(Extra)Ordinary?: The Concept of Authenticity in Celebrity and Fan Studies (At the Interface / Probing the Boundaries, 101)

Questioning what “makes” a celebrity and how celebrity is controlled, dispersed and received are aspects branching out of (Extra)Ordinary’s debate over celebrities as ordinary/extraordinary. Jade Alexander and Katarzyna Bronk, together with the authors whose chapters make up this inter-disciplinary discussion, not only utilise the existing research on celebrity and fandom, but they also go beyond the often-quoted theorists to engage in multidirectional analyses of what it means to be a celebrity, and what influence they have on the consuming public. The present book provides an avenue for exploring not just what celebrity is as a discursive construction, but also how this involves a complex interplay between celebrities, the media and the audience.

Jade Alexander completed her PhD on roller derby culture at Western Sydney University, Australia. She currently tutors in the School of Humanities and Communication Arts at Western Sydney University in cultural studies, sociology, and gender studies subjects.

Katarzyna Bronk is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of English, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland. She teaches the History of English Literature, but specialises in English theatre and drama and, thus, investigated the question of celebrity within it.