Rhetorical visions of health: a fantasy-theme analysis of celebrity articles

Abstract This research focuses on prevalent celebrity health stories in top-circulating American magazines, using fantasy-theme analysis to evaluate messages about health behaviour and attitudes. Specifically, this analysis compares health stories about celebrities who have cancer, a health problem that is largely out of personal control, with those about celebrities with health problems perceived as being caused by overindulgence (addiction and obesity). By examining the fantasy themes at play in celebrity health accounts and identifying which aspects of reality are made salient, we theorise about what the messages accomplish in terms of creating two rhetorical visions within the framework of symbolic convergence theory. The fantasy themes we analyse reveal messages about morality, privilege, and authority. The paper looks at how health messages from and about celebrities could serve to establish moral communities that sanction or penalise certain health behaviours through their normative influence on audiences. Ultimately, both rhetorical visions explored in this research communicate that health is within personal control. Keywords: symbolic convergence theoryfantasy-theme analysishealth journalismcelebrity