Scarlett Johansson Falling Down: Memes, Photography and Celebrity Personas

Daniel Palmer and Kate Warren’s chapter explores the place of celebrity in online visual culture. It hones in on a single image of Johansson falling over while filming a scene in Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer, 2013). As Palmer and Warren highlight, this image provides significant insight into celebrity culture in the era of digital malleability and social media shareability as it was promptly transformed into the viral meme “Scarlett Johansson falling down” and shared widely online. Through analysis of this meme and its rapid proliferation, Palmer and Warren explore the relation between contemporary celebrity culture and online photosharing practices. They highlight the central role of photography and online image-based sharing in producing and critiquing celebrity personas.