Since I can't post it yet...

[EDIT: There's been some confusion about the proposal I posted. It's by Cynthia Fuchs, who proposed but didn't present "Selling Lindsay Lohan" at last year's conference.]

I'll just say that my EMP proposal did not look like this:

""All Over the Floor": Selling Lindsay Lohan"
I carry the weight of the world on my shoulders family in crisis that only grows older.
--Lindsay Lohan, "Confessions of a Broken Heart (Daughter To Father)"

I was sick. Everyone was scared. And I was scared too.
--Lindsay Lohan, Vanity Fair (January 2006)

Paparazzi showdowns, car crashes, drugs and eating disorder rumors, abusive dad stories, performances with animatronic cars, pole dances with Kate Moss. It seems the only shameful pop star event of the past year not involving 19-year-old Lindsay Lohan was the SNL hoedown. The erstwhile adorable star has made it her career business of late to expose every bit of personal scandal and upset (including refutations of said exposure, as in the January 2006 Vanity Fair v. Teen People stories on her bulimia). This paper considers the Lohan meltdown as constructed in her music and especially, her music videos (say, "Rumors" and "Confessions of a Broken Heart") and television appearances. The paper considers the deployment of "shame" as an oddly commercial marketing strategy, remaking chaos and abuse into a story of vulnerability, victimization, and -- perhaps eventually -- some measure of triumph. The story, of course, is not new: celebrity is often narrated as ambition-defeat-redemption. However, the Lohan version is premised on the "problem" of her family life and acting out.

And so, no matter the "quality" of her performances or songs, she compels attention and repulsion through the sped-up ritual of shame. As the seeming personal is here made excruciatingly public, Lohan is not even a guilty pleasure. She is, instead, an extreme case study in contemporary marketing strategies.

Lots of questions here, but it's way too late and I actually had even more important things to do this week, too (which isn't to downplay EMP's importance, I just mean it's been quite a week...capped off with possibly vicariously interviewing a DISNEY POP SENSATION, except this person's album is on Warner for some reason!).