Why put on the trench coats and have the glamour shot? I think John Cowan nailed it: attentivores.
Culture satirizes any source that takes itself more seriously than it is essential or more novel than a new version of an old model. 1.6 million people willing to give you access to their raster attention budget is as trivial or non-trivial as what that 1.6 million will do given a message from the twitter account. Marketing speak particular; it's non-trivial. It is power.
Societal importance?
What will smurfs do for a smile from the smurfette? Sometimes, quite a lot.
UPDATE: Amber comments on the Lolita Effect. In the sense that this incident is about 30 somethings, it doesn't quite apply. In the sense that the objectification of women has been brought up, it does. Do read this:
http://www.alternet.org/story/85977/
3 comments:
And what is Smurfette asking the smurfs to do? Usually nothing more than admire her or tend to her wants. Of course, if she asks for more (becomes serious, rather than trivial), she runs the risk of losing their attention (the smurfs don't really want to do anything harder than look at the pretty flower and occasionally bring it some water or candy). FUBAR. Completely and utterly FUBAR.
That's what celebrity is, Amber. That's why 'attentivore'. These gals have gigs that not only use Twitter as a tool, they require the attention and that is what is partly wrong. IOW, if you're Felicia Day (I don't know the other gals in that shot), you are an entertainer. A gig and attention are soul mates.
If by the FUBAR part, you mean the Lolita effect where both subjects and magazine are perpetuating a bad meme for women, take that up with the subjects on their own blogs. It's an uphill battle though. Those gals take all of this way more seriously than I do.
By FUBAR I mean that they expect to be taken seriously for, at most, being entertaining. Entertainers, even writers, need their audience...there's nothing wrong with that. But what I'm taking away from all the hubbub is something along the lines of Stephen King kicking up a fuss about not being considered as a Nobel Literature Laureate (although given the recent results of the Peace Prize, this may no longer be such a stretch).
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