ABSTRACT
This chapter locates the discourse surrounding the child star in a social and psychological context by examining both the social construction of the category of the child star and the implications to the identity of individuals whose experiences render them members of such a category. The powerlessness of the individual to break free of the subject position created for himself or herself by the media is a key theme of the analysis and is intended to highlight how control over discourse is a vital source of power and how certain discourses acquire authenticity and constitute the ‘truth of the matter’ at any given historical moment. The overriding aim of this chapter is to investigate the key question posed in the Introduction as to why it is that child stars are frequently denigrated and ridiculed in the media, and to consider the repercussions of such a construction on the way self-told narratives of former child stars are presented. The analysis is divided into two sections. The fi rst is entitled ‘The Construction of the Child Star as Damaged and Transgressive,’ and the second is called, ‘The Individual Response to Being Stigmatised as a Former Child Star.’
