Performing Identity

Barry King is Professor of Communications at Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand. He is the author (with Sean Cubitt, Harriet Margolies and Thierry Jutel) of Studying the Event Film: The Lord of the Rings (Manchester University Press, 2008) and Taking Fame to market: Essays on the prehistory and post-history of Hollywood stardom ( Palgrave, 2014). He is on the editorial board of Celebrity Studies and Palgrave Communications and is a project reviewer for the Australian Research Council. King has published a substantial number of articles that explore the relationships been popular culture, celebrity and stardom and digital media. His other publications focus on creative labour, semiotic determinism, the sociology of acting and performance and the New Zealand Cultural industries.

• 1. Introduction.- 2. The Social Body and Its Transformations.- 3. The Romance of Talent.- 4. Character as a Zombie Concept.- 5. Acting and Technology.- 6. The Search for Work.- 7. The Vicissitudes of Persona.- 8. The Star as a Digital Beneficiary. 9. Conclusion: The Condition of Para-Stardom.