Literature Review

Literature Review

Celebrity Influence on Drug Abuse, Sexual Abuse and Self Abuse through the medium of pop culture.

            After being forced to deal with the trauma of sexual assault, and drug abuse which led to self-abuse, pop artist Kesha has recreated herself into a feminist icon by speaking out about these events and the creation of a documentary titled “Rainbow- The Film”.  For my thesis I will be doing an in-depth analysis on Kesha’s documentary and how pop culture effects the identities of celebrities, and the influence of fan bases while comparing modern pop culture and pop music in comparison to pop culture through the 1900s. This documentary is reflective of many forms of abuse including: drug abuse, sexual abuse, and self-abuse, through thorough analysis I will understand how these are communicated by celebrities and perceived by fan bases. These forms of abuse are becoming more relevant each day and are becoming even more publicized as celebrities speak out about them. Understanding how these events are communicated and perceived by both non-fan and fan bases can help us understand the weight of discussing this. 

            A large portion of the information we see about sexual and drug abuse is brought to us by celebrities. I am curious on how pressures from society influence their identity, how these identities influence fans and how these topics compare in pop culture from earlier times. 

To begin to get a grip on the identitystruggles that many celebrities face I will analyze and use information from an article titled “The new Kesha Still Loves the Old Ke$ha” by Sarah Spellings. This article provides a transcript in which Kesha talks about having the ability to love herself despite her tribulations but “She describes her (old) persona as a “front” for emotional pain.”

“My feelings would get hurt and I would pretend I didn’t give a fuck. It’s a front. Put on glitter, act happy. -Kesha” (Spellings)

This article and the specific quotes from above lead me to apply Mead’s theory of “I and Me” to Kesha’s identity change. For this portion I will be referencing “Security and Self Reflections of a Fallen Realist” by Ken Booth. This article discusses the application of “Role Theory”, the idea that society provides the script and individuals fall into those roles, roles being “a typified response to a typified expectation”. This article also provides insight on how Mead’s theory also fits for your “I” and “Me” in a certain profession. How does Kesha change her role from Ke$ha to Kesha? What influence did producers have on this and how is it perceived by her fan base? I will be doing further research to see if there is an older Ke$ha documentary I can have my focus group watch to compare to “Rainbow- The Film”. At the least I will have focus groups watch old Ke$ha music videos to see how they compare to newer Kesha music videos.  

            While these ideas of representation can affect a fan base we have been able to see Kesha receive a lot of praise for her rebranding which is seen by many as a positive influenceon femininity. “Both theorists and researchers have compared the attachments that young adults form with celebrities to the relationships that they develop with those “real others” (e.g., parents, peers) with whom they have reciprocal contact (e.g., Adams-Price & Greene, 1990; Balswick & Ingoldsby, 1982; Caughey, 1978, 1984, 1985, 1994; Cohen, 1997; Erikson, 1968; Greene & Adams-Price, 1990; Horton & Wohl, 1956). Regardless of their age, admirers, too, often speak of celebrities as though there were some sort of relationship between them (e.g., Alperstein, 1991; Caughey, 1984, 1985, 1994; Levy, 1979). Thus, investigating celebrity influence from a relational vantage point is consistent with the way that many academ- ics and laypersons alike conceptualize the phenomenon of celebrity at- traction. (Boone, Lomore)

 To analyze the femininity aspect, I will be studying a journal article “Feminism Growing because of the Media” by Ashley Chou who claims Kesha has “come out to show other girls that it’s the right thing to stand up for yourself… Kesha is doing feminism in the bravest and most important way she can- by refusing to “save” her career by dropping her allegations against her producer. With the simple and brave act, she is inspiring an entire industry and millions of women and girls to take a stand against abuse.”  Since Kesha has spoken out against her abuser we have heard many more women come forward about men abusers in positions of power and have seen the emergence of the #MeToo movement. With this we can conclude that Kesha, who was selected as one of Time’s top 100 influential women, is not only influencing women and girls but is also influencing other celebrities. With posts from women like Anne Hathaway, Reese Witherspoon, Demi Lovato, Sara Bareilles, and many others, I will be using the article “More Celebrities Supporting Kesha” to get more in-depth information on why showing support through social media is important to this scenario.

These issues with identity and influence on society leads me to compare pop culture now to pop culture throughout the 1900’s. How have sexual assault reports increased? What were big cases, comparable to the Kesha trial, from the mid 1900s and how was that perceived, how did it influence change? 

From Kesha’s Rainbow documentary that I will be showing my focus groups I am expecting a bit of conversation on abuse:drug abuse, sexual abuse and self-abuse, specifically self-abuse in the form of eating disorders and self-harm. These are all very broad topics and I am having a bit of trouble finding articles that fit my study well.

Drug abusehas been a commonalty in pop culture for some time but how has how it been discussed changed? With recent overdoses from celebrities like Demi Lovato or the recent fatal overdose of Mac Miller, drug abuse is a topic that needs to be more widely discussed, especially in college settings to college students where we think we are invincible to the scary statistics and possibilities. Showing my focus groups Kesha’s “Rainbow- The Film” will lead me to responses to questions such as how are the metaphors used throughout this short film perceived by audience and how does it? To become more informed on this matter analyze pop artists applying references to drug abuse along with their struggle with drug abuse through their song writing and statistics that compare reports of drug usage vs how many people seek help to overcome drug abuse. Pulling from the book Persuasive Communication and Drug Abuse I will analyze how celebrities can counter the negative influence other celebrities by speaking out against drugs which is what Kesha is doing through her documentary in a sense “Public service announcements (PSAs)attempt to employ this strategy when they rely on a well-liked celebrity or sports figure to induce attitude change rather than focusing on the merits of the arguments that are presented. We do not mean to suggest that peripheral approaches are necessarily ineffective. In fact they can be quite powerful in the short term. The problem is that over time, peoples' feelings about celebrities and sports figures change, the positive sources may become dissociated from the message, and normative sources of influence become less important as one grows older. Laboratory research has shown that attitude changes based on peripheral cues tend to be less persistent and resistant to subsequent pressures. Thus, people who hold anti-drug attitudes based solely on celebrity cues are less likely to resist arguments and pressure to use drugs than are people who have developed negative atti- tudes toward particular drugs after careful reflection on the personal dangers inherent in their use” (Donohew, Sypher, Bukoski 77)

Viewing Kesha’s documentary will also likely bring up topics of self-abuse such as eating disorders. In my research so far, I have found an interesting study from the Journal of Eating Disorders titled “Pro Eating Disorder stories search patterns: the possible influence of celebrity eating disorder stories in the media” that suggests that Celebrity Eating Disorders exposed in the media are actually influencing eating disorders among young females. “public ED disclosures by celebrities represent one factor influencing pro-ED search patterns online. Findings from research examining media coverage of suicide add support for this possibility. Specifically, pursuant to media coverage of several suicides, and within the geographic region of the stories, increases in Google search patterns for the suicide methods reported in the stories have been documented [7].

Should stories covering celebrity ED disclosures impact pro-ED search patterns, it may be necessary to provide resources promoting ED prevention and recovery within people’s search results, before potentially harmful content is accessed.” (Lewis, Klauninger, Marcincinova). To better analyze these claims, I hope to find statistics that discuss the potential for people to see these celebrity struggles and use that as a wakeup call to get help with their own struggles. 

 Finally, while it is unlikely to be specifically referenced through Kesha’s documentary, the topic of Kesha in and of itself should spark a conversation on drug abuse and self-abuse. As previously stated, there is so much information on this topic that it is difficult to find something specific to my research. So far, I have found an article “Why Sexual Coercion Scandals are Good News”. At first this title struck me as odd but in further analysis, this article goes into depth about reporting sexual assault and speaking out against men that abuse their positions of power as a major feminine influence, which ties back to my research about the influence celebrities can have on society. This topic would also be great to find comparative data on the reports of sexual assault allegations from present day pop culture to prior. 

Works Cited

“Feminism Growing Because of the Media.” HASTAC, www.hastac.org/blogs/ashleychou0112/2016/12/05/feminism-growing-because-media. 

 “Kesha.” Kesha - Howling Pixel, howlingpixel.com/i-en/Kesha. 

“Kesha.” Time, Time, time.com/collection/most-influential-people-2018/5217625/kesha/. 

Boone, Susan D, and Christine Lomore. “Admirer-Celebrity Relationships Among Young Adults Explaining Perceptions of Celebrity Influence on Identity.” Human Communication Research , July 2006, academic.oup.com/hcr/article/27/3/432/4554765.

Booth, Ken. Security and Self: Reflections of a Fallen Realist. Routledge, 1997. 

Daniels, Melissa, et al. Kesha: Rainbow - The Film. 2018. 

Donohew, Lewis, et al. Persuasive Communication and Drug Abuse Prevention. Routledge, 2011.

Ellis Cashmore, elliscashmore.astonwordpress.co.uk/tag/celebrity-culture/. 

Spellings, Sarah. “The New Kesha Still Loves the Old Ke$Ha.” The Cut, 4 Oct. 2017, www.thecut.com/2017/10/the-new-kesha-told-rolling-stone-she-loves-the-old-keusdha.html.

Staff, THR. “Adele, Lady Gaga, Anne Hathaway Join List of Celebrities Supporting Kesha.” The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 25 Feb. 2016, www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/adele-lady-gaga-anne-hathaway-869396.

Stephen P. Lewis, et al. “Pro-Eating Disorder Search Patterns: the Possible Influence of Celebrity Eating Disorder Stories in the Media.” Journal of Eating Disorders, BioMed Central, 3 Mar. 2016, jeatdisord.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40337-016-0094-2.