True bromance: the authenticity behind the Stewart/McKellen relationship

ABSTRACT

For public figures with high-profile roles, media interest in professional pursuits is a regular occurrence. When media attention turns from the public role to the private lives of public figures, suggests Graeme Turner, is the moment when a public figure becomes a celebrity. Specially, Richard Dyer suggests, interest in the private lives of celebrities is grounded in the notion that in the private resides the authentic person behind the ‘manufactured mask of fame’. The increasing popularity of social media, and celebrity figures’ use of such intimate platforms of performance, gives rise to a system of representation P. David Marshall terms ‘presentational culture’. A seemingly genuine persona is presented to the public, yet it is one that nonetheless attracts questions of authenticity, especially when that presentation coincides with promotional activities. This article examines the authenticity of the bromance between Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart through the lens of their social media presence. The article explores the narrative of friendship constructed by the actors, and evaluates how their history as friends and recent promotional activity for the film X-Men Days of Future Past and the plays Waiting for Godot and No Man’s Land influence the perceived authenticity of their bromance.

KEYWORDS:

• Bromance
• authenticity
• celebrity culture
• social media

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jackie Raphael

Dr Jackie Raphael is a lecturer in Creative Advertising and Graphic Design at Curtin University in Western Australia. She is also a Centre for Media and Celebrity Studies (CMCS) Advisory Board Member, producer of Celebrity Chat, and a WaterHill Publishing editorial board member. Her main fields of research are celebrity culture, iconic status, endorsements, brand identity, fandom, bromances, and social media.

Celia Lam

Dr Celia Lam is a lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies at the School of International Communications, University of Nottingham, Ningbo. Her research interests include the impact of digital media on media production and consumption, audience reception and fan studies, and digital aesthetics. She is an Advisory Board Member for the Centre for Media and Celebrity Studies, an editorial board member at WaterHill Publishing, and a former recipient of an Australian Government Endeavour Fellowship.