Meaning, Celebrity, and the Underage Pregnancy of Jamie Lynn Spears

Abstract

This article argues that the focus of previous literature on the economic and psychological aspects of the celebrity system unduly restricts our understanding of the social phenomenon of celebrity. Celebrities are commodities to be sure, but previous scholars have largely failed to explore the ways in which celebrities are also symbols. Celebrities are a locus of meaning-making in the contemporary USA. Using the case of Jamie Lynn Spears’s 2007—8 pregnancy, I demonstrate that, as a celebrity icon, her underage pregnancy raises questions and concerns about more than a single celebrity’s experience as a soon-to-be teenage mother. Her pregnancy imports a larger public discussion and debate about teen sex and how to avoid teen pregnancy. Through this study, I show that celebrities are symbols by which we narrate, negotiate, and interpret our collective experience, and establish moral boundaries.

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