Spectacular Girls: Media Fascination and Celebrity Culture

310 Pages·2014·4.457 MB·English

by  Sarah Projansky

Spectacular Girls
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Spectacular Girls
Media Fascination and Celebrity Culture
Sarah Projansky
a
new york university press
New York and London
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York and London
www.nyupress.org
© 2014 by New York University
All rights reserved
References to Internet websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing.
Neither the author nor New York University Press is responsible for URLs that
may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.
library of congress cataloging-in-publication data
Projansky, Sarah, 1965-
Spectacular girls : media fascination and celebrity culture / Sarah Projansky.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8147-7021-4 (cl: alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-8147-2481-1 (pbk : alk. paper)
1. Women in mass media. 2. Celebrities in mass media. 3. Mass media and girls. I. Title.
P96.W6P88 2014
302.230835’2—dc23
2013034205
New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper,
and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability.
We strive to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials
to the greatest extent possible in publishing our books.
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Also available as an ebook
In memory of Leah R. Vande Berg
mentor, scholar, friend
For Mina and Daniel
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CONTENTS
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction: Finding Alternative Girlhoods 1
1 Pint-Sized and Precocious: The Girl Star in Film History 25
2 “It’s Like Floating” or Battling the World: Mass Magazine
Cover Girls 57
3 What Is There to Talk About? Twenty-First-Century Girl Films 95
4 “I’m Not Changing My Hair”: Venus Williams and Live TV’s
Racialized Struggle over Athletic Girlhood 127
5 Sakia Gunn Is a Girl: Queer African American Girlhood in
Local and Alternative Media 155
6 “Sometimes I Say Cuss Words in My Head”: The Complexity
of Third-Grade Media Analysis 181
Conclusion: Girlhood Rethought 217
Notes 227
Bibliography 255
Index 279
About the Author 295
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ILLUSTRaTIONS
Figure I.1. Gabby Douglas appears on the cover of Time in celebration
of the 2012 Summer Olympics, July 30, 2012. 3
Figure I.2. Toys“R”Us gendered marketing. 18
Figure 1.1. Addie and Imogene discuss racial politics in Paper Moon. 40
Figure 1.2. Addie and Imogene say good-bye in Paper Moon. 42
Figure 1.3. Cross-dressing Tatum O’Neal: the youngest person ever
to win a competitive Academy Award. 46
Figure 2.1. Sasha and Malia with their parents on the cover of People,
November 24, 2008. 67
Figure 2.2. Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato as BFFs on the cover of
People, July 22, 2009. 74
Figure 2.3. Vanessa Hudgens with Zac Efron during the height of
High School Musical success, September 3, 2007. 76
Figure 2.4. Venus and Serena Williams battle the world on the cover
of Time, September 3, 2001. 81
Figure 2.5. Kidnapping survivors Jacqueline Marris and Tamara
Brooks do not smile for the camera/viewer on the cover of
People, August 19, 2002. 89
Figure 2.6. Jessica Dubroff, aviator, on the cover of Time, April 22, 1996. 91
Figure 3.1. Cady with her queer-positive friends, Janis and Damien. 115
Figure 3.2. One of Olive’s many engagements with pleasure and
performance. 118
Figure 3.3. The moment at which Juno makes the decision to
choose Vanessa as the baby’s mother, in Juno. 121
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