Core Post #5 - Copying Stars

In Jackie Stacey's article, “Feminine Fascinations: Forms of Identification in Star-Audience Relations,” she examines the different forms of cinematic and extra-cinematic identifactory fantasies/practices among female spectators. One form is copying, which is the attempt to transform physical appearances to look like stars. Copying, as Stacey discussed, is the most common form of this identifactory practice outside of cinema.

This "practice" reminds me of my writ340 classmate who recently colored her hair to look like Jamie Chung’s:

In essence, the spectator (my classmate) “attempts to close the gap between her image and her ideal image” by trying to produce a “new image, more like her ideal” (160); and her balayage hair is the focus on this transformation.

Also, many teens and young adults these days are trying to emulate Kardashians' qualities/styles--from Kylie Jenner’s lips to Khloe Kardashian’s hair. Recent news with teens using shot glasses and plastic bottles to replicate Kylie’s lips demonstrate what Stacey calls an “intersection of self and another.” These teens are trying to produce a desire to resemble the physically ideal, which in this case, are plump lips. Moreover, last year, there were all sorts of articles and tutorials created by stylists so viewers can re-create Khloe’s loose waves. While recently, Kim Kardashian posted on her Instagram showing her fans how she contours:

(left: Khloe posing next to KBeauty hair products.

Right: Kim revealing her contouring make-up tricks on Instagram.)

Celebrities like the Kardashians recognize that their followers are copying their looks and so they market their cosmetics and beauty products on social media in order to capitalize on their "brand power." Because stars are identified with particular commodities, spectators are involving self-transformations to produce appearances similar to their favorite stars--and by extension, they are adapting to the cultural ideas of femininity. As Stacey explained, “Closing the gap produced by the differences between stars and spectators is a source of pleasure expressed” (164).