Celebrity and Glamour in Contemporary Russia
Shocking Chic
Helena Goscilo editor Vlad Strukov editor
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd
Published:16th Apr '12
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
This paperback is available in another edition too:
- Hardback£145.00(9780415587655)
This is the first book to explore the phenomenon of glamour and celebrity in contemporary Russian culture, ranging across media forms, disciplinary boundaries and modes of inquiry, with particular emphasis on the media personality.
The book demonstrates how the process of ‘celebrification’ in Russia coincides with the dizzying pace of social change and economic transformation, the latter enabling an unprecedented fascination with glamour and its requisite extravagance; how in the 1990s and 2000s, celebrities - such as film or television stars - moved away from their home medium to become celebrities straddling various media; and how celebrity is a symbol manipulated by the dominant culture and embraced by the masses. It examines the primacy of the visual in celebrity construction and its dominance over the verbal, alongside the interdisciplinary, cross-media, post-Soviet landscape of today’s fame culture.
Taking into account both general tendencies and individual celebrities, including pop-diva Alla Pugacheva and ex-President and current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the book analyses the internal dynamics of the institutions involved in the production, marketing, and maintenance of celebrities, as well as the larger cultural context and the imperatives that drive Russian society’s romance with glamour and celebrity.
'A lively, sweeping overview of celebrity in the past decade in Russia, the volume includes not only consistent critical insight into the symbols and signifiers of excess and lack in mass culture but also a number of entertaining visuals. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty.' - A. J. DeBlasio, CHOICE (August 2011)
‘Celebrity and Glamour is remarkably coherent due to its authors’ collective reliance on Chris Rojek’s theorizing and classification of celebrities as well as their familiarity with each other’s essays.’- Larissa Rudova, Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema
‘Celebrity and Glamour is a valuable academic study of the new ideology of glamour that celebrates the triumph of capitalism in modern Russia. Written in a lively and engaging style, this volume could also provide an enjoyable reading experience for the interested non-academic reader. For those who teach courses on post-Soviet Russian culture, this book is a blessing and a long-awaited sequel to Consuming Russia: Popular Culture, Sex, and Society Since Gorbachev, edited by Adele Baker.' - Larissa Rudova, Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema
'In Russian Studies, glamour is the new black. This phenomenon, so central a feature of Putin’s reign, has begun to attract scholarly interest both in Russia itself and in the West. But what exactly is the purpose of glamour in Russia? This question lies at the heart of this, the first book-length study of Russian glamour and its related concept, celebrity. As such, it is an especially welcome addition to the growing literature on twenty-fi rst-century Russia. [...] the avowed aim of this volume is to lay the foundations for future research into what Goscilo herself describes as ‘the two most important cultural signifiers of Putin’s era’ (p. 22). There can be no doubt that this excellent volume succeeds admirably in this aim.' – Graham H. Roberts, Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense, published in Slavonica Vol. 18 No. 1, April, 2012, pp. 75 – 76
ISBN: 9780415625432
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 590g
320 pages