The face of famous families: The evolution of adoption through celebrity media coverage.

摘要

Adoption as a social act has evolved historically to reflect the cultural cues within the society in occurs in. In the past both formal and informal observations of adoption around the world have revealed a greater tolerance of the act within liberal, progressive cultures rather than traditional, underdeveloped economies. This has been supported by the increased popularity of Western interest in adoption, particularly international adoptions, through the vast amount of media coverage that celebrity adoptions have received in the last decade. This paper seeks to investigate the relationship between media coverage of celebrity adoptions and the historical and sociological context that surrounds them. Through a qualitative media analysis of over 200 articles from the world's leading celebrity news magazine, People, this paper suggests that there is an influential relationship between emergent media frames and American cultural nuances which have allowed for a shift in the perception of adoption as a social act.