ABSTRACT
This chapter defines celebrity representation through the parameters of semiotic and discourse analysis. It weaves in questions of identity and power, image construction and the contextual parameters that representations nestle in. The chapter gives truth to the importance of representation as a node on the circuit of celebrity culture but also of the intersecting nature of cultural construction. Celebrity representations are never neutral: they carry the discourses, concerns, inequalities and dreams of the contemporary age. The representation of the ageing celebrity body is taken up by the dominant culture in different ways and across different media; with male celebrities maintaining viable and lucrative careers in Hollywood and television as they age. Celebrity representations are not static, fixed or immobile: they age and age differently for men and women, and their star image gets re-signified to ensure career longevity and to shape and be shaped by cultural transformations occurring in society.
