ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines a theoretical framework for understanding the photographic archive and seriality as a structuring logic. The allure of seriality is highlighted by the interactivity introduced by digital platforms inviting users to post comments, gossip and in other ways engage with the flow of paparazzi photos. Paparazzi photography offers snapshots of celebrities caught apparently unawares. They either genuinely show the unposed celebrity body or are a result of a tacit agreement (voluntary or involuntary) between the photographer and his or her subject to pose as if not posing. Increased volume and speed of distribution is an immediate reason for the serial organization of images. Finally, the chapter analyses the serial organization of images on this site as well as paparazzi photography's generic kinship to street photography that is, how snapshot aesthetics, implying the ephemeral and amateuristic, structure the genre and inscribe the celebrity's bodily pose.
