Why do we care about Michael Jackson's nose job? The Stuff of Fluff: A Critical Analysis of Celebrity News argues that celebrity stories and the entertainment section of a newspaper have a profound impact on political economic structures as well as cultural myths and personal identities. This thesis unpacks the nature of celebrity text and the various levels on which readers engage with it by drawing on two distinct but intertwining theoretical frameworks within critical theory. On one hand, celebrity discourse secures hegemonic control and brings readers into compliance with a consumer society. On the other had, it allows for the negotiation of norms and values within society; it is a site where meaning is made and identity is contested. Using both theoretical approaches, this study examines the historical development of the public personality in newspapers. As well, it deconstructs current examples of celebrity text, illustrating the political and cultural significance of that which is often deemed 'fluff.'