There's Too Many Stars in My Eyes (Star Magazine)

Member Name: Zmugzy

Product:	Star Magazine
Date:	10/10/08 (317 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots of info and gossip about celebrities with plenty of photos.

Disadvantages: Too much trivia . Promotes the talentless .

Introduction
Although I'm not an avid follower of the modern celebrity circus that seems to pervade our lives evermore, I am interested in the phenomenon of modern celebrity culture. I confess that I do not intrinsically follow the comings and goings in the B- list, C-list and Z-list celebrity gossip columns, nor am I a regular buyer of celebrity gossip magazines, however, I did manage to get pick up a grubby copy of Star magazine in my local dentist and have also studied closely this weeks latest edition in my local Kwik Save. My interest in the celebrity industry was enhanced recently whilst completing a degree in social psychology. This has led to my keen interest in the rise of what might be described as an artificial celebrity culture and its association with consumerism and the moral fabric of society. I have incorporated many of my own discoveries and conclusions in this review, but have done my best to refrain from using academic language. Also, instead of being cynical, sarcastic and just slagging off Jordan and her mates, as I would normally do, I have ardently tried to restrain myself and come up with a more non-biased critical approach to Star magazine.

The Owners
Star magazine is owned and published by Northern & Shell, a media company that was founded in December 1974. They began with a single music magazine but soon expanded to publish many other magazines and newspapers. In 1983 they acquired the UK licence to publish Penthouse and a number of other adult titles, which were sold in 2004. But most recent success has come within the field of women's titles and celebrity publishing - the most famous being OK magazine launched in March 1993. In February 2003 another celebrity magazine called New! was launched. The company also owns Express Newspapers, The Daily and Sunday Star and has interests in TV.

The magazine
Star magazine is a British publication and costs a fairly reasonable 99p. The magazine uses the marketing gimmick of selling itself as 'two magazines for the price of one,' on account of the fact that there is an inner section devoted to the celebrities of Hollywood. Star magazine is a weekly publication first launched towards the end of 2003. According to the publishers, Star magazine differs from OK! and New! In that it is supposed to be more "provocative" and humorous. Personally I did not find this to be the case and if anything, Star magazine in terms of content seems rather light weight in comparison with other similar publications. The magazine focuses on celebrities relaxing and enjoying life in their own environments and is filled with photographs depicting celebrities and the lifestyles they lead. The magazine is divided into different sections with titles such as the Star interview (usually involving a minor celebrity), Breaking News, 'Celebs' Exposed (Celebrities in their less flattering moments), and an extensive section covering fashion and beauty - all pretty basic stuff. The most 'cerebral' section is the review section where the latest Films, DVDs, books and CDs are given short reviews. There is also the customary mindless horoscope section and a full TV listings section to fill up some extra pages. The target audience of Star seems to be aimed at young female fans of celebrity culture. In its first year of publication the magazine sold more than 100,000 copies. It's current circulation is around 250,000 per year.

General Content
The magazine is packed with photographs. I would say that at least 80% of page space is made up of photographic content. One interesting observation here is that most of the photographs are of women. There are quite a few celebrity male stars, but by far the majority of the images are of female celebrities. If truth be told, there are very few written articles in the magazine. In fact you could probably gain a lot of satisfaction from this magazine even if you were a celebrity fan who was completely illiterate. The literary style is simplistic to say the least, in fact at times it borders on the child-like. In many ways the content might be categorised as 'eye candy' due to its multitude of pictures of pretty people or plain looking people trying to look pretty. Advertising is scattered throughout the magazine and is surprisingly not too abundant. Given the target audience the adverts mostly consist of beauty treatments, deodorants and make-up. These are often accompanied by the ubiquitous mobile phone ads.

In a recent October issue there was an interesting leading article on skinny celebrities and this included a discussion about the physical attributes of Sarah Harding, Cheryl Cole, Keira Knightley, Hilary Swank and Kate Bosworth. The cover of the magazine was adorned with some rather startling pictures of these seemingly malnourished stars. The picture of a skeletal-like Cheryl Cole in particular was the most alarming. Keira Knightley also looked like she could have done with an emergency trip to the local pie shop. Here one does wonder though, especially with the picture of Ms Cole, whether some distortion of the camera lens has been used to exaggerate her skinniness. I found this leading feature rather ironic given the fact that within the magazine there appears to be so many articles in which female celebrities divulge how they are keeping trim or trying to lose weight.


Themes and Social Representations
Perhaps one aspect of this magazine that differentiates it from similar publications is how the content ranges across a broad spectrum of celebrity culture. It is interesting to note that there are pictures and articles that go right across the celebrity range from A list Hollywood stars to Z list Big brother evictees. So you get offered an insight into high end celebrity culture - 'Brad and Angela are having a tiff' - to the pond life of celebrity culture - 'Big Brother's Nicole might dump Rex for cheating on her'. Although there are plenty of images of glamour and luxury, there are also images of stars shown in a lesser light, caught off guard, with weight problems or skin problems, or for example, articles in which embarrassing secrets or private turmoil is revealed. In a recent issue there's a photo of a podgy looking Carol Vorderman - the thinking man's sex symbol. She has apparently been piling on the pounds due to stress, no doubt caused after she received news of her pay cut on Countdown or perhaps it was the stress of working with Des O Connor. Other major themes revolve around celebrity love life and the gossip surrounding new emerging relationships between celebrities. Another common theme is the celebrity feud. In the recent edition there was an article about contestants on the TV show "Strictly Come Dancing". Apparently there was a "catfight" on screen between Jessie Wallace (of Eastenders fame) and model Jodie Kidd in which the Eastenders star described the polo playing model as looking "like a horse". In general though, I would say there are very few shocking or controversial images in Star magazine such as B-Listers falling over drunk or Z-listers bending over and showing their bottoms. Despite the 'celebs exposed' section and one or two bad fashion shots, overall the publishers and editors seem to show a certain empathy towards their subject matter.

Modern celebrity culture.
It's easy to be cynical about modern celebrity culture. Fame has long ceased to be based on any notion of real talent or on actually achieving something substantial through ability, hard work or intelligence. A large segment of the public seem satisfied with what I would call the glorification of mediocrity. People no longer seek true virtues, outstanding achievements or accomplished skills in our 'stars'. This worship of the talent-less and all that is superficial is popularised ever further in publications like Star magazine. Shout loud enough, appear uneducated enough or date a footballer and you might make the front cover of Star magazine. Then when you reach the ripe old age of 25, you can get someone to write your autobiography of how you did it your way.

The Manufacture of Celebrity
One overriding theme in the magazine is the obsession with self-image and in particular the physical and sexual appearance of the individual in the context of a consumer culture that promotes such an obsession. Hence the adverts for clothing and perfume and the many photographs of well dressed stars. In so many similar contemporary magazines virtually all the social representations of gender are situated within or connected to aspects of consumer culture, whether it be the selling of perfume in advertisements or the promotion of films and books in interviews. This fits well with the theory of how a superficial celebrity status has been developed for the sole purpose if promoting consumer products in an ever expanding market place. This has led to the creation of a celebrity industry. There are plenty of perfumes, clothing, and other items being promoted in Star magazine, but one could argue that the celebrity is the main product being sold. The magazine therefore acts as a vehicle for perpetuating celebrity culture by promoting celebrities of all types. Minor celebrities such as Jane Goody, Peter Andre or Kerry Katona can now extend their shelf life by doing articles and photo shoots for magazines like Star. For a Big Brother contestant to make the cover of Star magazine is a major achievement... probably their only achievement. It is also in the interests of the publishers to expand the celebrity base. More celebrities means more stories, more photos and more gossip to fill the pages of such magazines.

The Target Audience
As mentioned above, the target audience of Star seems to be the younger - under thirty - female fans of celebrity culture (although I imagine older women buy it too and men glance through it if they find it lying around the house... or a dentists waiting room). One might argue that many of these young female readers see celebrities, their lifestyles and the world they inhabit as a kind of ideal to which many of them aspire. A magazine like Star is supposed to bring you closer to the secrets and inner lives of the famous, but in reality it is a rather superficial experience. It must also be acknowledged that the celebrity obsessed media, as in many forms of marketing, also conditions its audience and helps to create the demand. The young women who buy Star magazine are in many ways products of the celebrity age.

Of course many will say lighten up... it's only a bit of fun. But I think the obsession with celebrity culture says a lot about social and cultural emptiness of our real lives. Magazines like Star can also be seen as extensions of tabloid journalism that ignore or push aside important issues and ideas for more trivial matter, and it really does get trivial at times. I am indebted to Star magazine for the following information: that giant of British literature Katie Price aka Jordan now only weighs 8 stone; Victoria "Posh" Beckham has a new running regime in which she claims she now runs nearly 30 miles a week and... thank god those rumours about Brad and Angelina were not true - they're not splitting up after all. Even when the 'truly talented stars' get a look in, their talent is often ignored with the focus always on something trivial. If Daniel Craig makes an appearance you know you're never going to read anything about his acting talent or the demanding role he's about to play in his next film. Instead you'll see a picture of him in those tight blue trunks next to a commentary in which he vows never to wear them again. At times it seems that trivia is drowning out all other information. A superficial celebrity culture of the talentless and the infamous now dominates our media. Star magazine is yet one more publication that feeds upon and propagates this celebrity circus of the banal that affects how people view themselves and degrades their aspirations. When will the conveyor belt of celebrity end? Surely we've reached the celebrity saturation point. Where once we sought inspiration from mythical heroines we now aspire to be like Paris Hilton, or at least have the same hair extensions.

Summary: Another celebrity photo based magazine with a mixture of star quality