Celebrity Culture and Crime: The Joy of Transgression PDF
Preview Celebrity Culture and Crime: The Joy of Transgression
Celebrity Culture and Crime Cultural Criminology Series editor: Mike Presdee, Sometime Senior Lecturer in Criminology, University of Kent, UK Titles include: Ruth Penfold-Mounce CELEBRITY CULTURE AND CRIME The Joy of Transgression Willem Schinkel ASPECTS OF VIOLENCE A Critical Theory Cultural Criminology Series Standing Order ISBN 978–0–230–53558–9 (outside North America only) You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with your name and address, the title of the series and the ISBN quoted above. Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, England Celebrity Culture and Crime The Joy of Transgression Ruth Penfold-Mounce University of York, UK © Ruth Penfold-Mounce 2009 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2009 978-0-230-22468-1 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2009 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, HampshireRG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries ISBN 978-1-349-30965-8 ISBN 978-0-230-24830-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230248304 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 For Mum, my staunchest supporter, and Daniel, my best friend and husband, with love This page intentionally left blank Contents Acknowledgements viii Introduction: Cultural Criminology and the Joy of Transgression 1 1 Celebrity, Fame and Culture 12 2 The Culture Industry and Foucauldian Governmentality 38 3 Resonance and Celebrated Criminality 63 4 Celebrated Criminality and Governance 94 5 The Undermining of Celebrated Criminality 114 6 The Evolution of Celebrated Criminality 140 Conclusion: Celebrating Crime in a Celebrity Culture 178 Bibliography 184 Index 193 vii Acknowledgements Many thanks to my University of York Sociology Department colleagues who have supported me through this project, especially Simon Winlow, Nick Gane and Dave Beer for their comments on various draft chapters of this book. However, particular recognition should go to Emma Uprichard for not only her support and enthusiasm but the useful comments on the entire manuscript. I must also acknowledge my debt to Mike Presdee, whose feedback on the final manuscript was invaluable. Thanks also to the editorial team at Palgrave who have patiently answered all of my numerous questions: Philippa Grand, Hazel Woodbridge and Olivia Middleton. viii Introduction: Cultural Criminology and the Joy of Transgression Celebrity dominates contemporary society. It pervades across the modern media and encourages us to think of it as a new development, rather than the extension of a long-standing condition (Turner, 2004: 4). The visibil- ity of celebrity is unprecedented and there is a continuing debate sur- rounding how to describe and understand this phenomenon. Attempts have been made by looking at celebrity as a commercial commodity relat- ing to intellectual property, an object of consumption and desire as part of a celebrity industry, a cultural text which can be read to understand ideological conditions and a cultural phenomenon constituting a new way of perceiving the self and society. Celebrity is a multifaceted con- cept, which can and has been approached from a variety of angles each shedding more light upon this cultural phenomenon. A key component in this focus on celebrity has been the largely over- looked relationship it shares with transgression, whereby criminals and deviants can enter into a celebrated status, while celebrities can also trans- gress norms and laws by going wild and misbehaving. In this book the evidence of a relationship between celebrity and criminality is examined in order to establish the circumstances and reasons for this connection existing as a united phenomenon referred to as ‘celebrated criminality’. Additionally, the consequences and contributions of this relationship for British and United States societies are considered through a range of case studies, which are by no means definitive, but provide instances from the past and present, Britain and the USA and from celebrated figures who have minor national or major international status. In order to engage with the debate over the relationship between celebrity and transgressive behaviour this chapter explores the importance of cultural criminology as a critical stance, the role of joy in transgressive acts and finally the relationship shared by celebrity and crime. 1
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