Manufacturing Celebrity: Latino Paparazzi and Women Reporters in Hollywood

By Vanessa Diaz

In Manufacturing Celebrity Vanessa D az traces the complex power dynamics of the reporting and paparazzi work that fuel contemporary Hollywood and American celebrity culture. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, her experience reporting for People magazine, and dozens of interviews with photographers, journalists, publicists, magazine editors, and celebrities, D az examines the racialized and gendered labor involved in manufacturing and selling relatable celebrity personas. Celebrity reporters, most of whom are white women, are expected to leverage their sexuality to generate coverage, which makes them vulnerable to sexual exploitation and assault. Meanwhile, the predominantly male Latino paparazzi can face life-threatening situations and endure vilification that echoes anti-immigrant rhetoric. In pointing out the precarity of those who hustle to make a living by generating the bulk of celebrity media, D az highlights the profound inequities of the systems that provide consumers with 24/7 coverage of their favorite stars.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1478008547
• ISBN13: 9781478008545
• Release Date: August 2020
• Publisher: Duke University Press
• Length: 328 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.2" x 9.2"