Popular Culture Review 30.2
force the economic model through the power of the purse strings . Morin theorizes that the simulated chimeras endlessly promulgated by celebrities are linked to “ a system which is contingent upon the domination of human and natural life ” ( Hardwick 372 ). According to Morin , traditional mores that have undergirded human civilizations for centuries are “ under threat from the largely visible star culture ” that has permeated all facets of the human condition at the dawning of a new millennium ( Czach 145 ).
Demonstrating that the never-ending reproduction of commercial signs transmitted by actors and actresses has replaced production itself as the most salient feature of the capitalist paradigm in the postmodern world , Morin affirms ,
The star system is first of all production [ ... ] Let us add that the star is not only a subject but an object of advertising . She sponsors perfumes , soaps , cigarettes , and so on , and thereby multiplies her commercial utility [ ... ] she is the typical merchandise of capitalism on a major scale . The enormous investments , the system ’ s industrial techniques or rationalization and standardization , effectively convert the star into merchandise destined for mass consumption [ ... ] she is capital merchandise . ( 113 – 115 )
In a different economic climate in which having a stronghold over the means of production is less vital than controlling the dissemination of information , the nexus of power now
eties condition the masses to buy products with very limited use value , see Steigerwald , David . “ All Hail the Republic of Choice : Consumer History as Contemporary Thought .” The Journal of American History ( September 2006 ): 385 – 403 .
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