Cause Celebre

The practice of policy debate involves the deployment of arguments through specific authors: arguments construct themselves along the lines of entire policy positions and thesis, making names and concepts both linked and routine. Names invoke entire arguments in a constellation of academic concepts (Foucault, Zizek, Khalilzhad) transforming the author into a cult/celebrity figure among debaters. The ‘idea’ and consensus understanding of an author’s argument within the empty signifier of their name/person become important to the same degree as substance. The celebrity reinforces with the deployment of argument within apocalyptic and macro-political terms- the name and person link to the larger-then-my-life terms in which debate occurs. In my experience, this effaces the reality of the institutional and personal position of the author, making understanding of the political context of writing difficult to understand.

Similarly, celebrity in a movie star sense appears through the repetition of photography and filmmaking, where the context of the red carpet or dramatized fiction changes the image of a person into an empty signifier onto which exceptional-ness becomes projected. A photograph suggests something about a person, and repeated photographs hint at a person’s nature. Photographs freeze time around a particular moment- repeatedly capturing someone in the moments of glamour or idol worship freezes our understanding of someone in those terms. We don’t see the typically human moments, the routine or mundane features of existence that commonly ground us. Something about the lens of a camera positions someone as an object in need of attention, both for the viewer and subject, and so by its nature, constructs celebrity.