Cameo
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| See also: | Self insert, Fourth Wall (glossary term), Easter Egg, Mary Sue
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A cameo has several meanings.
One is a "cameo appearance" where a famous person makes a surprising appearance in a media work, usually a film or TV series. These are usually by people such media anchors, musicians, sport stars or other huge celebrities who "play themselves" or want to be part of media they enjoy. It can also be a sort of fan service.
Another more recent use is the name of a for-profit company called "Cameo" in which fans pay money to celebrities, and then send them basic information which is then used to send personalized video messages whomever the fan chooses, sometimes the fan themselves.
Cameo: Celebrity Appearance in Films and Television
TPTB like Alfred Hitchcock, Quentin Tarantino or Stephen King have been known to have cameo appearances in almost all of their movies (or adaptations, in King's case). Two other examples of this are Chris Carter as a man holding an urn in a hallway behind Scully in IWTB and Stan Lee in the MCU.
Some examples of actors are:
- Donald Trump gets asked by Kevin MacAlister (Macaulay Culkin) for directions in the movie Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
- Sarah Michelle Geller has a mute cameo in the movie She’s All That in a cafeteria
- Melissa Joan Hart can be seen in the Britney Spears music video for (You Drive Me) Crazy
- Edwin Jarvis has a cameo in the Avengers Movieverse
Cameo: Fan Appearances in Fanworks
See Tuckerization.
Cameo: Personal Celebrity Videos
Another use of cameo is that of the for-profit enterprise launched in March 2017. Its function is for fans to pay a celebrity, influencer, puppet, or politician to make a short personal video.
The website itself has a front page where fans can "shop" for their favorite categories and celebrities.
The prices start at $25 (US) and can go into the hundreds. Presumably, it is for a way for these videos to make money, as well as connect with their fan base.
From a January 2024 article in the "New York Times," which described one as a "clown-for-hire":
...a Cameo is rarely interesting as content. A video from a famous person has a meta value; there is a satisfaction to be claimed by drawing an untouchable person close. It can feel like a form of power, to use a celebrity as your ventriloquist dummy for a minute or two. There’s a touch of humiliation to the exercise, for both parties. [1]
See Also
References
- ^ The Fading Online Celebrity of George Santos (Jan 7, 2024)