*CFP* "CELEBRITY AND CRISIS, CELEBRITY IN CRISIS", INTERNATIONAL 2021 CONFERENCE

Celebrity and Crisis, Celebrity in Crisis

10-13rd May, 2021

University of Bologna, Italy

 

The emergency and exceptional situations linked to crisis contexts involve a series of urgencies and perspectives that also affect the world of celebrities. Depending on the type of crisis in progress, the media define new celebrities, or place an emphasis on the actions of already known personalities. An example is Greta Thunberg, who has become an icon of the climate crisis, known to the general public above all for the importance that mass media have given to her words and actions. Or the recent "celebrities with white coats", so called to emphasize the social importance and media presence of medical experts in the Covid 19 emergency.

When cases of this type appear in the media, opinion makers and commentators usually rush to define the specificities of the celebrity on duty, also motivating the reasons for its rapid notoriety. Observations on his behavior are activated only randomly, following, in fact, the very trend of the crisis, which appear suddenly, reach the peak and then return to a stabilization logic. In other words, there seems to be a lack of systematic reflection, which instead leads to an analysis of the effects and consequences of the actions of celebrities in crisis situations.

It is possible to trace two reference macro-groups: celebrities who are born in crisis situations (and who are therefore closely connected to them) and celebrities already known, who change their behavior during crises. For the latter, the reflections usually seem to concern the differences that crises determine with respect to a normal routine, due to a change undergone with respect to the public image (for example the breakdown of a relationship due to the betrayal of the partner) or, on the contrary, for the realization of an 'out of the box' action, managed and voluntarily activated (such as participation in humanitarian aid).

Some studies have been carried out in this regard, but remain liminary for the moment, such as Ilan Kapoor's 2013 work entitled “Celebrity Humanitarism. The ideology of global charity”which gave rise to a series of important considerations on the role of celebrities and the meaning of their work in crises.

Starting from these first considerations, the conference calls for the investigation of the active role of celebrities, understood as social phenomena, images, signs, in the culture of the crisis: in the contemporary context, but also following a historical perspective. We intend to examine the internal contradictions of the phenomenon of celebrity engagement with respect to crises and we invite to study the critical aspects of culture that they highlight. For example, public actions of celebrities (philanthropy, militancy, product-endorsement) aimed at offering support to crisis situations (climatic, environmental, political-social) embrace the global principles of ecology, sustainability, solidarity, national and cultural borders, but at the same time they reinforce a geopolitically circumscribed model of personality and individualism.

The conference therefore intends to investigate the role of celebrities in times and situations of crisis in many directions, considering this area of reflection as a generative and culturally rich territory. The crisis can in fact take the form of an opportunity, providing celebrities with the possibility of transforming their social role, which is too often rigidified within specific interpretative frameworks. Consider the case of the article written by Giorgio Armani in March 2020, in which the designer claims the need for a slow time for fashion, giving rise to an immediately shared public and political reflection, far from the catwalks. Or to the many donations that Chiara Ferragni, Fedez or Armani himself have given to healthcare facilities for the Covid 19 emergency. These are cases in which celebrities take off their rigid masks, to tell about themselves also according to parameters that concern other contexts, political and cultural.

The following topics should be considered as an outline and an example, but they do not exhaust the proposals. 

Topics:

• Celebrities and world crisis (general). Crisis between global and local
• World crisis as opportunity: celebrities' new roles and representations
• Celebrities and SARS-CoV-2: philanthropic messages/actions, public positions
• Celebrities and SARS-CoV-2: home entertainment
• Celebrities and SARS-CoV-2: figure of the ill celebrity
• Celebrities/stars and economic crisis (1929, 2008, 2020-21)
• Celebrities and Ecological crisis
• Celebrities and Terrorism
• The crisis of the celebrity (personal, career/economic) and the crisis of cultural models.
• Changing celebrities: shifts and transformations in celebrities public role
• The crisis of the celebrity connected to the crisis in the history of media
• Film Stars and the concept of crisis
• Fashion celebrities/Fashion system and crisis
• The rise/fall of celebrity culture in contexts of Fashion crisis

Please submit your abstracts to quvi.eventicelebrities@unibo.it (max. 500 words) for papers and panels, including a short biography (max. 100 words) and institutional affiliation, in English language by 10 January 2021.

Authors will be notified by February 28, 2021.

Please make sure to also attach a short CV (max. 150 words).

Language: English.

After the conference, speakers are expected to send a full paper of their speech for publication of the official proceedings, by August 31, 2021