Z-list
Z-list – sostantivo
Z-lister – sostantivo
My kids think I’m some kind of celebrity because they see me on TV. I tell them I’m on the Z-list.
Some people are prepared to do almost anything in order to become a Z-list celebrity.
No-one wants to see a bunch of Z-listers alternately flirting and slagging each other off.
C’erano una volta i divi: carismatici e distanti, sedevano nell’Olimpo del cinema, dello spettacolo e della musica… poi arrivarono gli anni ’60 e anche la fama divenne democratica. Oggi, l’era dei reality ha prodotto un nuovo tipo di celebrità legata all’esposizione mediatica dei protagonisti e non necessariamente al loro talento, confermando il principio dei quindici minuti di celebrità teorizzato da Andy Warhol.
Personaggi simili sono a volte definiti, con un pizzico di malignità, Z-listers, celebrità di serie Z, perché appartengono alla lista immaginaria detta Z-list. Se dunque gli A-listers sono star di prima grandezza e i B-listers stelle che brillano un po’ meno, i C- e i D-listers fanno fatica a emergere nel firmamento e i poveri Z-listers sono ai confini della galassia. Per i media affamati di ascolti e vendite, però, gli Z-listers sono una manna perché sono una fonte inesauribile (e a buon mercato) di gossip. Fino alla prossima infornata di aspiranti al titolo.
Origini del termine
L’espressione A-list nasce negli anni 1980 per definire le autentiche celebrità del mondo dello spettacolo sulla base di una lista ideale di personaggi imprescindibili perché un evento si possa definire importante. L’analogo D-list è stato diffuso dall’attrice comica americana Kathy Griffin a metà anni 2000 mentre Z-list è di creazione più recente.
Traduzione di Loredana Riu
Z-list –noun
Z-lister – noun
My kids think I’m some kind of celebrity because they see me on TV. I tell them I’m on the Z-list.
Some people are prepared to do almost anything in order to become a Z-list celebrity.
No-one wants to see a bunch of Z-listers alternately flirting and slagging each other off.
In the beginning there were the stars: the remote and glamorous gods and goddesses of screen, stage and recording studio. Then came the 60s and fame was democratised. Now in the age of reality TV we have witnessed the emergence of a new kind of celebrity, the kind predicted by Warhol: the person who is famous not as a result of any achievement or talent, but simply because they have become known to the public by being on TV.
These people are known, somewhat unkindly, as Z-listers because they feature on a wholly imaginary list called the Z-list. If A-listers are the genuine stars and B-listers are those who shine a little less brightly, then C- and D-listers are on the fringes of celebrity. Z-listers meanwhile are the ordinary folk who have done nothing more than appear on a reality TV show. Z-listers are invaluable to the media because they can be relied upon to provide a never-ending stream of photo opportunities and stories which will gain them a degree of celebrity until the next fame-hungry nonentity comes along to fill the slot.
Origin
The term A-list started to be used in the 1980s to refer to people in show business who were genuine celebrities, on the basis that if you had a list of people who would add glamour to any event they would be on it. D-list was popularised by US comedian Kathy Griffin in the mid 2000s while Z-list came along a few years later.
