Entertainment shows, magazines, websites, and other channels continuously report the latest sightings, heartbreaks, and triumphs of the famous to a seemingly insatiable public. Millions of people go to enormous lengths to achieve Fame. Fame is woven into our lives in ways that may have been unimaginable in years past.
And yet, is Fame even real? Contrary to tangible realities, Fame is one of those "realities" that we, as a society, have made. Why? What is it about Fame that drives us to spend so much time, money, and focus to create the framework that maintains its health?
Mining decades of experience, writer, director, producer, and actress Justine Bateman writes a visceral, intimate look at the experience of Fame. Combining the internal reality-shift of the famous, theories on the public's behavior at each stage of a famous person's career, and the experiences of other famous performers, Bateman takes the reader inside and outside the emotions of Fame. The book includes twenty-four color photographs to highlight her analysis.
About the Author
Born in Rye, New York, Justine Bateman has an impressive résumé that includes Family Ties, Satisfaction, Arrested Development, and many more. As an actress, she has been nominated for a Golden Globe and two Emmy awards. An advocate for net neutrality, Bateman holds a degree from UCLA in computer science and digital media management. Her film producing credits include Easy to Assemble with Illeana Douglas and Jared Drake’s Z. Bateman wrote her directorial film short debut, Five Minutes, which premiered at the 2017 Toronto Film Festival, and her follow-up film short is the drama Push.
She is currently in preproduction for her directorial feature film debut of her own script, Violet. Her writing has been published by DAME, Salon , and McSweeney’s.
Industry Reviews
"I thought my ideas about fame were intractable until Justine Bateman took them apart with her relentlessly truthful and engrossing investigation. She mines the subject with bracing honesty, and by including herself in the whole experiment she makes it hard for the reader to avoid examining their own ego, their own social agenda. Justine's voice is fresh: she throws down with a free-associating slam that you won't expect but can identify with, and the searching and sometimes profane rant that accompanies each idea is one you can't help but trust. She distills it all into the questions: Why do we value this person over that one? And why do we ultimately resent the ones we overvalue? An honest and eminently quotable rumination by a qualified and intellectually formidable source."
--Mary-Louise Parker, actress, author of Dear Mr. You
"A smart, unflinching, touching, riveting, one-of-a-kind hybrid of memoir and cultural analysis. Fame in its contemporary form is strange and powerful and deeply American; so is Fame."
--Kurt Andersen, author of Fantasyland
"A raw look into stardom and how notoriety got to now with a style that would make Bukowski proud. Justine gives us a vivid, sharp and forceful read."
--Jerry O'Connell, actor
"Justine Bateman's new book Fame grabs you by the lapels. A raw, raging blast of honesty aimed squarely at what 'being famous' is, does, and means; the absurd gravity of it, and the myriad public, personal, and private distortions it precipitates. This is a bracing read."
--Jon Cryer, actor and author of So That Happened
"Bateman mixes personal stories of the hazards of experiencing fame at an early age with a sociologist's eye for what makes Americans so fascinated with celebrity, and delivers it all in a rat-a-tat style that makes you feel like you are right there with her on the red carpet."
--Rachel Dratch, author of Girl Walks into a Bar
"I met Justine Bateman in 1988, when she was one of the most famous women in the world. For over three decades we have walked through this life together. Fame is a socio-pop culture frontline must-read, told by one of the funniest, most powerful and elevated women I have ever met in my life."
--Kelly Cutrone, fashion publicist, author of If You Have to Cry, Go Outside
