On her blog site, classmate Allison Goldberg discussed the sudden popularity of young singer Rebecca Black (read Allison's original post here). This got me thinking about our previous discussion of created celebrities, and the ways in which celebrities fit into two social narratives: those who have achieved fame, and those who have been ascribed to it. As Allison discussed, Black has been criticized since the release of her song "Friday." Though I admit that I have watched her video, and concluded that her music is not, by any stretch of the imagination, something I would choose to listen to regularly, I certainly think that there are equally terrible songs and artists out there who haven't received as much negativity as this poor girl.
Perhaps the reason for the public backlash against Rebecca Black is because the creation of her celebrity didn't fit into the achievement narrative that we traditionally associate with celebrities. Black seemingly came out of nowhere and suddenly had one of the most viewed videos on YouTube. Although her song is attention getting, she cannot be classified as having achieved celebrity through her vocal talents, as her overly Auto-Tuned voice, and lackluster lyrics exclude her from fitting this narrative.
The backlash against the young "artist" (I use this term very loosely for the sake of this post), may be because Black is an ascribed celebrity who rose from the model of capitalism and gained popularity through modern electronic communications and viral videos. With Black's image created through her family's access to wealth, media consumers may be hesitant to accept her celebrity and status. Rather than becoming traditional fans, consumers have instead created smear and hate campaigns against the singer, thereby allowing them to use Black's image for their own negative gratification purposes. In this case, some consumers have gone so far as to create new narratives to read and understand the media texts devoted to Black, which include attributing Black's video to new movements of cultural satire.
Personally, I don't think Rebecca Black is particularly talented, nor do I find her music enjoyable, but I can also completely ignore her music, as well as her created celebrity, should I choose to do so. She does not fit into my interpretation of the achievement narrative, but I certainly understand how she has been ascribed celebrity status. She has received what Andy Warhol termed her fifteen minutes of fame, and she may receive some sort of compensation for her sudden celebrity, but as her celebrity image fades, as do most "one-hit-wonders," so too will the backlash against her. Either that, or media consumers will quickly forget about her to focus on another, less talented, more ridiculous celebrity.
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