Gender and Celebrity Culture: Global Media, Everyday Lives (FutureLearn)

Offered by Lancaster University,
Gender and Celebrity Culture: Global Media, Everyday Lives (FutureLearn)

How do celebrities affect our identity? Find out with an introduction to intersectional studies of gender and celebrity. What makes a celebrity? Why are celebrities significant? How do celebrities connect to our construction of ourselves as gendered beings? Is ‘celebrity feminism’ good for gender equality? These are just some of the questions you’ll be answering on this course.

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Using celebrity case studies you will explore questions of media production, identity, visibility, activism and social and cultural change. You will also learn how feminist research has used celebrity culture to make sense of gendered, racial, classed and sexual identities.

What topics will you cover?

  • Introduction to gender and media theory
  • Gender, celebrity and the gaze
  • Celebrity, Youth and Aspiration
  • Celebrity and the family
  • Celebrity, Death and Mourning
  • Masculinity in the media
  • Celebrity feminists and celebrity activism

What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you'll be able to...

  • Apply basic media theory to a range of media texts
  • Demonstrate an understanding of key concepts in feminist media and cultural studies
  • Engage with current scholarship in celebrity studies
  • Reflect on your own relationship with popular media
  • Discuss the relationship between media, gender and other aspects of identity
  • Explore a range of media platforms and artefacts to make sense of celebrity culture
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