Hermione’s feminist book club: celebrity activism and cultural critique
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7146/mediekultur.v34i65.104842Keywords:
cultural critique, celebrity activism, Emma Watson, celebrity book clubAbstract
In this article, I analyse how a celebrity can perform cultural critique and feminist activism using her Instagram account and online book club. The celebrity in question is British film star Emma Watson, famous for playing Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter franchise. Watson is performing her activism on gender equality and cultural critique by recommending feminist literature. This study undertakes an analysis of Watson’s presentations of self on Instagram and in her letters in the Our Shared Shelf book club. The analysis takes its point of departure from theories of social media and celebrity culture and film studies as well as investigations of celebrity book clubs and celebrity activism. This case study of Emma Watson’s performance of cultural critique and activism on specific media platforms demonstrates that Watson’s authority is based on her star image as well as the fact that her book club letters and Instagram posts mutually reinforce one another’s written personal arguments and visual documentation.
References
References
Brockington, D. (2014). “The production and construction of celebrity advocacy in international development”. Third World Quarterly, 35:1. DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2014.868987.
Chouliaraki, L. (2013). The Ironic Spectator. Solidarity in the Age of Posthumanitarianism. Polity Press: Cambridge.
Collins, J. (2010). Bring on the books for everybody. How Literary Culture became popular culture. Duke University Press: Durham.
Dyer, R. (1979). Stars. London: BFI Publishing.
English, J. F. (2005). The Economy of Prestige, Prizes, Awards, and the Circulation of Cultural Value. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Gamson, J. (1994). Claims to Fame. Berkely: University of California Press.
Gibson, J. (1979). The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. London: Psychologogy Press.
Goffman, E. (1959). The Presentation of self in everyday life. London: Penguin.
Horton, D. & Wohl, R.R. (1961) “Massekommunikation og parasocial interaktion: Et indlæg om intimitet på afstand”. Mediekultur vol. 13, No. 26. (1997).
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7146/mediekultur.v13i26.1088.
Kantor, J. & Twohey, M. (2017) ” Harvey Weinstein Paid Off Sexual Harassment Accusers for Decades. I. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/us/harvey-weinstein-harassment-allegations.html retrived 10.06.18.
Lowenthal, L. (1961). “The Triumph of Mass Idols”. In. The Celebrity Culture Reader (P.David
Marshall (Ed.). London : Routledge.
Maguire, J. & Matthews, J. Eds. (2014): The Cultural Intermediaries Reader. Los Angeles: Sage.
Marshall P. D. (2010). The promotion and presentation of the self. In Celebrity Studies Journal (1).
Marshall, P. D. (2017) Foreword: the Bridge of the Human Brand. In Raphael, J. & Lam, C. (Eds.) Becoming Brands. Celebrity, Activism and Politics. Waterhill Publishing: Toronto.
Marwick, A. E. (2015). Instafame: Luxury Selfies in the Attention Economy. Public Culture 27/1.
Marwick, A.E., & boyd, d. (2010). “I tweet honestly, I tweet passionately”. In. New media & society, Vol 13 (1). DOI: 10.1177/1461444810365313.
McCracken, G. (1989). Who is the celebrity endorser? Cultural foundations of the endorsement process. In. Journal of consumer research 16(3).
McDonald, P. (2013). Hollywood Stardom. London: Wiley Blackwell.
O’Donnell, K.M. (2017). “Celebrities and Conflicting Notions of Modern” In Raphael, J. & Lam, C. (Eds.) Becoming Brands. Celebrity, Activism and Politics. Waterhill Publishing: Toronto
Radway, J. (1997): A Feeling For Books. TheBook-of-the-month, Literary Taste, and mIddle Calss Desire. University of North Carolina Press: Chapel Hill.
Raphael, J. & Lam, C. (2017) (Eds.) Becoming Brands. Celebrity, Activism and Politics. Waterhill Publishing: Toronto.
Rojek, C. (2013). Fame attack. London: Reaktion Books.
Rooney, K. (2005): Reading With Oprah. The Book Club that Changed America. University of Arkansa Press: Fayetteville.
Stacey, J. (1992) Star Gazing. Hollywood Cinema and Female spectatorship. London: Routledge: London.
Thomas, S. (2014) Celebrity in the ‘Twitterverse’: history, authenticity and the multiplicity of stardom Situating the ‘newness’ of Twitter, Celebrity Studies, 5:3, 242-255, DOI: 10.1080/19392397.2013.845962.
Tufekci, Z. (2013). “‘Not This One’: Social Movements, the Attention Economy, and Microcelebrity Networked Activism.” American Behavioral Scientist 57, no. 7: 848–70.
Warner, H. (2013). Fashion,Celebrity and cultural workers: SJP as cultural intermediary. In: Media, Culture & Society, 35 (3). 382-391. DOI: 10.1177/0163443712471781.
Watson, E. (2014) (UN portrait of Watson)
https://www.instagram.com/p/qMVqXUH3EQ/?taken-by=emmawatson retrieved 10.06.18.
Watson, E. (2016a) (Watson with Trudeau)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BK8JeeRgSyu/?taken-by=emmawatson retrieved 10.06.18.
Watson, E. (2016b) (Watson at Davos Summit)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BLGWtgBAZby/?taken-by=emmawatson retrieved 10.06.18.
Watson, E. (2016c) Our Shared Shelf. Dear Readers. https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/179584-our-shared-shelf retrieved 10.06.18.
Watson, E. (2017a) (Bookfairies)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BVpeywxhU2e/?taken-by=emmawatson retrieved 10.06.18
Watson, E. (2017b): “Our Shared Shelf discussion Announcements > First Book of 2018! Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge”, https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/19152741-first-book-of-2018-why-i-m-no-longer-talking-to-white-people-about-race retrieved 10.06.18
Watson, E. (2018a) (Time’s Up)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BdcSGMlh0qC/?taken-by=emmawatson retrived 10.06.18
Watson, E. (2018b) Time’s Up New York Times link)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BdcSGMlh0qC/?taken-by=emmawatson retrived 10.06.18
Watson, E (2018c) (Why I wear black today)
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bdqn02Bhi-E/?taken-by=emmawatson retrived 10.10.18
Watson, E. (2018d)(Golden Globes group photo)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BdtBZeLBp3g/?taken-by=emmawatson retrieved 10.06.18
Watson, E. (2018e) (Golden Globes portraits)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BdtpsMNBKsC/?taken-by=emmawatson retrieved 10.06.18
Watson, E. (2018f) @emmawatson (Book-selfie)
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bdk3GQuBSL-/?taken-by=emmawatson retrieved 10.06.18.
Watson, E. (2018g) (The Olivier Awards)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BddQtluhNQR/?taken-by=emmawatson retrived 10.0618
Watson, E. (2018h) (Womens Day)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BgD3Ln2B87M/?taken-by=emmawatson retrived 10.06.18
Watson, E. (2018i) (Cannes Film Festival)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BitUS0JgTIe/?taken-by=emmawatson retrived 10.06.18
Wasko, J. (2003). How Hollywood works. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
Wilson, S. (2014): Stardom, Sentimental Education, and the Shaping of Global Citizens. Cinema Journal, Volume 53, Number 2, Winter 2014, pp. 27-49. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/cj.2014.0013.
Wheeler, M. (2013). Celebrity Politics. London: Polity Press.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright Author and Journal.
Articles published after January 1 2024 are licensed under CCBY 4.0.
Articles published until December 31 2023 are licensed under CCBYNCND.
Articles submitted to MedieKultur should not be submitted to or published in other journals.
