Manufacturing Celebrity

Vanessa DÍaz is Assistant Professor of Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies at Loyola Marymount University.

“Manufacturing Celebrity presents fascinating ethnographic details and piercing social analysis on the production of ‘celebrity’ through sophisticated discussions of Latinx paparazzi, red carpet photographers, and women reporters exploited by the cultural dynamics of tabloid and mainstream news-making. This insightful book will be valuable to communication scholars, feminists, critical race scholars, media anthropologists, and general audiences interested in the representation and production of celebrity culture. Vanessa DÍaz writes with a confident and a distinctive scholarly voice.” - John L. Jackson, Jr., Walter H. Annenberg Dean of the Annenberg School for Communication and Richard Perry University Professor at the University of Pennsylvania “Vanessa DÍaz pulls back the curtain on Hollywood and the people who photograph and write about the movie stars of today and tomorrow. Manufacturing Celebrity is a must-read for anyone desiring keenly observed insights into the struggles of immigrants and women trying to catch some of the stardust in Hollywood's dream factory. Their stories reveal a Hollywood undergoing change that is often resisted as it grapples with the contemporary demographic reality of the United States.” - Leo R. Chavez, author of (The Latino Threat: Constructing Immigrants, Citizens, and the Nation) "This book is a useful resource for entertainment industry practitioners (publicists, reporters, photographers) and media professionals interested in enhancing their understanding of key dynamics that (re)create the modern entertainment industry. Manufacturing Celebrity is also a must read for scholars and students studying communication, media studies, critical cultural studies, public relations, anthropology, sociology, and labor relations." - W. Alvarez (Choice) “Manufacturing Celebrity is a compelling and revelatory study of the structural hierarchies and labor practices that produce celebrity media.... This book underscores how the ever-evolving boundaries between entertainment and news should not be overlooked.” - Joanna Arcieri (American Journalism) “DÍaz offers a vivid and engaging account of the complex and nuanced lived experiences and social struggles of both paparazzi and celebrity reporters.... Manufacturing Celebrity is a valuable resource for scholars interested in Latinx labor, feminist and gender studies, race studies, and cultural studies of production.” - Luis E. Rivera-Figueroa (Media Industries) “Manufacturing Celebrity . . . is, most fundamentally, a valuable examination of the role of the worker within the celebrity media production industry. . . . DÍaz draws on her unique former career background as a celebrity reporter, which allows her to offer unprecedented insight into the inner workings of the industry.” - Emily Rauber Rodriguez (Celebrity Studies) “DÍaz’s book provides rich ethnographic details into the working lives and conditions of those who manufacture celebrity status through their labor. . . . [Manufacturing Celebrity] will be of significant interest to scholars of race, gender, and labor, as DÍaz demonstrates that celebrity media can teach us how hierarchies of labor are reproduced in a neoliberal economy.” - Gehad Abaza (Exertions) “A stunning critical ethnography of the celebrity-industrial complex. . . . Manufacturing Celebrity is for everyone.” - Chelsey R. Carter (American Anthropologist) "DÍaz’s writing style throughout Manufacturing Celebrity is clear, powerful and compelling. Both thorough and accessible, DÍaz is successful in grabbing the attention of both students and scholars of media as well as of the casual reader. DÍaz writes a comprehensive and detailed account of the lives of those who are sidelined in the process of manufacturing celebrity and integrates theory without sacrificing the human perspective." - Jonathan Pye (LSE Review of Books)

• List of Illustrations  ixAcknowledgments  xiiiIntroduction. The Precarious Work of Celebrity Media Production  1I. Pappin' Ain't Easy1. Shooteando: The Real Paparazzi of Los Angeles  332. Latinos Selling Celebrity: Economies and Ethics of Paparazzi Work  763. To Live and Die in L.A.: Life, Death, and Labor in the Hollywood-Industrial Complex  95II. Reporting on the Stars4. Red Carpet Rituals: Positionality and Power in a Serveilled Space  1255. Where Reporting Happens: Precarious Spaces and the Exploitation of Women Reporters  150III. Crafting the Media and the Sociocultural Consequences6. Body Teams, Baby Bumps, Beauty Standards  1817. "Brad and Angelina: And Now . . . Brangelina!": The Cultural Economy of (White) Heterosexual Love  218Conclusion. Reconsidering News and Gossip in the Trump Era  242Appendix: Interview Sources  251Notes  255Bibliography  271Index  301