Hybrid Media Celebrity

Arthurs, Jane; Little, Ben

doi:10.1057/978-1-137-59628-4_3

Cited by 5 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…In continuity with his previous performances Brand veers ‘between comic abjection and hyperbolic narcissism’. Arthurs and Little (2016: 49) link this to the stories he tells about the flawed yet inspirational nature of the leaders he presents. The show revolves around ironic claims that he is ‘a little bit like’ the iconic figures he is discussing.Yet at the height of these hyperbolic claims … he is simultaneously presenting himself as vulnerable and psychologically damaged … It is a confession of delusional, ‘mad’, thinking, making him ‘a little bit like’ the mental patients with a Messiah Complex he referred to at the start when explaining the significance of the show’s title.…”

Section: Brand Vs Grillomentioning

confidence: 90%

“…It also marks his move towards overt politicization and is the best example of the terms upon which he re-engages with politics. Arthurs and Little (2016: 45) argue that this return to stand-up was provoked by the experiences of the 2011 protest wave, ‘as a performer he realized it was only through the risky intensity of live stand-up that he could capture the communal effervescence that had emerged in the street protests of the Occupy movement’. During the performance we can see Brand’s attempts to foster a feeling of communality.…”

Section: Brand Vs Grillomentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Now I’m a politician I don’t even have parliamentary immunity, I just get screwed. ( Grillo vs Grillo , 2017)In their discussion of Messiah Complex , Arthurs and Little (2016: 48) focus on Brand’s use of ‘storytelling as therapy’. In continuity with his previous performances Brand veers ‘between comic abjection and hyperbolic narcissism’.…”

Section: Brand Vs Grillomentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This injects comic ambiguity into his role as a political guru – just how seriously should we take this madman?Arthurs and Shaw (2016: 1141) argue these acts of self-abnegation ‘distances Brand from the “armoured masculinity” that is still the default identity in contemporary UK politics’. While Arthurs and Little (2016: 42–43) argue that,[W]e might usefully understand his autobiographical storytelling as therapeutic, for both him and his audience … through laughter that counters feelings of isolation, dislocation and a lack of belonging by creating an affective assemblage of potent shared feelings of integration and enjoyment.We can situate this autobiographical, therapeutic narrative historically through reference to the work of Jennifer Silva (2013: 19). In her analysis of a hundred interviews with young working class Americans she found a therapeutic narrative was the dominant means through which contemporary youth understand their lives.…”

Section: Brand Vs Grillomentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In 2014, he started a daily YouTube channel, The Trews , which by March 2015 had gained over a million subscribers. He also began to support activist campaigns in London including the E15 and New Era housing campaigns (Arthurs and Little, 2016). His status as a major political figure was confirmed when in the run up to the May 2015 UK General Election the Labour Party leader, Ed Miliband, agreed to be interviewed by Brand on an episode of The Trews .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The comedian as populist leader: Postironic narratives in an age of cynical irony

Milburn

2018

Leadership

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In October 2013 during a fractious interview with Jeremy Paxman for the Newsnight TV programme, the comedian Russell Brand called for a revolution against a self-serving political and economic elite. Over the following 18 months Brand became a prominent Left-wing political figure in the UK This paper suggests that Brand's experience was not isolated but forms part of a wider contemporary trend of comedians becoming populist political leaders. Other examples include the French comedian Dieudonné and the Italian comedian Beppe Grillo, whose political party Movimento 5 Stelle is currently the largest in the Italian Parliament and part of the governing coalition. Using Brand as a case study the paper examines his political storytelling for its structure and mode of deployment. Whenever Brand ventures forward a sincere statement he always stands ready to ironize it in order to avoid the perception of piety. Using Peter Sloterdijk's discussion of cynical reason and Slajov Zizek's concept of cynical irony I suggest that a post-political ironic detachment has become the dominant mode of ideology. I then argue that this ironic detachment has come under increasing pressure since the economic crisis of 2008 and the increased political engagement it has provoked. It is within this aspect of the conjuncture that we can position the discourse about a Post-Truth era and Post-Truth leaders. The comedian as political leader, I argue, shows a particular route through this problem. They represent transitional figures pioneering the shift from ironic detachment to postironic statements and narratives of political sincerity of the kind that sustained political engagement requires.

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Section: Brand Vs Grillomentioning

confidence: 90%

Section: Brand Vs Grillomentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Brand Vs Grillomentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Brand Vs Grillomentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

The comedian as populist leader: Postironic narratives in an age of cynical irony

Milburn

2018

Leadership

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Celebrity status and the attribution of value

Stewart¹,

Giles

2019

European Journal of Cultural Studies

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The concept of status is in the background of much research on celebrity but rarely made explicit, so in this collection of articles we seek to intervene by drawing attention to the usefulness of the concept in understanding the attribution of value in celebrity culture. We consider that celebrity status derives from an accumulation of social esteem or disparagement based on the countless evaluative judgements, positive or negative, that accumulate in media and wider public discourse. We conceptualize celebrity status as operating within and relating to the social fields that celebrities occupy and move between. Analysing status within the context of fields enables us to better account for how celebrity status is accrued and/or lost within particular social fields in accordance with field-specific criteria and in relation to wider shifting cultural, political and technological contexts. The articles in this special issue have in common an attentiveness to the evaluative criteria by which celebrities are judged as they move from field to field, and as their status undergoes a transformation – for better or worse – in the field they occupy. Ultimately, we argue that the status attributed to celebrities tells us much about how value is attributed, distributed and accumulated in contemporary society.

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‘Russell Brand’s a joke, right?’ Contrasting perceptions of Russell Brand’s legitimacy in grassroots and electoral politics

Watts

2019

European Journal of Cultural Studies

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Russell Brand’s interventions in the political field have taken multiple forms since he famously told Jeremy Paxman in October 2013 that he had never voted. The following year Brand joined the campaign to save the New Era estate in East London, seeking to ‘amplify’ the voices of residents by attracting positive mainstream media coverage and promoting their cause to his large social media audience. This audience, supposedly outside the ‘empty stadium’ of the mainstream campaign, was Labour leader Ed Miliband’s justification for being interviewed and endorsed by Brand during the 2015 election campaign. While the attention Brand received in both cases demonstrates his celebrity capital in the United Kingdom, he also faced contestation. Brand’s wealth complicated his claims to represent housing campaigners, while during the election his background as a working-class comedian conflicted with formal political norms. Using Saward’s theory of representative claims, this article explores how Brand made claims to represent citizens in each context and how these were evaluated. Brand’s negotiation of his status and the response he received in different political contexts is analysed drawing on fieldwork, Brand’s social media and YouTube content, and media coverage of his interventions. I argue that while Brand’s celebrity capital allowed him to work across the fields of entertainment and politics with ease, his status in the political field is dependent on successfully making claims to represent citizens.

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Hybrid Media Celebrity

Cited by 5 publications

References 30 publications

The comedian as populist leader: Postironic narratives in an age of cynical irony

The comedian as populist leader: Postironic narratives in an age of cynical irony

Celebrity status and the attribution of value

‘Russell Brand’s a joke, right?’ Contrasting perceptions of Russell Brand’s legitimacy in grassroots and electoral politics

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