A post-celebrity Britain?

Posted on April 14, 2007
Filed Under Engagements, The Man Himself |

Today the Guardian treated us to a 2 minute podcast on Gordon Brown informing us that Britain is moving away from its celebrity obsessed culture to more concern for “what lies behind the character or the personality.”  According to Gordon people care about more than just fame and money.

To prove that he doesn’t care about being a celebrity, shortly after the interview, Gordon got himself on a plane to Washington and met up with George Bush.  Everyone knows that meeting up with an unpopular US President is not going to improve your celebrity status.

But such meetings are as much about what Weber called self-legitimation, as convincing anyone at home that he’s going to be the next PM.  Meeting up with the most powerful man in the world does wonders to impress upon yourself how important you are, even if your coronation plans are looking uncertain.

Self-legitimation must also partly be the reason he’s been spending so much time with celebrities, such as Kylie, recently.

Comments

One Response to “A post-celebrity Britain?”

  1. Richard Havers on April 15th, 2007 9:43 am

    I posted similar to this on Iain Dale just a minute ago….I hope you don’t mind the repartition.

    Broon said at the start of his interview on BBC TV. “It was a private meeting, based on an expected event that he happened to be available.”

    1. Broon’s people would have been lobbying hard for this to happen
    2. GB kept saying it was informal and unexpected. GB was in the US on business, I assume Bush wasn’t having a day off, so how can it be informal and private. We’re paying Broon to be there.

    Perhaps of most important was Broon’s somewhat sarcastic comment about Dubya and Blair. ‘Great admiration for what they are trying to do.” The use of ‘they’ is key here. Methinks Broon will be doing something different. If he gets the chance that is and the other stories held in the chiller aren’t brought out to further tarnish the Chancellor’s reputation.

    The fact is that Broon is just as celebrity obsessed as Blair, it’s just that Gordo would bore most celebrities rigid. I imagine that Blair’s at least good company - it’s all a matter of whether or not he has his wife in tow.

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