I can't zip up my dress. Welcome to my world! #MetBall
Jessica Biel on WhoSay
Riiiight.
Jessica Biel, she’s just like us! She has dress and zipper problems too!
If I were the Dean of the Faculty of Celebrity Studies at a liberal arts university somewhere in New England, we’d be devoting a lot of class time to the growing population of celebrities on Twitter. The gap between celebrity and civilian continues to narrow. THEY are coming to YOU. Is this what you want?
There are celebrity purists who would argue that more mystery is better than less mystery, that a healthy distance between the fan and the famous must be observed, that wading into the online environment, hoping to be embraced, is tantamount to begging. Look at what happened when I found out Tom Hiddleston tweets too. Some things you can’t un-see.
But it’s becoming increasingly obvious that Hollywood image makers are losing control. You’ve seen from the example of Twilight how Twi-Hards dictate that entire conversation. Film outlets can’t risk bad reviews for fear of losing traffic and access, film studios live in fear of fan backlash over the smallest, seemingly innocuous details, and even a star like Charlize Theron had to choke back her pride and record a sappy birthday video to a colleague - click here for a refresher - as a gesture of submission to the I Love Kristen Stewart Club.
Does closer mean “more honest”? Please. Twitter is just another way a celebrity can lie to you. Reaching out to you on Twitter doesn’t mean they’re dropping the fraud; reaching out on Twitter only means they can communicate their fraudulent famewhorey messages immediately and intimately. But never for free.
You do know that WhoSay is owned by CAA, right? WhoSay is just another part of celebrity management. Which means that “candour” now is a MANAGED attribute.
What’s most interesting to me is the precedent. Not too long ago, engaging a fanbase through social networking was more often than not an offensive move made by reality stars. Kim Kardashian for example is very active, and effective, on Twitter, promoting herself, her brand, and any product that wants to pay her for the privilege of a tweet from her.
Now the “real” stars are following the “reality” lead.
Are the “reality” stars writing the new playbook?
Jessica Biel is a proper celebrity. I mean she’s a tv girl and shouldn’t really be making movies but she’s a proper celebrity nonetheless. Kim Kardashian, not a proper celebrity. And yet arguably Kim Kardashian is a more successful celebrity than Jessica Biel. So much so that Jessica Biel’s celebrity behaviour has been modified to more resemble Kardashian’s. Pretty soon we won’t be able to tell them apart.
Attached - Justin Timberlake in New York yesterday. Apparently he and Biel went to look at wedding bands. What you mean he’s not designing them himself?
