What role does photography play in celebrity culture?
‘Society beauty, spy and mistress of Napoleon III, was so concerned about her image that she constructed it with her personal photographer’1.
For my personal photobook project, I wanted to find a topic that I find fascinating and can also be linked to my own identity. Because of this, I decided to investigate how photography affected the lives of celebrities from the past, and how that compares to the role of photography in relation to celebrity culture in modern times. For this essay I will be looking into historical figures such as The Countess De Castiglione and Lillie Langtry. I will compare these figures to a more modern and controversial personality, Kim Kardashian. Celebrity culture and fame can be seen as a very contentious topic for most, especially today, with the newly found trend that is ‘cancel culture’, which can ruin the reputation of celebrities within a day. Photography plays a huge part in the film and social media industry, but whether this is a positive thing can be heavily disputed. For example, some may argue that with the development of technology, capturing important moments in our lives have been made much more accessible and easier than ever before. Sharing images to friends and family online has also had a huge positive impact for people worldwide, especially during the height of Covid. On the other hand, the evolution of photography has become a threat to the careers and lives of many others. Celebrities and those heavily involved in social media are largely at risk with the access of photography to all, as a simple controversial photograph can turn fans against them and even end careers. Contemporary photography can capture anyone at any time with the invention of mobile phones, which can be extremely damaging to those in the public eye. I have looked at the positive and negative effects of the development of photography within the celebrity world, and the issues of photography as a career rather than a hobby. Photography can be seen as an issue when it comes to a way of making money, as some may focus on creating their content as a need to make a living rather than a pastime, meaning they will go to extreme lengths to get their photos, to the extent of ruining a celebrity’s career or even their own life.
The Countess of Castiglione (1837-1899), was an Italian aristocrat, who is considered to be an important figure in portrait photography. La Castiglione was brought into disrepute as a mistress of Emperor Napoleon III of France, and became known as an significant icon for portrait photography, she was also widely considered as the most beautiful woman of her day. The Countess had an obsession with her own appearance, she was so obsessed to the point that in her later life she decorated her entire house in the colour black with the blinds drawn and banned mirrors and would only leave her house at night, so she would not have to confront her deteriorating beauty through old age. During her peak of youth, she was photographed over 400 times by Pierre-Louis Pierson and others, causing her to eventually go into debt. These images were taken between 1861 and 1896, with Pierson also taking around 110 images of her son and 5 others of her dogs 2. The Countess used photography to her advantage and had full power over the picture that was made of her and how she was going to be perceived, and were considered as ‘one of the first postmodern portraits’3. La Castiglione controlled nearly the whole process of her modelling, including the title of the image and the camera angle, therefore being in control of her whole image that was to be portrayed into the media. Although the media had little power then compared to now, La Castiglione used it as a form of self-advertisement and self-expression, and stated as someone who ‘was bold enough to appropriate the male gaze for herself’4. She became a popular socialite because of this and attended masked balls and soirées and recreated her looks again within her portraits. She would often ‘flirt with the camera like a fan dancer’5, to achieve a playful yet promiscuous reputation. Following her death, her legacy of a woman of beauty and mystery continued, and a substantial portion of her photographs are kept at the Metropolitan Museum, as well as numerous biographies detailing her life and even a film to further explain her experiences and obsession with beauty. For this reason, she is labelled as an important figure in photographic history, and represents the brighter side of photography and media within the lives of celebrities.
Another historical figure to feature in the public eye is Lillie Langtry. Lillie Langtry’s story inspired my essay as she is a distant relative to my family from my grandfather’s side, with her birth name being ‘Le Breton’, therefore linking my essay to my own identity. Born in Jersey as Emilie Charlotte Le Breton in the October of 1853, Langtry married and moved to London with her husband, Edward Langtry, in 1876. Langtry became well known in London through her acquaintances and mutual friends, and had multiple painted portraits made of her which became popular on postcards. Through this publicity, Lillie was able to further her career as an actress and featured in plays such as ‘She Stoops to Conquer’ and ‘As You Like It’6. Langtry was also photographed by photographer Rupert Potter whilst she was visiting Scotland. Langtry can be considered as an early example of celebrity endorsement, as she used her huge public profile to endorse products such as cosmetics and soaps, proving her to be a kind of historic ‘influencer’. Soon enough, word of Lillie’s fame reached the Royal Family which led to her era of bad publicity through the media. Langtry was invited to a dinner party with the royals, in which she was sat next to The Prince of Wales, Albert Edward. Edward (who was also married) became infatuated with Langtry, which led to them engaging in an affair of three years. Langtry also had a brief affair with the Earl of Shrewsbury, however this ended due to Langtry’s secret relationships being revealed all over the media in newspapers. Lillie was admired for her astonishing beauty, which lead her to once-in-a-lifetime opportunities for a young girl during her time and this was further celebrated in the media, however, the media started to turn against Langtry once finding out about her affairs with the royals. This led her to be responsible for divorces through those she cared about, and damaging relationships between her and her loved ones. Langtry was left to find her own way in the world and support herself financially, which led her to become an actress, at the suggestion of her good friend, Oscar Wilde. Langtry’s stage career was a success and further projected her to fame, she decided to continue her career in Jersey and even officially opened the current Opera House7 . Lillie Langtry’s story is proof that the history of media, through the use of newspapers, that controversies were quickly forgiven for those they think deserve it. This suggests that photography for the most part still had a positive impact on the lives of celebrities during this century, as ‘pretty privilege’ is most definitely a factor during controversial times. This means that the public do not hold the same standards for all celebrities, and the more attractive are most likely to be forgiven than those who are not.
Contemporary photography is considerably more dangerous to the livelihoods of celebrities today. As mentioned before, the invention of mobile phones has become both an advantage and disadvantage to the celebrity world. Theorist Clay Shirky states that the audience now have power to become media producers and to share the content they make8. On a positive note, celebrities can take advantage of this and use the audience as a form of self-promotion. This can be seen when the public post images or videos of interactions with celebrities, and positive interactions being shared online can increase the fan base of the celebrity. However, negative interactions can cause the opposite affect and can lead to the public creating negative connotations with the celebrity, reducing their fanbase. Linking this to the theory of ‘cancel culture’, celebrities are more at risk than ever. ‘Cancel culture’ has become a recent trend in the last few years, and is considered a modern-day form of ostracism in order to hold celebrities accountable to their mistakes. Oftentimes, celebrities are ‘cancelled’ due to the use of racial or homophobic slurs, or being exposed for how they have treated others, and to ‘to suggest that those with fame are only human’. Another addition to the threat of celebrities in terms of photography, Is the role of paparazzi. The job of paparazzi is to pursue celebrities in order to get photographs of them. This means that people working as paparazzi will go to extreme lengths to get these images, and since controversial images sell the most successfully, they are the most desirable due to ‘cancel culture’ articles selling the more than most other stories. ‘Trendy’ celebrities are most at risk as the media surrounds them, celebrities like Kim Kardashian. Although the Kardashian family have been seen in the public eye for years now, they are still very relevant in current times. Kim is seen as an idol for fashion, makeup and for her luxurious lifestyle in general, however the origins of her fame are controversial. Kim was associated with many other celebrities before her own fame; however, she was boosted to fame thanks to her explicit photos and videos that had been leaked through the media. This scenario can prove how dangerous photography can be in the celebrity world and how invasive it can become, however for the Kardashian family it started a domino effect of fame for them, as each member became more famous than the one before. The whole success from the Kardashian family has risen through the use of photography and social media, with promotional photoshoots for their modelling and brands, movie features and their reality show ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians’. Although the family have had success with the progression of photography, it also carried a lot of negativities in their lives. The stress of constantly being stalked by paparazzi and having their privacy invaded sparks the debate of whether the lives of celebrities are as idyllic as we depict them to be. This debate also shows the negative impact that photography has over the lives of celebrities, and that the role of photography in the celebrity world is equally negative and positive.
When comparing the role of photography throughout history to present times, there is clear similarities and differences. Some of the roles of photography will always stay the same, like using photographs as a form of self-expression and self-advertisement. In the past, photography was a revolutionary form of art, and those who were able to get their photograph taken were considered more important and superior, and their photographs certified this. In modern times, anyone can take a photograph or be photographed, meaning the superiority complex of those who are photographed has been lost; you do not have to be rich or famous to have an image taken of you. However, because of the wide accessibility to photography amongst the public, those who are rich or famous can have their image taken at any time, including in their times of struggle, or perhaps committing actions that could be considered morally wrong. Celebrities must act as though they are always being watched in public to defend and preserve their reputation, which becomes more difficult overtime as technology and cameras develop. The role of photography in modern times within celebrity culture is to catch the good and bad sides of celebrities to sell stories rather than to prove their importance, which was considered it’s role in previous centuries. My images relating to this theme focus more on the role of photography in the past, and to show the model as glamorous and successful. This will be shown through excessive clothing and settings as well as props and professional lighting.