“By gossiping about celebrities and by talking about what they’ve done that isn’t so great, it allows us to establish our values as a community and also for me, as an individual, to advertise my values to the people I’m speaking with,” says professor Julia Fawcett, who teaches a course called the History of Celebrity in the Department of Theater, Dance and Performance Studies.
Celebrities, one theory goes, act to unite imagined communities in a modern nation. When people used to know everyone in their villages, now we use celebrities to come together in a new kind of group. “I’m a fan of Beyoncé, and you’re a fan of Beyoncé, so now we’re a part of this imagined community,” says Fawcett.