ABSTRACT
This chapter tracks the development of star and celebrity studies as a subset of the broader fields of media and cultural studies, pointing out the way in which stardom shapeshifts from a mark of distinction to a form of discourse that renders celebrities accessible, knowable, and perhaps most saliently, "ordinary." It tracks the emergence of stardom as a subject of academic inquiry within media studies and cultural studies and then moves to the more contemporary analysis of celebrity in an environment often characterized as more turbulent and hyperconsumerist and less talent-centered than other periods. Many of the modes and mechanisms of contemporary celebrity originate in the pre-history of film, television, and digital media. The chapter takes up this notion specifically in the authors' investigation of Bethenny Frankel, who jumpstarted a trend whereby women appearing on Bravo's Real Housewives franchise attempted to use their appearances to shill products tethered to the concept of aspirational femininity.
