This project began for us in thinking about movie stars as icons of particular social types. Richard Dyer suggests that some stars are promoted as images of distinctive social groups and cultures. Dyer sees Grace Kelly and Katherine Hepburn, for instance, as representations of the “snob” social type. This suggests that their star images and the characters they represent are iconic of upper-class culture and identity. For instance, both speak with refined, “Bryn-Mawr” accents, wear elegant and sophisticated clothing, and appear well-mannered both on and off screen.
Having worked on these stars for our personal essays, we were in search of a star that represented a wider segment of the American populace. In particular, we were interested in Zooey Deschanel and her peculiar positioning between film and recording industry stardom. Thinking about this dual element of Deschanel’s star image, we were reminded of an online blog, Stuff White People Like. This website, created by Christian Lander, pokes fun at upper-middle class culture. It lists stereotypical ‘likes’ of members of the American educated, mass-affluent culture. The more we explored the posts, the more we realized that Zooey Deschanel could be seen as emblematic of this social group.
In particular, Deschanel is associated with a culture of veganism, a love of vintage, and a tradition of Indie film and music. Each of these items appears on Lander’s list.
On this website, we juxtapose snippets of Lander’s website with images, articles, and clips of Zooey Deschanel. These pairings are meant to emphasize the similarity between Lander’s posts and Deschanel’s star image.
While exploring our blog, we ask readers to consider the social forces that have contributed to Deschanel’s success. If her peculiarities and interests did not appeal to mass-affluent culture, would she have become as popular as she now is? If her star image did not relate to some social identity, would she have been able to transition from an indie star to a mainstream star as she has been able to do in recent years?
*Please note. Each post is numbered according to a "like" that is described on Lander's website. Thus, the numbers will jump around a great deal. You have not missed any posts, but are moving in order through the relevant pages on Lander's website.
*Please also note, this project was composed by two vegetarian students pursuing arts degrees at Cornell University. We relied a great deal on Apple Products and Starbucks Coffee over the past few weeks. We listened to indie music and NPR while typing up blogs. The validity of Lander's stereotypes regarding popular culture are thus up to the reader to decide.
*Please note. Each post is numbered according to a "like" that is described on Lander's website. Thus, the numbers will jump around a great deal. You have not missed any posts, but are moving in order through the relevant pages on Lander's website.
*Please also note, this project was composed by two vegetarian students pursuing arts degrees at Cornell University. We relied a great deal on Apple Products and Starbucks Coffee over the past few weeks. We listened to indie music and NPR while typing up blogs. The validity of Lander's stereotypes regarding popular culture are thus up to the reader to decide.
