Proposals are invited for a special edition of the journal Celebrity Studies on the theme of female celebrity and ageing. It is a long held adage that women 'of a certain age' struggle to find work or interesting roles in youth-obsessed Hollywood and that the lifespan of female celebrity is finite in a way that male celebrity is not. Has this state of affairs shifted in the changing celebrity culture of recent years? Have older women become less visible than ever as reality TV formats and teen film genres dominate the popular media landscape? Or have an ageing population and new generation of accomplished female actors moving into their 'prime' prompted more opportunities for and representations of ageing female celebrity?
Papers may consider, but are not limited to, the following topics:
- Representations of ageing as a gendered construct in the celebrity press
- Historical and/or contemporary analyses of ageing and Hollywood women stars
- Comparative analysis of how male v female stars age 'differently' within star systems
- Case studies of female stars from different national and/or historical contexts (who may, for example, have acquired celebrity later in life; had their stardom metamorphose with age; have lost celebrity on reaching older age)
- The representation of older women celebrities or stars in different media and entertainment industries
- Older female stars and 'the unruly woman'
- Commodification, ageing women stars and celebrity product endorsement
- Older women stars, sexuality and the rise of the 'cougar'
- Gender, stardom and plastic/cosmetic surgery
This edition of Celebrity Studies will be edited by Dr Deborah Jermyn. Abstracts of approx 300 words accompanied by a brief author biog should be sent to d.jermyn@roehampton.ac.uk by November 30 2009. Please feel free to address any enquiries to this address also. Completed essays will be required by January 5 2011.