

It's okay! There's absolutely no reason you should know who she is—not even if you're a religious followerof the celebrity press that tracks her so closely. She's an actress, but odds are you've never seen a singleone of her movies or TV shows. Miller is a pioneer in a new kind of fame that is changing our celebrityculture, a fame that is increasingly disconnected from the star's success in the field for which he or she isostensibly famous.

Sienna Miller is not famous. She is famesque.

What is famesque? It's not the paradox of the unlovable A-lister—the Nicole Kidman types who win all theawards but lose the hearts of the multiplex. It's not the quandary of the shrinking star (Ricky Martin),gossip-bait still on the strength of a few decade-old monster hits. The famesque are distinct from their has-been cousins who extended their run via reality shows and basic-cable hosting gigs (Bill Rancic, MarioLopez) and from the train wrecks (Lindsay Lohan) whose detour from genuine fame is compelling becausethey had it and blew it.

The famesque of 2009 are descended from that dawn-of-TV creation, the Famous for Being Famous. Turnon a talk show or Hollywood Squares and there'd be Zsa Zsa Gabor, Dr. Joyce Brothers, Charles NelsonReilly, so friendly and familiar and—what was it they did again? But the FFBF always seemed to knowhow marginal they were—that was their charm. And they never, ever made the cover of People.

The truly famesque possess the seeming gravitas that comes with a title and the suggestion of ajob—actor, singer, pro athlete. It's just that ... you've never seen them act, or heard them sing, or watchedthem play. Instead: You read about them. A lot. There was a time when the growth of our worldwideround-the-clock entertainment-news industry was gravely threatened by the fact that there weren't enoughlegitimate celebrities to power it—until the famesque stepped in to fill that market niche. They single-handedly saved TMZ's business model. Because, hey, it's not every day Mel Gibson gets drunk andinsults a cop.

So: Sienna Miller, the most famous obscure art house film star in history. The celebrity press often dropsthe name of a star's most recent or biggest project to remind you who they are. For Miller, it's Factory Girl(2006), in which she starred as drug-damaged '60s scenester Edie Sedgwick. You remember—the oneyou read about, where she got the role after Katie Holmes suddenly dropped out. But you didn't see it,right? It made only $1.6 million in U.S. theaters. Miller's biggest-grossing movie was a fantasy-adventurecalled Stardust, in which she was billed about sixth or seventh behind Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert DeNiro. Not that you saw that one either: It made only $39 million, not a lot for that kind of thing.

Then how'd she become so famesque? Us Weekly News Director Lara Cohen, who says she's beenwith the magazine "since the era of Bennifer One," says it started with being incredibly photogenic.At the time, maybe five years ago, Miller had one big hit film in the UK (Layer Cake, which never took offhere) and a lot of buzz. "A lot of the photo agencies we work with are based in London," Cohen said. "Sowe were seeing a lot of photos of her. But she was interesting as a style icon in a way that Jordan or someof the other British celebrities were not." (We don't know who Jordan is either.)

Miller gained momentum, Cohen says, with her knack for "no-holds-barred, watch-your-mouth interviews."As during the filming of The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, when Miller, interviewed by Rolling Stone, slammedher host city as "[rhymes-with-Pitts]burgh." Says Cohen: "It was the most publicity that movie got." (Itgrossed less than $100,000.)

And Miller harnessed the power of celebrity dating, where "one plus one equals four," Cohen says. TakePosh Spice, whose union with soccer star David Beckham catapulted her to heights poor Sporty andScary could never climb. It's the reason Us last month gave the breaking-news treatment to the divorce ofEddie Cibrian. Who? Some guy who used to be on Third Watch, apparently—but word is he was maybedating LeAnn Rimes. Miller became famesque by dating Jude Law ... and then really famesque when hecheated on her with the nanny—to the point that she was the one who made Balthazar Getty famesque(even though he's the one with the hit TV series, Brothers & Sisters) when he reportedly ran off from hiswife with her for a while.

But Miller's groundbreaking famesque is threatened. She stars in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, a big dumbmovie that opened Friday on 4,007 screens. By now it's possible that 10 million Americans just sawSienna Miller on the big screen.

What happens then? Will we lose interest? Will she stop saying provocative things? Stop wearing crazyclothes? Stop dating messed-up dudes? (Cohen's not worried: "She has a really great publicist. One of thebest in the business.")

Who else is famesque? Set aside that one hit album from a decade ago, and Jessica Simpson prettymuch defines it. She's a "singer," but do you know or remember her songs? Likewise her movie roles,most in films that tanked. That cultural-touchstone reality show with husband Nick Lachey? Brief, andcanceled four years ago, like their marriage. A 2007 USA Today/Gallup poll asked Americans whetherthey hoped Simpson's "comeback" would succeed; 65 percent said they didn't care one way or the other.But there she is on the cover of Vanity Fair, no less, standard-bearer for all those blond stars (KateBosworth, Denise Richards) whose love lives are their true art form.

Or "NFL star" Matt Leinart, who, like Anna Kournikova, has done better on the "hottest singles" and "mostbeautiful" lists than the playing fields. He went to USC, which put him in partying proximity of Paris Hilton.He may never be the starting quarterback again, but he still draws the paparazzi.

The famesque are young, beautiful, and noticeably white—a formula that seems to disproportionatelydraw the paparazzi and dominate the gossip magazines. One could make the case that the sort-offamesque African American starlet Kerry Washington (so gorgeous! So ubiquitous! What was she inagain?) should be more famesque than she is.

One last example—someone who may yet top Sienna Miller in the art of famesque.

Ashton Kutcher.

"But Ashton Kutcher is famous!" you say. "He's a big star!"

Star of what? Of the TV commercials, where he plays himself? Of the red carpets, where he clowns andmugs with his beautiful older wife? Of a million great interviews, where with expert calibrations of wit andself-deprecation he divulges how crazy and blessed his life is?

Name one of his movies. Just one. And no, not Dude, Where's My Car?, another one.

See? Famesque.

Further ReadingsBooks

Robert Clarke, ed. Celebrity Colonialism: Fame, Power and Representation in Colonial andPostcolonial Cultures. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009.

Andrew F. Cooper Celebrity Diplomacy. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers, 2008.

Susan J. Drucker and Gary Gumpert, eds. Heroes in a Global World. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press,2008.

Michael Essany Reality Check: The Business and Art of Producing Reality TV. Boston, MA: FocalPress/Elsevier, 2008.

Mitchell Fink The Last Days of Dead Celebrities. New York: Miramax Books, 2006.

Jake Halpern Fame Junkies: The Hidden Truths Behind America's Favorite Addiction. Boston, MA:Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007.

Daniel Herwitz The Star as Icon: Celebrity in the Age of Mass Consumption. New York: ColumbiaUniversity Press, 2008.

Marina Hyde Celebrity: How Entertainers Took over the World and Why We Need an Exit Strategy.London: Harvill Secker, 2009.

Fred Inglis A Short History of Celebrity. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2010.

Nathan Dwayne Jackson Bono's Politics: The Future of Celebrity Political Activism. Saarbrücken,Germany: VDM Verlag, 2008.

Matthew Jacob and Mark Jacob What the Great Ate: A Curious History of Food and Fame. New York:Three Rivers Press, 2010.

Marlise Elizabeth Kast Tabloid Prodigy. Philadelphia, PA: Running Press, 2007.

Cooper Lawrence The Cult of Celebrity: What Our Fascination with the Stars Reveals About Us.Guilford, CT: Skirt, 2009.

Susan Murray and Laurie Ouellette, eds. Reality TV: Remaking Television Culture. New York: NewYork University Press, 2009.

Laurie Ouellette and James Hay Better Living Through Reality TV: Television and Post-WelfareCitizenship. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2008.

Tom Payne Fame: What the Classics Tell Us About Our Cult of Celebrity. New York: Picador, 2010.

Kathryn Petras and Ross Petras Unusually Stupid Celebrities: A Compendium of All-Star Stupidity.New York: Villard, 2007.

Drew Pinsky and S. Mark Young The Mirror Effect: How Celebrity Narcissism Is Seducing America.New York: HarperCollins, 2009.

Sean Redmond and Su Holmes, eds. Stardom and Celebrity: A Reader. Thousand Oaks, CA: SagePublications, 2007.

Jim Rubens OverSuccess: Healing the American Obsession with Wealth, Fame, Power, andPerfection. Austin, TX: Greenleaf Book Group Press, 2009.

David Shields Reality Hunger: A Manifesto. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010.

Gary Stromberg and Jane Merrill The Harder They Fall: Celebrities Tell Their Real-Life Stories ofAddiction and Recovery. Center City, MN: Hazelden, 2008.

PeriodicalsJacob Bernstein "The Celebrity Cover Backlash," Daily Beast, May 18, 2010.

Patrick Brown "Nobody Wants to Go Home: A Unified Theory of Reality TV," Millions, January 26,2010. www.themillions.com.

Rachel Dodes "Recession Dims Stars' Style Power," Wall Street Journal, September 15, 2009.

Chris Hedges "The Man in the Mirror," Truthdig.com, July 13, 2009.

Sarah Hepola "The Year Celebrity Scandal Died," Salon, December 26, 2008. www.salon.com.

Michael Hirschorn "The Case for Reality TV," Atlantic, May 2007.

Jemima Kiss "ï¼  Future of Journalism: What Do We Do with Celebrity News?" Guardian (UnitedKingdom), June 18, 2008.

Hiram Lee "The 'Balloon Boy' Hoax, Celebrity Culture, and the American Media," World Socialist WebSite, October 22, 2009. www.wsws.com.

Tim Lott "Tim Lott: The Culture of Celebrity Is Far from Dead—It's Just Growing Up," Independent(United Kingdom), January 17, 2010.

Christine Rosen "The Death of Embarrassment," In Character, April 26, 2010. http://incharacter.org.

Allison Hope Weiner "The Web Site Celebrities Fear," New York Times, June 25, 2007.

Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2011 Greenhaven Press, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning.

Source CitationArgetsinger, Amy. "Many Celebrities Are Famous for Being Famous." Celebrity Culture.

Ed. Roman Espejo. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2011. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt.from "They Must Be Stars Because They Get So Much Press, But What Is It TheyDo Again?" Washington Post 10 Aug. 2009. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web.17 Nov. 2013.

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