The role of the British popular press in re-imagining American television celebrities for the British audience: the 1950s to the 1960s

Abstract

In this article I will explore how American celebrities were represented by the British popular press in the 1950s and 1960s when American television programmes first appeared and became popular on British screens. Through an analysis of a small selection of news stories I will explore how the representations and images of American celebrities differed from the coverage of British celebrities, what values were at work in such pieces and in what ways the British press could be thought of as reshaping their representations for the British context. Through such work I will argue that global stars and celebrities are re-imagined dynamically for each national context through an interaction of transnational and national discourses; one entailing a discursive struggle between maintaining a known global image and seeking to re-shape the celebrity persona for particular national context.