ABSTRACT
Celebrity culture is an important component of contemporary popular culture. Although entertainment stars have always been influential in areas outside the entertainment industry, the prominence of celebrities in contemporary politics has reached new heights (West and Orman, 2003). While Arnold Schwartzenegger became governor of California, China now has a first lady who is formerly a popular singer. Research on celebrity activism showed that celebrities can enhance the visibility of social movement, attract audiences and supporters to donate to the causes, and grab the attention of policy makers (Meyer, 1995). Meanwhile, the fandom of these celebrities could also shape the supporters’ values, attitudes, and behaviors (Schultz, 2001). Among the factors that accentuate celebrity politics is the profound role of the media (West, 2005). If visibility is inherent to the formation of publics, the media accelerate celebrity politics through constantly and repeatedly representing celebrities’ performances on political issues. Rojek (2001) distinguishes among “ascribed celebrity,” which concerns linkages such as family connections, “achieved celebrity,” which is won by outstanding achievement in fields such as sports, and “attributed celebrity,” which builds its fame on media representation (i.e., famous for being famous). The degree to which performance is mediated clearly differentiates the three types of celebrity. The attributed celebrity would not be able to exist without media representation. West (2005) points out that celebrities use social or political causes as a way to keep their names in news.
