Theorizing It: Paris Hilton, the Celebutante, and the It Girl Lifestyle
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a Theorizing It: Paris Hilton, the Celebutante, and the It Girl Lifestyle Kristin Robbins, Master of Arts in Popular Culture Interdisciplinary MA in Popular Culture Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Popular Culture Faculty of Graduate Studies, Brock University St. Cailiarines, Ontario © October 2008 For all those who consider Paris Hilton a dumb blonde. 11 Abstract This thesis examines the American media's representation of the It Girl through a case study of the celebutante Paris Hilton's lifestyle. Using a combined interpretative and content analysis approach, her wider significance is related to popular discourses surrounding social class mobility. An analysis of the media's framing of her lifestyle in a selection of celebrity and fashion publications reveals that the It Girl can transgress traditional notions of taste as a representation of class. These transgressions are assessed in areas of fashion and etiquette and are regarded as enhancing It-ness. By applying Bourdieu's theory on taste from Distinction, It ness is conceptualized as the highly desirable, media-produced embodiment of Bourdieu's economic, social, and cultural capitals that act as a lifestyle model in American consumerism. As such, the It Girl is not an icon of fixed good taste as the media's characterization of her image suggests; rather she exhibits competing modes of taste (both good and bad taste). In order to maintain her status and position as a taste-maker, the media restore the It Girl's taste through emulation framing and by revaluing (or remarketing) femininity. An analysis of the It Girl provokes a rethinking of traditional ideas about the relationship between American taste and class. 111 Table of Contents Page Dedication .... ........... .......... ... ... ...... ... ... ...... ........ ............ ....... .... ... ..... ......... ........ .......... 11 Abstract ....................................................................................................................... ill List of Tables ............................................................................................................... VI CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION-THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY IT GIRL ........................................................................................................... 1 Theoretical Perspectives .............. ...... ........ ............................ ...... ..... ... ...... ....... 5 Definition of Terms........................................................................ .................. 8 It and tb.e It Girl: An Overview......................................................................... 12 The Phenomenon of tb.e Celebutante................................................................. 15 Paris Hilton and Taste ...................................................................................... 17 Chapter Summaries ...... ................ ....... ....... .............. ................. .... .... ... ...... ...... 20 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................... 23 Overview of Celebrity Studies.......................................................................... 23 Defining Celebrity............... ..... .............. ................... ...................... .... ............. 26 Cultural Significance of tb.e Celebrity: Lifestyle Taste-Maker ........... ......... ...... 29 Academia, Celebutantes, and tb.e It GirL.......................................................... 36 Theorizing Contemporary It-ness: Relationship to Taste................................... 38 Taste and Lifestyle as Conceptualized by Bourdieu.... .......... ................... ......... 40 Legitimizing Social Mobility tb.rough Consumption: Bourdieu and American Media Framing oftb.e It Girl's Taste .......................................... 48 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY ..................................................................... 52 Framework........ ..... .... .......... .................... ................... ....................... .............. 52 Rationale for Combining Research Metb.ods..................................................... 53 Rationale for tb.e Selection of Paris Hilton........................................................ 55 Interpretive Analysis ........................................................................................ 58 Media Sources................... ........ .................. ......... ....... ........... .......................... 60 Content Analysis ...... ....... ............................................. ........................ ............ 63 Analysis of Data: Interpreting Bourdieu's Capitals into Variables............ ........ 70 CHAPTER FOUR: IT IN THE AMERICAN LIFESTYLE.......................................... 74 Popularization oftb.e Celebutante-as-It-Girl...................................................... 74 The Celebutante: According to Boorstin and Mills ........................................... 76 General Results ................................................................................................ 83 Account ofIt as Conceptualized Using Bourdieu's Capitals ............................. 86 CHAPTER FIVE: TASTE-MAKING AND SOCIAL MOBILITy.............................. 93 Legitimizing Taste: The It Girl as Cultural Educator ........................................ 93 iv Social Mobility in the Media's Portrayal of the It Girl's Lifestyle and Taste..... 94 Evaluation of Hilton's Taste-Making Abilities: Good Taste.............................. 98 Evaluation of Hilton's Taste-Making Abilities: Bad Taste................................ 103 Paris the Heiress's Predictable Confessions: Hilton as a Dominant Form of Good and Pure Taste in Confessions ofan Heiress ..................................... 114 CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION................................................................................. 121 Limitations ....................................................................................................... 124 Further Considerations ..................................................................................... 125 Works Cited................................................................................................................. 130 Appendix A: Visual Coding Sheet ............................................................................... 143 Appendix B: Textual Coding Sheet.............................................................................. 145 Appendix C: Codebook-Visual and Textual Analysis ................................................ 146 Appendix D: Article Log for Content Analysis ............................................................ 154 Appendix E: Frequency Results for Visual Content Analysis ....................................... 159 Appendix F: Frequency Results for Textual Content Analysis...................................... 163 v List of Tables Table Page 1: Porno Paris Time Frame ....................................................................................... 66 2: Couture Convict Time Frame ............................................................................... 67 3: Sample Coding System from Visual and Textual Analysis ................................... 69 4: Categorization of Variables into Bourdieu's Capitals .......................................... 71 vi 1 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION - THE TWENTY-FffiST CENTURY IT GIRL At ftrst the phenomenon was considered ephemeral: an It Girl would have a limited run, either rising to greater heights and household recognition or, conversely, her star would diminish. The list of 20th-and 21 st_century It Girls is long, storied, and well-dressed, reaching into the elite upper echelons of society (Talitha Getty, Nancy Cunard) and culling from the ranks of famous faces (Twiggy, Kate Moss) .... In the annals of pop culture, images ofIt Girls loom large, wielding a powerful influence even to this day. (Feldman 126) Since the mid-1960s' appearance of Andy Warhol's socialite superstar Edie Sedgwick, the American press has been consistently using the It Girl label and reporting on her lifestyle in celebrity and fashion magazines. Talitha Getty, Nancy Cunard, Twiggy, and Kate Moss are but a few examples in a long list of It Girls identifted by the American press. According to Vanity Fair, the list is also populated by individuals such as socialites Brenda Frazier and Gloria Vanderbilt, actresses Grace Kelly, Rita Hayworth, and Gwyneth Paltrow, and models Penelope Tree and Elizabeth Hurley (Peretz 311-316). The newest twenty-flrst century It Girls have been identifted as celebutantes Paris and Nicky Hilton (Sales 351). The It Girl's cultural signiftcance is linked to her social class membership and to her taste, both of which are central to her representation in the American press. The combination of her position in the "upper elite" class and her ability to project a notion of being "well dressed," which is indicative of "good" taste, have permitted the It Girl to become a contemporary lifestyle model for American consumers. The aforementioned 2 excerpt from Feldman's piece in Nylon magazine, much like other published articles on It, can identify the women who possess the It factor and can describe how the It Girl lives. However, the article fails to defme It-ness or account for the significance of lifestyle in the attainment and maintenance ofIt Girl status. While Feldman's observation provides some insight into the definition ofIt--class