Celebrity Presentation in Media: What's Real and What's Fake?

A Visit From the Goon Squad is a postmodern novel by Jennifer Egan in which she brings up many situations and ideas prevalent in society today. One of which is media perception and the impact of someone's 'image,' which is discussed when La Doll takes on The General as a client. A lot of the representations we see of celebrities are just that, re-presentations. Of course there is the timeworn discussion of a celebrity's supposed appearance versus how they really look, but there are other ways in which celebrity's images are shaped. 

PR stunts, or occurrences planned by a Public Relations team meant to draw attention to the subject/client, are used very often. This can be something as small as a charitable donation, or as long-term as a fake relationship. Publicity Stunts always have a goal. They are made to make the client seem kinder, more available to fans, more committed, they want to dispel rumors or hide something, it could be any number of things. 

A common use of Publicity Stunts is to cover up a celebrity's sexuality, which has been going on long before I was even born. Lance Bass, who came out in 2006, dated women in the height of his career, but has said that his management team didn't know he was gay. Since I have been enlightened about celebrity stunts and the nature of the music industry especially, either I question everything I hear, or I just ignore it. It's quite strange to think that the way someone acts could be a façade created to better their image, but I really liked that Egan brought this up, and I really enjoyed her take on it.