Overview

Biopics and other movies and television shows based on real events are increasingly appearing at the multiplex and on streaming platforms alongside blockbuster franchises and adaptations. The appeal of movies and television shows based on true stories is that they claim to tell us what really happened, with the public and private versions of events packaged into one coherent narrative. But how do they do it, and what makes this version of events so appealing? The Biopic and Beyond investigates the process that turns the distant public figures that populate news and entertainment into screen characters that we can engage with and try to understand a little better. Even though they aren’t the real thing, our engagement with fictionalized versions of public figures can, for better or worse, color the way we understand the real person behind them. Screen engagement with the fake person behind the real person doesn’t only happen in biopics and docudramas, with media as varied as sketch comedy, fan fiction and the celebrity cameo contributing to the ways we understand public figures. Using case studies such as Mark Zuckerberg and The Social Network, Sarah Palin and Saturday Night Live, and Louis C.K. and Louie, The Biopic and Beyond will make you think about the way you see the world through a fictionalized version of it.

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9781501393990

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This book makes a compelling case for the term docucharacter examining topics in the intersection of various forms of screen and celebrity cultures, from biopic to sketch comedy to fan culture. --Doris Berger, Vice President of Curatorial Affairs, Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Los Angeles, USA The Biopic and Beyond explores an engaging set of questions concerning the ways in which stars and celebrities appear on our screens. Examining the different relationships between characters who we know from the public arena and their representations - by themselves and others - in a variety of films, television shows and media texts from the United States, Piper poses a set of complex conceptual examples that interrogate these increasingly pervasive cultural encounters. --Lucy Bolton, Reader in Film Studies, Queen Mary University of London, UK

In The Biopic and Beyond: Celebrities as Characters in Screen Media, Piper takes on the core issue of authenticity in the depiction of docu-characters and packs a lot of provocative thought into a thin but valuable volume. * Journal of American Culture * This book makes a compelling case for the term docucharacter examining topics in the intersection of various forms of screen and celebrity cultures, from biopic to sketch comedy to fan culture. * Doris Berger, Vice President of Curatorial Affairs, Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Los Angeles, USA * The Biopic and Beyond explores an engaging set of questions concerning the ways in which stars and celebrities appear on our screens. Examining the different relationships between characters who we know from the public arena and their representations - by themselves and others - in a variety of films, television shows and media texts from the United States, Piper poses a set of complex conceptual examples that interrogate these increasingly pervasive cultural encounters. * Lucy Bolton, Reader in Film Studies, Queen Mary University of London, UK *

Author Information

Melanie Piper holds a PhD in Film and Television Studies from the University of Queensland, Australia, where she teaches in the School of Communication and Arts. She has published articles in journals including Celebrity Studies, Persona Studies, Transformative Works and Cultures, and M/C. Her dream is to one day write a biopic about feminist grunge icon Courtney Love and receive a subsequent cease-and-desist notice from her.

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