What differences in labour have celebrities had to adjust to from the late 1990’s to present day?
This thesis shows what difference celebrities faced within their labour and the changes that have altered it. This research traces the evolution of celebrity labour from the late 1990’s to present day society. Looking specifically at areas such as media audience and the mass use of social media in the early 2000’s, an array of areas is examined such as the mechanisms that are the foundation of celebrity labour and the elements the media have influenced overtime.
The labour required of celebrities over this period shifted in priorities and processes commonly used, pushing mechanisms such as feedback, distribution, public relations, and privacy to the forefront of this practice. As time transitioned from the 1990’s into the early 2000’s, celebrities through their labour were met with the expectation of increased interaction with their audience and the media, bringing a new importance to feedback and privacy within this labour’s mechanisms. To demonstrate this, a variety of journals and literature are analysed and contextualised through real world case studies involving Diana Princess of Wales, Meghan Markle Duchess of Sussex, Charli XCX, Katie French, and Britney Spears.
Celebrity labour has been altered in present day by a shift in its processes commonly used in the late 1990’s while also having new forms of labour created through digital platforms. Social media has brought about a new place for micro celebrities amongst the media dominant macro celebrities. These platforms have shifted the one-way line of communication once seen during the 1990s between celebrity, media, and audience, forming a new two-way communication function allowing feedback to become a crucial role the audience plays in and eliminating mass media as an interface. This has enabled celebrities to take control of the distribution of their work directly to their audience, removing the grasp the media had in its privatisation while also balancing the role social media companies now have.
A key aspect examined is the commodification of celebrity privacy through image making, turning it into a profitable industry. Through the use of paparazzi, privacy within this labour became a crucial mechanism which ensures the celebrity in question can partake in the labour and life they are intending to have within the public sphere
