The Robert Crown Law Library and Stanford Entertainment and Sports Law Association (SESLA) are pleased to host "The Origins of Media Gossip and the Cult of Celebrity: Implications for Culture and Politics Today"
A talk with Dr. Samantha Barbas, SLS 2010, author of The First Lady of Hollywood: A Biography of Louella Parsons and Movie Crazy: Fans, Stars, and the Cult of Celebrity and Professor Lawrence Friedman, author of Guarding Life's Dark Secrets: Legal and Social Controls over Reputation, Propriety, and Privacy.
Politicians are celebrities, and gossip permeates political discourse. Successful political campaigns depend on flashy media images. We live in a short-attention span, soundbyte culture. Most Americans know more about Angelina Jolie than the Supreme Court.
How did we become so obsessed with gossip and celebrity? Is the cult of celebrity undermining American politics? How can we harness our powerful interest in other people's lives for social and political change?
Join Samantha Barbas and Professor Friedman for a discussion on media gossip and the cult of celebrity in the United States ? how and why celebrity culture got started, how it transformed American society, and why, more than ever, celebrity matters.
Beverages and home-baked sweets served! Feel free to bring a brown bag lunch.
The Stanford Bookstore will have a table where Barbas' and Friedman's books will be available for purchase and for signing by them.