ABSTRACT
This chapter examines to identify possible reasons for its emergence, including the growth of reality television formats, an intensified culture of celebrity, and the effect of narrowcasting and multi-channel television. The self-narratives and relational subjectivities that occur within television documentary do not offer as much formal complexity as independent cinema. The acquisition of pop stardom through critical and commercial success is constructed as unproblematic and inevitable. Television creates the star system, agents nurture it. The strategy of using the television production as an opportunity to launch a public corrective to the negative portrayal of the star by certain sections of the media is articulated as a necessary and ongoing part of beinga global star. Alongside this, the flaunting of artifice is counter balanced by the musical referents of Elton John's vast catalogue of songs and the voice-over of television actress Sian Reeves.
