Rebecca's Rambles…

Unfortunately this is not about student fees changing in universities in the UK and the spending cut. However, it is about South Carolina University (in America), introducing a new course, studying Lady Gaga, oh, and the sociology of fame in 2011!

Professor Mathieu Deflem has created a course to study the phenomenon of the star, Lady Gaga. The course was originally only going to use the star as an example but Deflem decided her fame (10 million followers on Facebook and six million on Twitter) made her worthy of an entire course focusing on her rise to form, “the social event”.
In my opinion the course sounds diverse with the different units: business and marketing strategies, fans and live concerts, homosexual culture, the role of old and new media, religious and political themes, sex and sexuality, and the cities of New York and Hollywood. The units will be able to give students a broad insight into the word of “fame” and the strategies behind a “star”.

However, as interesting as the course may sound, an article from the BBC reports how Deflem owns hundreds of copies of Gaga’s albums, and has met the star on five different occasions. Playing the devil’s advocate, this course could be seen as a fans opportunity to imprint their love (or obsession), of Lady Gaga into impressionable young students.

I’m sure, when Lady Gaga sung “Fame, doin’ it for the fame” she didn’t mean the fame of “Lady Gaga and the Sociology of the Fame”. Although, I think Deflem may have ‘heard’ otherwise…