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Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, her experience reporting for
People magazine, and dozens of interviews with photographers, journalists, publicists, magazine editors, and celebrities, Vanessa Díaz traces the complex power dynamics of the reporting and paparazzi work that fuel contemporary Hollywood and American celebrity culture.
List of contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction. The Precarious Work of Celebrity Media Production 1
I. Pappin' Ain't Easy
1.
Shooteando: The Real Paparazzi of Los Angeles 33
2. Latinos Selling Celebrity: Economies and Ethics of Paparazzi Work 76
3. To Live and Die in L.A.: Life, Death, and Labor in the Hollywood-Industrial Complex 95
II. Reporting on the Stars
4. Red Carpet Rituals: Positionality and Power in a Serveilled Space 125
5. Where Reporting Happens: Precarious Spaces and the Exploitation of Women Reporters 150
III. Crafting the Media and the Sociocultural Consequences
6. Body Teams, Baby Bumps, Beauty Standards 181
7. "Brad and Angelina: And Now . . . Brangelina!": The Cultural Economy of (White) Heterosexual Love 218
Conclusion. Reconsidering News and Gossip in the Trump Era 242
Appendix: Interview Sources 251
Notes 255
Bibliography 271
Index 301
About the author
Vanessa Díaz
Summary
Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, her experience reporting for People magazine, and dozens of interviews with photographers, journalists, publicists, magazine editors, and celebrities, Vanessa Díaz traces the complex power dynamics of the reporting and paparazzi work that fuel contemporary Hollywood and American celebrity culture.
