celebrity gossip, academic style

1.) What is your name, occupation, website?
Karen Petruska, doctoral candidate, Georgia State University. For fun, I write about The Vampire Diaries and participate in a podcast for the Monsters of Television website.

2.) What is your first memory of being drawn to a star or celebrity?
Most likely, Michael Jackson. That was my first big crush. I had a post of Michael that I was thrilled to affix to my wall. Tragedy, though, that at night, he looked like a werewolf on that poster (foreshadowing “Thriller”?), so I had to take the poster down. That was also the time during which my (kinda mean, looking back) best friend dressed like Madonna. For reals-with the permed hair, lace gloves, flouncy skirts. She has real commitment, and I had no idea how anyone could devote so much time to emulation.

3.) Who are your heroes of contemporary celebritude, and why?
Gotta be honest-using the word “hero” next to celebrity kinda seems wrong. I do think Angelina Jolie is awesome-she uses her celebrity to do something useful as an ambassador. Clooney’s latest gig with satellites as a peace-inducement is kinda awesome, too. For me, “hero” definitely conveys someone who sees beyond their own affluence. It doesn’t count to go to Africa becausey ou are trying to be trendy.
Stars I “like” right now are James Franco (for being straight up nutty-love all his interests) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (for HitRECord. He seems super cool on Twitter, and I admire his passion for this particular project. I like watching a child star become a man worth rooting for).

4.) Who are your favorite participants, broadly speaking, in the history of stardom, and why?
Katherine Hepburn. She had ups and downs but always persevered. Plus, she seemed tough. I also really like that Mae West was famous.

5.) You can only be best friends with one person in all of celebritude, past and present. Who? How did you two meet? What’s your favorite thing to do together?
Reese Witherspoon, cause she’s type A like me. We would have had to have met before her kids, because I’m not sure why we’d be friends now with such different life circumstances…oooh, an easier answer. I used to know the younger brother of Scott Foley, so perhaps when Jennifer Garner was married to him, I can into her in St. Louis. Jennifer Garner might be a cool best friend. Notice how I have to find plausibility to make this scenario work? I’m not sure I want to be best friends with a star-I don’t like to be jealous, and being around someone with so much might make me dissatisfied with my own life-unpleasant.

Karen's best friends Kate and Reese waiting to come over for a sleepover.

Wait, I got it-Kate Winslet. We met when she was filming “Sense and Sensibility.” I’m such an Austen fan, I got a set visit somehow, and we met there. Kate and I simply like to grab a coffee. We used to sneak secret smokes together, but now we talk about her kids an awful lot. She takes seriously not trying to be too skinny so she can represent a more balanced portrait of femininity, and I admire that about her. We have a book club.

6.) You can only date on person in all of celebritude, past and present. Who? Where would you first date be? What would he/she get you for your birthday?
I used to have a mad, passionate crush on Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance. We’d meet backstage, and he’d be super chill and super shy. I’m not sure I ever imagined us dating, like going to a restaurant and whatnot. Kinda wanted to tour around with the band on their tour bus, though. For my birthday, he’d surprise me with plane tickets to whatever awesome city he happened to be in-and a suite at a fancy hotel.

7.) Who do you regard as the lowest depth of celebritude?
Easy-the debutante star (Paris, Kim), the reality wannabe (that poor girl destroyed by Spencer Pratt). True stardom is more akin to royalty (hence, Angelina Jolie). The star must live at a remove, have a commitment to form and etiquette, demonstrate a sort of discipline and a lack of need for the trappings of stardom. Anyone that needs to be famous automatically sucks.

8.) Name a celebrity that is
a.) Overrated: Julia Roberts, Shia LaBeouf, Halle Berry
b.) Underrated: Joseph Gordon-Levitt (kis is gonna be HUGE!), Leonardo diCaprio (works hard to keep put of the spotlight, and that’s cool)
c.) Appropriately rated: Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp, George Clooney (yes, they are the best)

9.) What is the greatest/most bombastic moment of celebrity ever? (Example: A-Rod posing for a photo shoot as a centaur)
Nothing will ever top Tom Cruise totally cracking up-the couch and all. If it wasn’t for the fact that I like Katie Holmes and didn’t want to see her become part of the borg, his decline (under his sister’s not-so-capable managerial efforts) would have been deeply, deeply, satisfying.

10.) Where do you get gossip on your celebrities of interest? Explain more?
I kick it old school-I flip through People and US Weekly in the grocery aisle (never guying the magazine, of course.) I sometimes check out Tyler Durden because I like to see dumb stars made fun of, and he does that well. But he also tends to be terribly to women, so I’m conflicted about that site. I am one of those people that LOVES the photos of stars being “just like us.” Those photos are like crack, even though I know the people getting those photos are among the lowest forms of life on the planet. I’m a bad person.

11.) How do celebrities and stardom relate to your own work/extra-work activites?
When I had a real job, taking two breaks a day to read up on TV reviews and gossip was a big highlight of my day.Now that I study media, I ironically have less time to follow the news.

12.) Why is celebrity culture — and our attention, analysis, and discussion of it — important?
Celebrities seem to point toward the best and worst in humanity. We root for the underdog (Lindsay Lohan will be given an endless number of chances to become a useful person) and celebrate the triumphs (hence, awards shows somehow being entertaining). We also always aspire to be more, have more, achieve more. Celebrities seem like achievers because they represent the trappings of success in modern society (dominated by stuff-clothes, shoes, makeup, cars, fancy hotels, etc).

I’m also intrigued by why we enjoy seeing them fail. How much do celebrities bolster our own sense of what is meaningful, valuable? Would I prefer that we celebrate intellect and genuine talent over charisma and bodies? Sure. But we live in a superficial world that celebrates excess and indulgence. Our values are radically out of place. Celebrities put a spotlight on that.