Overall, the diversification of celebrity proves to be a complex process, influenced not only by the media (and mediatization), but also by the market and capitalism, power struggles and internal dynamics.
This describes the struggle that Roger Waters and the members of Pink Floyd faced.
Still, he continues, our attention is incessantly drawn to the discourse and performances of celebrities, which makes them at least a recurring reference point for people’s social practices.
I think this idea could apply to all three of our papers. The idea of culture/society being drawn to a central figure or figures are relevant to our topics.
Consequently, the transformation from ordi-nary person to celebrity can be seen as a media ritual that both confirms this separation and legitimates the ‘myth of the mediated centre’, or the myth that the media are the essential gatekeepers to the imagined society’s centre
I find it interesting that fans look to celebrities in a way that makes them a almost fictional characters. This separation between individual and celebrity shows the importance of authenticity and credibility of a celebrity to remain a relevant figure to their fans.
Like it or loathe it, celebrity culture is with us: it surrounds us and even invades us. It shapes our thought and conduct, style, and manner. It affects and is affected by not just hardcore fans but by entire populations.
I think this idea remains a valid point for celebrity culture, no matter the medium or genre that a celebrity is writing in. The idea of fans and the world shaping this culture could be an interesting direction to take in a paper as you could show the relationship between the fan and the celebrity.
Black youth did not create the violence that plagues them, but some undoubtedly have a hand in its far-flung influence.
Violence has been going on forever, but he notes here that it is the youth that is keeping this going.
When brothers can talk so cavalierly about killing each other and then reveal that they have no expectation to see their twenty-first birthday, that is straight-up depression masquerading as machismo
I think this explains why people were so drawn to hip hop music because these ideas had never been explicitly talked about before. This shows the rebellious nature of rappers.
He had cleaned it many times, till there was no stain left upon it. It was bright, and glistened.
https://image.slidesharecdn.com/outdamnedspot-webversion-140817114518-phpapp01/95/out-damned-spot-1-638.jpg?cb=1408275976 This reminds me of the scene from Macbeth where Lady Macbeth is trying to wash the blood off of her hands.
It was not till they had examined the rings that they recognized who it was.
While he did kill his past, he did so when his youth and beauty had completely escaped him.
Of course I refuse. I will have absolutely nothing to do with it. I don’t care what shame comes on you. You deserve it all. I should not be sorry to see you disgraced, publicly disgraced.
The contrast between the character of Dorian Gray at the beginning of the book and now is clearly seen here. Dorian was once highly regarded, but now, no one wants anything to do with him.
How quickly it had all been done! He felt strangely calm, and, walking over to the window, opened it, and stepped out on the balcony.
This seems to be one of the first moments that Dorian Gray begins to feel free.
If you tell me that they are absolutely untrue from beginning to end, I will believe you. Deny them, Dorian, deny them! Can’t you see what I am going through? My God! don’t tell me that you are infamous!
Why does Basil have such a high regard for Dorian Gray? It seems to me that he holds him to such a high standard because he looks up to him so much and wants the rumors to be false.
I want you to lead such a life as will make the world respect you. I want you to have a clean name and a fair record. I want you to get rid of the dreadful people you associate with
This scene depicts the importance of public image and the company that one keeps.
How different it was with material things!
Why is there such a focus on the "material things"?
But it appeared to Dorian Gray that the true nature of the senses had never been understood, and that they had remained savage and animal merely because the world had sought to starve them into submission or to kill them by pain, instead of aiming at making them elements of a new spirituality, of which a fine instinct for beauty was to be the dominant characteristic.
Is he struggling with the idea of self-image?
Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that he never sought to free himself from it.
The power that literature can have on an individual is important to note as it shows a sign of maturity and evidence of a profound revelation.
He felt safe now. No one would ever look on the horrible thing. No eye but his would ever see his shame.
He's not only trying to hide his shame to the world, but also to himself. While he is the key master, I feel that he needs to give the key over to someone else in order to completely conceal his shame, so that he can't go back to it.
Basil would have helped him to resist Lord Henry’s influence, and the still more poisonous influences that came from his own temperament.
One's own desire and influence is stronger than desires and influences of others.
Well, from the moment I met you, your personality had the most extraordinary influence over me. I quite admit that I adored you madly, extravagantly, absurdly. I was jealous of every one to whom you spoke. I wanted to have you all to myself.
It seems to me that Dorian Gray was seen as a celebrity and everyone has been in awe of his actions throughout his life.
When she knew its unreality, she died, as Juliet might have died.
They don't seem to be particularly sad about her death, but instead in awe of the "performance" that she put on.
But don’t waste your tears over Sibyl Vane. She was less real than they are.”
Is he trying to say that Sibyl Vane never really lived her own life or developed her own persona because she acted through the characters that she portrayed in the plays that she was in?
You have spoiled the romance of my life. How little you can know of love, if you say it mars your art
It seems that Dorian's version of romance and love are different from hers, in that they value different aspects of life.
My dear Harry, my dear Basil, you must both congratulate me!” said the boy, throwing off his evening cape with its satin-lined wings, and shaking each of his friends by the hand in turn. “I have never been so happy. Of course it is sudden: all really delightful things are. And yet it seems to me to be the one thing I have been looking for all my life.” He was flushed with excitement and pleasure, and looked extraordinarily handsome.
This passage reminds me of the discussion from class, in which we noted that Dorian Gray is the person that Wilde "would like to be...in other ages, perhaps". In this passage, Dorian seems so happy and content with life, which could be something that Wilde was longing for.
t was true that as one watched life in its curious crucible of pain and pleasure, one could not wear over one’s face a mask of glass, or keep the sulphurous fumes from troubling the brain and making the imagination turbid with monstrous fancies and misshapen dreams
This reminds me of the quote that I chose for Prelim #3--"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth." Masks can't truly conceal one's feelings as the truth is always bound to come out.
“Never marry at all, Dorian. Men marry because they are tired; women, because they are curious: both are disappointed.”
Is this discussion of marriage reflecting on Wilde's relationship with his wife?
I know, now, that when one loses one’s good looks, whatever they may be, one loses everything.
Vanity seems to play a major role in the lives of these characters as they are only concerned with their looks in relation to the happiness that they will get from life.
How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrid, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young. It will never be older than this particular day of June.... If it was only the other way!
This passage reminds me of the saying "ars longa, vita brevis", which in Latin means, "art is long, life is short". This is the idea that art will live on forever, while life on earth will not.
Every month as it wanes brings you nearer to something dreadful. Time is jealous of you, and wars against your lilies and your roses
Beauty, in this passage, is seen the be a physical attribute that brings someone happiness and something to live for. Time brings you farther and farther away from this happiness, so is there ever true happiness, according to Wilde?
. If I live, I will show the world what it is; and for that reason the world shall never see my portrait of Dorian Gray.
Is he not going to show it because it will not be appreciated by society like he thinks it should?
Harry! Harry! if you only knew what Dorian Gray is to me! You remember that landscape of mine, for which Agnew offered me such a huge price, but which I would not part with? It is one of the best things I have ever done. And why is it so? Because, while I was painting it, Dorian Gray sat beside me.”
I think this passage could foreshadow to the influence that other characters in the book are going to have over each other's works and lives.
2 to imprison within his brain some curious dream from which he feared he might awake.
I find that this escape from reality into the world of art could relate to Wilde's life and his escape into literature.
It did not deny his own culpability for the wreck of his andhis family's lives, but it made his obsession with Douglas the leading count in his ownself-indictment. I
Edwards is shedding light on the effect that his actions had on his family and effect that his relationship with Douglas had on his indictment.
UnlikeBunthorne, Wilde was not a fraud: he was fascinated by beauty from classicism toKeats, he correlated reform in dress and house decoration with beauty and respect inhuman relations, and he saw philistinism as tyranny in taste and politics.
Edwards discusses how Wilde is unlike Bunthorne in that he wasn't a fraud. His description shows that he has a high regard for Wilde and his personality.
flirting
key term
attractive
key term
fantasy
key term
activation
Citation: Wolfgang Iser and other writers echo the idea that Byron led people to expand their imaginations and open their minds to new ideas.
The unstable identity of Byron's heroes meant that there was a great deal of scope for the active participation of the reader in Byron's works.
Forgetfulness22 around me – it shall seem 35 Tome,thoughtononeelse,anotungratefultheme.
This idea of forgetfulness can refer back to this same point that was made in A Fragment when Byron talks about his legacy being remembered or forgotten. Here the idea of forgetfulness is seen as a positive attribute.
inthattaleIfindThefurrowsoflongthought,anddried-uptears,Which,ebbing,leaveasteriletrackbehind,25O’erwhichallheavilythejourneyingYearsPlodthelastsandsoflife–wherenotaflowerappears
This could parallel Byron's life in the way that his accomplishments, or lack thereof, followed behind him and may have covered up various parts of his life that he wanted to forget.
Andwastedpowersforbetterpurposelent;
This statement is confusing as he is talking about having wasted powers, yet he uses them for a greater purpose. Why would powers be considered waster when they have a purpose?
Vainwasthestruggleinthatmentalnet,Hisspiritseemedtodareyoutoforget!
Could this be Byron referring back to the last two lines in A Fragment when he talks about being remembered or forgotten?
I have not aimed at exclusive originality, still less have I studied any particular model for imitation; s
Poets were supposed to create completely original work, but Lord Byron notes that his work wasn't original, but was influenced by other writers.
In submitting to the public eye the following collection, I have not only to combat the difficulties that writers of verse generally encounter, but may incur the charge of presumption for obtruding myself on the world, when, without doubt, I might be, at my age, more usefully employed.
This touches on the idea that writers are often placed in a category where they are questioned for their passions. People often criticized poets and thought that they could do something else with their lives.
s a sort of privilege of poets to be egotists; but they should “use it as not abusing it;”
I have to agree with this idea that poets can be egotists because they must value their work to such a high standard that others will respect it, but this has to be done within certain boundaries.
At the end of the summer the Shelley party left for England, where Claire gave birth to Byron’s illegitimate daughter Allegrain January 1817.
The video makes it seem as though Claire was unfit to take care of her daughter, so Lord Byron did the only thing that he felt was going to save her and took her away.
Why does the poet consider the option that he could be going to hell when he dies?
Why does the poet consider the option that he could be going to hell when he dies?