An investigation into how celebrities use self-presentation to portray different images of themselves.

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Word count: 510                                                JAMES GILMORE

Communication Studies

An investigation into how celebrities  use self-presentation to portray different images of themselves

As a starting point for this project I had the self-presentation of celebrities in mind. Fashion icons such as Madonna, Kylie Minogue and David Beckham are easy examples as their appearances can change so dramatically in such short spaces of time. These people are extreme examples of how humans use self-presentation to create specific self- images and manipulate the thoughts and opinions of the public and the people around them in effect their audience. Celebrities use the press and through this medium of the world of media reach the desired audience, the public. Where as ordinary people just use the people they socially interact with and the people around them.

   It has been proven that as humans we make judgments solely on the appearance and non-verbal communication of the person being perceived. These judgments and impressions of the person collected in the first four minutes of interaction will almost certainly stick and be very hard to shift. Whether or not you like someone will be decided by their appearance and the “ impression they give off ”. For example this picture of David Beckham shows him smartly dressed wearing a pair of glasses embracing his newborn child. This image is deliberately engineered by Beckham and his publicity team to touch the hearts of the public. It is especially designed to appeal to women and his female fan base as it has been proven that most women like a sensitive man. It portrays him as a sophisticated, intelligent and sensitive father figure.

  Some secondary research showed that David Beckham has perfect twenty twenty vision and has no need to wear glasses. This proves to me that they are a prop added to help reinforce the desired image. This shows that this picture is a perfect example of “ how people use self-presentation to create a certain image of themselves”.        

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   Stereotyping is essential to giving off an impression. In this photo David Beckham can be stereotyped as the modern, caring, sensitive, intelligent man who is not ashamed to be in touch with his feminine side. In this photograph he fills every aspect of that stereotype. If people can easily associate with a stereotype it is easier to predict their reactions and thoughts. Therefore making the whole process of gaining a desired impression through self-presentation easier and more effective.

 The main bulk of my research was collecting photos of celebrities from the Internet and magazines, such as the above example ...

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