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Framing and Containing Female Celebrity in the Age of Reality

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Framing and Containing Female Celebrity in the Age of Reality ‘But She Doesn’t DO Anything!’: Framing and Containing Female Celebrity in the Age of Reality Television by Stephanie Patrick Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postgraduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Communication University of Ottawa Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 2013 © Stephanie Patrick, Ottawa, Canada, 2013 Abstract This thesis offers a feminist analysis of the gendered public discourses surrounding notions of talent, authenticity and containment. Using two of the most polarizing stars in North America – ‘Snooki’ and Kim Kardashian – the author offers an analysis of how both hard and soft news frame our everyday understanding of women’s public work. Textual analyses of news articles demonstrated that displays of sexual power were most undermined by the media while attempts to venture beyond the reality television texts were contained. On the other hand, the news media were more likely to use positive framing when women were seen to be fulfilling more traditional roles such as wife and mother. The empirical research approach provides an original framework which can be applied to other female public figures to examine how such ideological and gendered discourses shape our understanding of women’s work as well as, more generally, women’s roles in our society. “… to provoke, to be rebellious, to start a revolution.” -Madonna, 2011 Acknowledgments I would like to thank Florian Grandena for his supervision, feedback, patience and encouragement throughout this process. He provided me with invaluable guidance, validation of the seriousness of my work, and relevant but stress-relieving celebrity gossip as necessary. Many grateful thanks to Dr. Fernando Andacht, Jenepher Lennox Terrion and Jeremy Shtern for their feedback and contributions to this work. They each brought a unique and insightful perspective to my thesis, which irrefutably strengthened its academic merit. I would also like to thank my parents, Leslie and Mark Patrick for their unconditional support, encouragement and for raising me to expect equality and respect as a woman. To my partner and best friend, Mike Migliara, for his emphatic belief that I’m always right – even when I’m not (“You’re fired!”). Thank you to my grrrl Courtney for covering for me whenever a chapter was due. To all my friends that listened to me rant about this topic (Jess and Andréa, in particular). And the biggest thank you to those who disagreed with, laughed at, and challenged my arguments (too many to mention) for renewing my beliefs and helping me to articulate them. Finally, thank you to Snooki and Kim, for everything. Table of Contents List of Figures .................................................................................................................... iv Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................1 Chapter 2: Literature Review and Theoretical Framework ..........................................7 2.1 Literature Review .....................................................................................................7 Celebrity .................................................................................................................. 7 Reality Television ................................................................................................. 16 2.2. Theoretical Framework .........................................................................................22 Cultural Studies and Structuralism ....................................................................... 23 Feminism .............................................................................................................. 27 Chapter 3: Methodology ..................................................................................................39 3.1 Overview ................................................................................................................39 3.2 Detailed Method .....................................................................................................51 Snooki ................................................................................................................... 52 Kim Kardashian .................................................................................................... 58 Chapter 4: Snooki ............................................................................................................66 4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................66 Jersey Shore .......................................................................................................... 66 Snooki’s Audience ................................................................................................ 68 4.2 Sexual Snooki ........................................................................................................71 4.3 Pregnant Snooki .....................................................................................................75 Is Snooki Pregant? ................................................................................................ 75 i Is Pregnant Snooki Still Snooki? .......................................................................... 78 4.4 Mother Snooki .......................................................................................................93 4.5 Containment in the Media ......................................................................................96 Spin-Off ................................................................................................................ 96 Beyond Reality Television .................................................................................... 97 4.5 Conclusion ...........................................................................................................101 Chapter 5: Kim Kardashian .........................................................................................103 5.1 Introduction ..........................................................................................................103 5.2 Love and Marriage ...............................................................................................106 Divorce ................................................................................................................ 107 Romance ............................................................................................................. 111 5.3 Sex, Lies and Videotape ......................................................................................113 Sex Tape .............................................................................................................. 114 Physical Appearance ........................................................................................... 119 5.4 Containment in the Media ....................................................................................124 Celebrity Hierarchy ............................................................................................. 124 Acting as Talent .................................................................................................. 128 Business Ventures ............................................................................................... 132 5.5 Conclusion ...........................................................................................................134 Chapter 6: Conclusion ...................................................................................................136 6.1 Summary ..............................................................................................................136 6.2 Reflections ...........................................................................................................142 ii 6.3 Relevance .............................................................................................................147 References ........................................................................................................................151 Appendix: Links to articles discussed ..............................................................................179 iii List of Figures Figure 4.1 ...........................................................................................................................77 Figure 4.2 ...........................................................................................................................81 Figure 4.3 ...........................................................................................................................93 Figure 4.4 ...........................................................................................................................94 Figure 4.5 .........................................................................................................................100 Figure 5.1 .........................................................................................................................126 iv 1 Chapter 1: Introduction “Whether it’s Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian or whoever, stupidity is certainly celebrated. Being a f**king idiot is a valuable commodity in this culture because you’re rewarded significantly.” – John Hamm, film and television actor, 20121 The sentiments of this quote have been echoed not only by other successful male Hollywood actors (i.e. Daniel Craig, Jeremy Renner, see Franich, 2012) but also other figures in
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