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Schweitzer's work suggests that our present-day fascination with celebrities has to do with the twentieth-century relationship with the self. For turn-of-the-century audiences, many of whom were coming to cities (and to the middle class) for the first time, fashion served as a unique leveller, offering a way of transcending the boundaries of class and race. "An actress's ability to maintain a fashionable façade, to mold and shape her body into an appealing form, reassured female audiences that they too might become beautiful or stylish if they worked hard enough and acquired the appropriate goods," she writes.

That might explain why some celebrities are more beloved than others. At York University, Schweitzer teaches a class in theatre history called Highbrow/Lowbrow, and a recent discussion focused on Britney Spears. Although Spears has been through some tough times, "she's also incredibly appealing," says Schweitzer, "because we can see that she's human, in a way that maybe we're less able to see in somebody like Gwyneth Paltrow." In other words, we're always aware Spears is a creation: "With the right hair, makeup, airbrushing, she looks amazing, and yet we see how quickly she falls apart. And that maybe makes her much more human and more identifiable."