Prime Time 7, Coursebook plus Semester Self-checks

due to the ridiculous things they do. Warhol hinted that these people just retain fame until the trend has faded. Celebrities have recently started to use social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and MySpace. Such services allow them to communicate directly with their fans without having to rely on traditional media acting as middle-persons. In the eyes of their fans, social media humanises celebrities in a way and thus arouses public fascination and public interest. 55 60 0 A B-grade or C-grade celebrity is someone who is famous only … . for a short while ✔ 1 Gossip columnists and paparazzi are employed by gossip magazines to … . 2 Due to their standing in society, people … celebrities. 3 Celebrities often earn extra money by … . 4 In former times, celebrities had to have a certain talent. Today they just have to … . 5 “15 minutes of fame” describes the phenomenon that some celebrities are only famous for a … . 6 Celebrities can … by using social networking sites. b) What do you think about Bob Greene’s theory? c) What makes a celebrity according to your view? Your turn: All about a celebrity a) Choose a celebrity you are interested in. b) Do some research on the person your have chosen and cover the following points: • their field of work • their major achievements • their breakthrough (moment they became famous) • one example for a news report that presents them in a positive/negative way • classification on the Ulmer Scale, according to your view • reasons why you regard this person as a celebrity c) Make a poster presenting your findings and put it up in class. Fact file Celebrity hierarchy: The Ulmer Scale Englishspeaking journalists sometimes refer to celebrities as Alist, Blist or Clist. These informal rankings indicate a placing within the hierarchy. The list was created by entertainment journalist James Ulmer, who developed a 100point method to quantify a star’s value to a film production. • • An “Alist celebrity” refers to any person with an admired or desirable social status. • • Less popular people and current teen idols are referred to as “Blist”. • • The lowest ranking on the Ulmer Scale is the “Clist”. An article in Entertainment Weekly describes a Clist celebrity as “the easytoremember but hardtoname character actor”. • • Though the term “Dlist” does not exist on the Ulmer scale officially, it is often used to describe people whose celebrity factor is so obscure that they are generally only known for appearances in reality shows. F 3  97 Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv