ABSTRACT
A brand new academic journal called Celebrity Studies debuted in 2010. On the inside cover of this journal it says, "Celebrity Studies is a journal that focuses on the critical exploration of celebrity, stardom, and fame. It seeks to make sense of celebrity by drawing upon a range of interdisciplinary approaches, media forms, historical periods, and national contexts." A great deal has been written about celebrity, particularly in the most recent 20 years, but it is still difficult to lock down a succinct definition of celebrity. Van Krieken has suggested that in our complex society, attention is a scarce resource. One important distinction in some of the writings on this subject is the difference between celebrity and fame. It might seem like a simple thing to say, "Celebrities are people who are famous," but upon careful analysis, that isn't such a simple thing to say after all.
