Jim Carrey does not exist. A celebrity quasi-autoethnography for the end of the world

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/2299-7458.13.12

Keywords:

celebrities, Jim Carrey, autoethnography, auto-fiction, autobiography

Abstract

Jim Carrey is a literal illustration of the fulfillment of the American Dream: his story begins with economic disadvantage and a large family as well as the Canadian stand-up scene, and ends with becoming a multimillionaire Hollywood celebrity. Best known for his blockbusters of the 1990s, including comedies rather than dramas, Carrey has for decades been created and perceived as the financial and pop culture embodiment of celebrity. Approaching sixty, he is releasing a quasi-autobiography, which genre-wise, author-wise and meaning-wise separates him from classic celebrity biographies and creates a completely unique cultural guerrilla based on years of deconstructing his own image. Memoirs and Misinformation forms a palimpsest of themes and gestures of self-discovery and self-destruction; disenchanting simulacrums of a celebrity persona and environment, wealth, popularity, corporeality and loneliness. Finally, they create webs of connections between fiction and reality, the biblical Apocalypse and the one caused by UFOs: all to prove that Jim Carrey does not exist.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Klaudia Węgrzyn, Uniwersytet Śląski w Katowicach

Klaudia Węgrzyn – główne nurty zainteresowań: autobiografizm, cielesność, trauma, neuroróżnorodność, queer, miasto. Najważniejsze publikacje: Pamięć (za)chowana w ciele. Prześnione powroty w „Pogrzebie kartofla”, “The Polish Journal of the Arts and Culture. New Series” 2021, nr 14(2); Archeologia antyfotografii. Wywoływanie zdjęć i widm z Sanoka w pracach Jerzego Lewczyńskiego oraz Zdzisława Beksińskiego, [w:] Pamięć, obraz, projekcja, red. A. Ścibior, 2020; Inna strona. Wizualność i wizualizacja obcości w filmach Jana Jakuba Kolskiego, [w:] Inność? Obcość? Norma?, red. K. Zakrzewska, Warszawa 2018.

References

Barron L., Celebrity Cultures. An Introduction, New York 2014. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781473910492
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781473910492

Brockington D., Celebrity and the Environment: Fame, Wealth and Power in Conservation, New York–London 2009. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350218932
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350218932

Carrey J., Vachon D., Memoirs and Misinformation: A novel, New York 2020.
Google Scholar

Carrey J., Vachon D., Wspomnienia i dezinformacja, przeł. A. Krochmal, R. Kędzierski, Kraków 2023.
Google Scholar

Clarke R., Celebrity Colonialism: Fame, Power and Representation in Colonial and Postcolonial Cultures, Cambridge 2013.
Google Scholar

Demystifying Business Celebrity, red. E. Guthey, T. Clark, B. Jackson, New York–London 2009.
Google Scholar

Ebert J. D., Dead Celebrities, Living Icons: Tragedy and Fame in the Age of the Multimedia Superstar, Kalifornia 2010. https://doi.org/10.5040/9798400638046
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.5040/9798400638046

Hellich A., Gry z autobiografią: przemilczenia, intelektualizacje, parodie, Warszawa 2018.
Google Scholar

Hutcheon L., Narcissistic Narrative: The Metafictional Paradox, Canada 2016.
Google Scholar

Jackson S.J., Black Celebrity, Racial Politics, and the Press: Framing Dissent, New York–London 2014. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315887043
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315887043

Kapoor I., Celebrity Humanitarianism: The Ideology of Global Charity, New York–London 2012. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203082270
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203082270

Kępa E., Autoetnografia – metoda dla odważnych?, [w:] Autobiografizm w kulturze współczesnej, red. K. Citko, M. Morozewicz, Białystok 2012.
Google Scholar

Lawrence C., The Cult of Celebrity: What Our Fascination with the Stars Reveals About Us, Connecticut 2009.
Google Scholar

Maréchal G., Autoethnography [w:] Encyclopedia of case study research, red. A.J. Mills, G. Durepos, E. Wiebe, Kalifornia 2010.
Google Scholar

The Mirror Effect: How Celebrity Narcissism Is Seducing America, red. D. Pinsky, M. Young, J. Stern, New York–London 2009.
Google Scholar

Tomczok M., „Mój przyjaciel z Haify powiedział, że gdy śni, nie śni o wrogu, lecz o sobie samym”: studia nad konfliktem palestyńsko-izraelskim jako wyzwanie dla studiów nad Zagładą, „Narracje o Zagładzie” 2018, nr 4, s. 67–80. https://doi.org/10.31261/noz.7879
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.31261/noz.7879

Turczyn A., Autofikcja, czyli autobiografia psychopolifoniczna, „Teksty Drugie” 2007, nr 1–2, s. 204–211.
Google Scholar

Ward P. D., Hipoteza Medei. Czy życie na Ziemi zmierza do samounicestwienia?, tłum. M. Betley, Warszawa 2010.
Google Scholar

Węgrzyn K., (Auto)portret w pękniętym zwierciadle. Czuła narracja, trauma i podmiotowość w czarnej komedii „Kidding”, [w:] Artyst(k)a: czuły narrator. Wcielenia oraz interpretacje czwartoosobowej perspektywy w tekstach kultury, red. S. Papier, Kraków 2021.
Google Scholar

Published

2024-12-31

How to Cite

Węgrzyn, K. (2024). Jim Carrey does not exist. A celebrity quasi-autoethnography for the end of the world. Czytanie Literatury. Łódzkie Studia Literaturoznawcze, (13), 213–226. https://doi.org/10.18778/2299-7458.13.12

Similar Articles

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.