The name of the article that I chose was “Building Characters: The Work of Celebrity Impersonators”. I was drawn to the title, so I decided to read it over. After reading just the first page I was interested. I decided this would be my journal of choice.
In this article Ferris goes into great detail to explain the process of the transformation from self to character. The first part of the study gives information on actors and how they go through a lot to become their character. They of course have to show a piece of themselves while still playing the role of the character. That is already a difficult task to take on for an actor, but just think about what an actual impersonator has to do.
Ferris goes from regular actors and actresses and their work to the work of the impersonators portraying the actors and actresses. Their work is harder than the actors because they are doing someone else’s work. Of course it would be much harder for an impersonator to duplicate a performance of a character than the actor themselves.
In a way she is putting out there that being an impersonator is much harder than it looks. People have high expectations of an impersonator. Usually an impersonator will perform in front of a live audience. This means there is not time for errors. A lot of pressure is put on them because the audience expects the impersonator to be as close to the real celebrity as possible.
The article was made for the general audience. Anyone who is actually willing and interested in learning more about the work of celebrity impersonators should definitely read this journal article. It provided very informative and insightful things about the job of an impersonator. I think that the details that Ferris provided were very in depth and helpful in getting an understanding of the job of an impersonator. The job was described very well.
By looking at the title of the article I can already tell that a lot of things are going to be covered within the article. The key word is “building”. To build something you have to start with stages. I knew that it would give the whole break down process before even reading the article.
The article itself was put in a way where I can understand it. I really don’t like reading any article where there are huge words that I have to look to a dictionary for. There were some words that were big, but I knew what they meant. If an author wants the article to relate to everyone, or appeal to a general audience then the author would have to make it in an everyday language. This article was made for everyone to be able to read. The article was comprehendible and I did enjoy reading it. I think that if I didn’t have to read it for this class I would still read it because it seemed very catchy from the title of the article.
Throughout the article I grabbed the main point. I seen that there was only one point that the article based its focus on. The main point that Ferris wanted to get across to everyone was that being an impersonator should be looked at as an occupation. By doing conducting great studies (with the fifteen open ended interviews she conducted) her research went really well. I think that she definitely made her point clear.
Ferris definitely has me on her side with the article. I now believe that being an impersonator is an actual job. The whole break down of the process is really what won me over. I never knew it could be so hard to be someone else. I always thought of impersonation as just a simple mimic, but that’s not even the case. An impersonator is looked upon as a “tribute” to the celebrity that they are impersonating. I think that is a good way to put it. They aren’t making fun of the celebrity after all, but honoring them in a way by actually becoming them.
Many may not, but I believe that this is an important article. It informs everyone that you don’t have to be like everyone else and work a nine- to- five job. With all of the explanation and data that she collected she proved her point that it should be looked at as an occupation and I couldn’t agree more. They get paid just like everyone else. It seems as if being an impersonator is an underrated job. I actually think they should probably make more than what they are making because they have to work twice as hard to prove themselves.
References
Ferris, K. (2011). Building characters: the work of celebrity impersonators. Journal of Popular Culture. 44(6),1191-1208. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-5931.2011.00895.x
I too think that being an impersonator would be hard. The actor or actress has to really let "themselves" go and really become the person they are portraying. I can imagine some impersonators facing great difficulty because they may be portraying someone that has to be very emotional. I am sure that is definitely not easy. I enjoyed reading your blog post, and I agree that it is important because of what it informs the audience of. This would be a great article for someone looking to become an impersonator. Great post Dashayla!
ReplyDeleteI agree that being an impersonater would be really difficult. Not only do they have to sound like the person, they also have to act and move like that person as well. That would require a lot of studying on the part of the impersonater. Then they have to do that performance in front of a live audience. If nobody understands it or likes it, that person would definitly by in a lot of trouble.
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