Sunday, January 8, 2012

Espejo, Roman, book editor. Celebrity Culture


Espejo, Roman, book editor.             Celebrity Culture     
Greenhaven Press see Gale/Cengage  2011          191p   26.75  978-0-7377-5214-4           
ms/hs             Opposing Viewpoints#4  (Gale/Cengage)  VG-BN
Celebrity Culture provides a collection of articles
published in the last five years on the effects of celebrity status on teens,
social activism and whether the focus on celebrities will continue. Perfect for
reports. Grades 6-12.            The articles collected in this Opposing Viewpoints book
show the fleeting nature of celebrity. The older articles mention celebrity
names that have faded from the public spotlight.  It is questionable whether the
Balloon Boy incident of 2009 or the Salahi gate crashers at Obamas state dinner
or Levi Johnston will be identifiable by upcoming high school students. 
Possibly the most intriguing article contrasts celebrity status with name
recognition. To be a celebrity is to have a story line that continues unabated
that involves a scandal or notoriety. Thus Queen Elizabeth has name recognition
but is not a celebrity whereas Lindsay Lohan is a celebrity because of her
ongoing public life improprieties. Each article starts with three questions to
focus student reading. Each chapter contains an introduction to set the stage
for the articles presented in the chapter. The background on each author
suggests whether the article will be liberal or conservative in orientation. In
depth coverage of celebrity media coverage include eating disorders, body image,
and reality television. There are articles that talk about religious beliefs and
resulting acceptance of celebrity culture. Further reading, organizations to
contact and extensive index complete this intriguing book.        Opposing
Viewpoints contains recent articles and speeches that provide both sides to a
controversial current hot topic. Introductions to the chapters provide an
overview of the chapter. Questions for each article guide readers. Grades 6-12
            McNicol,Lois

No comments: