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Attitude: Representations of Celebrity

Updated: Mar 2, 2021

Attitude mainly represents gay celebrities such as Olly Alexander and Alan Carr. These celebrities are represented as strong individuals as they are able to come out as homosexual despite how many people may see them in a negative light and may even send hate to them. This can be seen in the Alan Carr article, as he is being slandered for his temporary replacement role on a radio show. There is also an article with a contestant on RPDR speaking out after receiving death threats. Attitude makes it obvious that being homosexual or camp in the public eye is a difficult thing to deal with as many people still do not accept these people in society.


There are also straight celebrities, such as Hector Bellerin, who advocate for homosexuality and their acceptance in society. He has worked with his football teams gay fan group and with the premier leagues rainbow laces campaign. He represents himself in a way that is not stereotypically masculine. He is normally seen dressed in quite feminine clothing and also sports earrings and jewellery.


In regards to stereotyping, celebrities are not represented in a stereotypical way. For the article regarding the Imagine Dragons singer, the clothes he is wearing in the picture are casual, like he isn't trying to impress anyone with any luxury brands or jewellery. The article also tells the reader about the charitable act that he has done in donating his childhood house to an LGBTQ organisation. His own sexuality isn't even the vocal point of this story, showing how it does not define who he is, heterosexual or not.



However, when the magazine represents celebrities who are Homosexual, it shows them in a stereotypical, over the top manner. The article regarding Ru Pauls new singing show has him in full makeup and a wig, with bright colours on and around him. The article also talks about more stereotypically homosexual (or more non-masculine) activities such as singing.



The representation of celebrities is more based off the celebrity and their identity rather than their sexuality. Stephen Fry is a homosexual, but he does not act in the stereotypical way. He is represented as a man with an honest opinion about a straight mans performance as a gay person.




What this tells us about Attitude is that these stereotypes (and challenged stereotypes) are used as an expression of values. These representations are reflections of how the person they are representing represents themselves, so Attitude attempt to cover all aspects of homosexuality and camp culture. This may lead to postmodernism. The values expressed here are that yes, some homosexuals act in a colourful, over the top way, but some also don't, showing that homosexuals and heterosexuals are indistinguishable at times and are exactly the same as, what some would call 'normal' people. Celebrities are used with these representations to give the audience a person to identify with. Straight male celebrities have their say on the matter, whether they express their femininity (like Bellerin) or not. Homosexuals both flamboyant and reserved are represented, giving the audience a variety of well known names to identify with, but to also broaden their knowledge regarding how homosexuals don't have to be defined to the camp stereotype.

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