‘It’s so wrong yet so funny’: celebrity violence, values and the Janus-faced cultural public sphere online

Abstract

The aim of this study is to explore the values that characterise participation in the cultural public sphere of local (Finnish) and (potentially) more global or multinational (English-language) celebrity-gossip sites. By utilising the analysis of evaluative language, the values expressed in 900 English-language and 900 Finnish comments from different websites (such as Just Jared, YouTube, Oh No They Didn’t and online newspaper sites) were explored. The results indicate that the cultural public sphere of both global and local celebrity-gossip sites has three basic functions, which I will characterise here as morality (purpose), competition of power (game) and entertainment (play).First, and especially if celebrities undergo serious miseries such as domestic violence, the cultural public sphere involves negotiation of and reflection on the normative meanings of being a citizen. Such moral seriousness is particularly prominent on Finnish sites of celebrity gossip, which may indicate that when celebrity gossip is limited to one culture and nation, the public-spirited focus seems stronger than in potentially global gossip discussions. Second, and perhaps most prominently, the cultural public sphere is a terrain of contest characterised by mockery, pity and hostility towards celebrities, particularly women. Third, the cultural public sphere focuses on shared entertainment, and especially voyeuristic pleasures. Moreover, comments posted to both Finnish and English-language online environments of celebrity gossip are characterised by the overlap of game with both purpose and play. Serious moral purpose stressing obedience to communal rules and playful mockery as a humorous self-expression have a common goal in contributing to self-interested, and often sexist, discourses of power.