Abstract
This introductory chapter theorizes reluctance as a two-way affect: composed of both inclination and disinclination. The author surveys a brief cultural and etymological history of the term “reluctance,” which entered the English language as a way of describing several interconnected phenomena: a struggle against or resistance to; the act of recoiling from something; regret or sorrow; and its current usage: unwillingness or disinclination. Reluctance is distinguished from states it is often confused with: reclusiveness and modesty. Drawing upon recent theories of negative affect arising from feminist and queer cultural studies, the author argues that public performances of this contradictory affective state on the part of celebrities are enabled by the possession of privilege. The three reluctant celebrities examined in this book are, not coincidentally, all white, straight men.
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Notes
- 1.
I thank Pamela Ingleton , McMaster University, for this insight.
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York, L. (2018). Treasonous Drift: Celebrity Reluctance as Privilege. In: Reluctant Celebrity. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71174-4_1
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