Sorry I couldn’t be here: performative celebrity meltdown and para-stardom

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe star persona is a highly crafted and carefully managed identity. Stars often call attention to the impact of this construction on their own sense of being, acknowledging a difference between their public and private self. It is evident in Cary Grant’s oft-quoted quip ‘Everyone wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant’ or Marilyn Monroe’s admission ‘I never wanted to be Marilyn – it just happened’. Such comments indicate self-awareness about the nature of star and celebrity identity. But what can we make of those instances where these questions of identity, authenticity and the self are self-directed, played out in extended form and culminate in an apparent public ‘meltdown’? Considering the framing of the public behaviours of Hollywood actors Joaquin Phoenix in 2008–2009, Shia LaBeouf in 2013–2014 and Jim Carrey in 2017 as meltdown, this article explores explicit and public rejections of their established personas as they seek to navigate the contemporary star and celebrity landscape. These case studies invite us to reassess the meltdown in the contemporary period, to consider it not as an incident necessitating rehabilitation but as part of a process of reconfiguration – of the star and the self.