Pop icon#Notable pop icons

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| footer = Many individuals—from Classical composers like Mozart to cinema stars like Marilyn Monroe—have been credited as pop icons.

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A pop icon is a celebrity, character, or object whose exposure in popular culture is regarded as constituting a defining characteristic of a given society or era. The usage of the term is largely subjective since there are no definitively objective criteria. The categorization is usually associated with elements such as longevity, ubiquity and distinction. Moreover, "pop icon" status is distinguishable from other kinds of notability outside pop culture, such as with historic figures. Some historic figures are recognized as having reached "pop icon" status during their era, and such status may continue into the present. Pop icons of previous eras include Benjamin Franklin{{cite book

| first = Joyce

| last = Chaplin

| title = The First Scientific American: Benjamin Franklin and the Pursuit of Genius

| publisher = Basic Books

| year = 2006

| isbn = 0-465-00955-7

| url = https://archive.org/details/firstscientifica00chap

}} and Mozart.{{cite book

| first = Bruno

| last = Nettl

| title = Heartland Excursions: Ethnomusicological Reflections on Schools of Music

| publisher = University of Illinois Press

| year = 1995

| isbn = 0-252-06468-2

| url = https://archive.org/details/heartlandexcursi00nett

}}

Attributes and origins

File: ExpressYourselfUnderGround cropped.jpg attributed Madonna a catalyst role for the usage of the word "icon" in celebrity culture.]]

Historians Asa Briggs and Peter Burke, explained that term "iconography" would pass into high culture, and later in the twentieth century, into popular culture, where "icon" refers to a secular celebrity like Madonna.{{cite book|last1=Brand|first1=Benjamin|last2=Rothenberg|first2=David J.|title=Music and Culture in the Middle Ages and Beyond: Liturgy, Sources, Symbolism|year=2016|access-date=March 31, 2021|via=Google Books|isbn=978-1-10-715837-5|publisher=Cambridge University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jMwiDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA7|page=293}} She probably had a catalyst role, as Marcel Danesi, a professor of semiotics and linguistic anthropology at the University of Toronto cited in Language, Society, and New Media: Sociolinguistics that the word "icon" is a "term of religious origin" and arguably "used for the first time in celebrity culture to describe the American pop singer Madonna".{{cite book|last=Danesi|first=Marcel|author-link=Marcel Danesi|title=Language, Society, and New Media: Sociolinguistics Today|year=2020|access-date=March 31, 2021|chapter-url-access=limited|via=Google Books|chapter=4.1.3 Vocabulary|isbn=978-1-00-004876-6|publisher=Routledge|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0WjnDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT91}} Danesi also asserts that the word "is now used in reference to any widely known celebrity, male or female". Some international reference works such as Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary and the Diccionario panhispánico de dudas have included Madonna's name to illustrate the new meaning of "icon".{{cite web|url=https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/icon|title=icon|access-date=March 31, 2021|archive-date=June 4, 2020|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200604232617/https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/icon|work=Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary|publisher=Oxford University Press|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.rae.es/dpd/icono|title=icono o ícono|year=2005|access-date=March 31, 2021|archive-date=June 4, 2020|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200604234741/https://www.rae.es/dpd/icono|work=Diccionario panhispánico de dudas|publisher=Royal Spanish Academy|url-status=live|language=es}} After The Advocate called her the "greatest gay icon", Guy Babineau from Xtra Magazine stated in 2008: "I'm old enough to remember when people weren't called icons".{{cite web|url=https://xtramagazine.com/culture/why-we-love-madonna-14392|title=Why we love Madonna|date=October 22, 2008|access-date=October 29, 2022|work=Xtra Magazine|first=Guy|last=Babineau}}

=Longevity=

Usually, the pop icon status of a celebrity is contingent upon longevity of notoriety.{{cite book

| first = Mary V.

| last = Dearborn

| title = Mailer: A Biography

| publisher = Houghton Mifflin Books

| date = December 9, 1999

| isbn = 978-0-395-73655-5

| url = https://archive.org/details/mailerbiography00mary

}}{{cite book

| editor1-first = Ronald

| editor1-last = Gottesman

| editor2-first = Richard Maxwell

| editor2-last = Brown

| title = Violence in America: An Encyclopedia

| publisher = Simon and Schuster

| year = 1999

| isbn = 0-684-80487-5

}} This is in contrast to cult icons, whose notoriety or recognition may be limited to a specific subculture. Some pop icons have left a lasting and indelible mark in the area of their career, and then went on to attain a lasting place of recognition in society at large.{{cite book

| first = Ben

| last = Ratcliff

| title = The New York Times Essential Library: Jazz: A Critic's Guide to the 100 Most Important Recordings

| publisher = Times Books

| date = November 6, 2002

| isbn = 978-0-8050-7068-2

| url = https://archive.org/details/jazzcriticsguide00ratl

}}

=Ubiquity=

A common element of pop icon status is the ubiquity of imagery and allusions to the iconic figure.{{#tag:ref|Kaku, p. 11 |group="note"}} It is common for the figure to be recognized and even celebrated in areas outside the original source of celebrity status.{{#tag:ref|See e.g., Kaku, Chaplin, et al. |group="note"}} An example of this is Albert Einstein, a physicist whose image and legacy have been represented in comic strips, T-shirts, greeting cards and many other contexts.{{cite book

| first = Michio

| last = Kaku

| author-link= Michio Kaku

| title = Einstein's Cosmos: How Albert Einstein's Vision Transformed Our Understanding of Space and Time

| publisher = W. W. Norton & Company

|date=April 2004

| isbn = 978-0-393-05165-0}}

Distinction

Often pop icon status implies distinguished association with a societal ideal or archetype. It is not uncommon for iconic figures to have a nickname or sobriquet that is used to emphasize this association. Sometimes the very name of such individuals is even used as a synonym for common words or ideas.

Some fictional characters, such as Mickey Mouse,{{cite news|url=https://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=variety100&content=jump2&jump=iconIndex|title=Icons of the century|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110815032622/http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=variety100&content=jump2&jump=iconIndex|archive-date=August 15, 2011|url-status=dead|year=2011|work=Variety100.com|publisher=Variety|first=Dave|last=McNary|access-date=February 8, 2010}} Bugs Bunny, the Simpsons, Harry Potter,{{cite web|url=http://www.bluecorncomics.com/popicons.htm|title=The 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons|last=Schmidt|first=Robert|date=February 24, 2004|work=Blue Corn Comics |access-date=February 8, 2010}} Goku,{{Cite web |date=2013-10-17 |title=10 Most Iconic Anime Heroes |website=Mania |url=http://www.mania.com/10-iconic-anime-heroes_article_119883.html |access-date=2024-05-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017063118/http://www.mania.com/10-iconic-anime-heroes_article_119883.html |archive-date=2013-10-17}} Sailor Moon,{{Cite web |title=Why Sailor Moon is a Pop Culture Icon |url=https://www.japannakama.co.uk/why-sailor-moon-is-a-pop-culture-icon-across-generations/ |access-date=2024-05-25 |website=Japan Nakama}} Alice,{{cite book |last=Brooker |first=Will |author-link=Will Brooker |title=Alice's Adventures: Lewis Carroll in Popular Culture |page=xiv|year=2004 |publisher=Continuum |location=New York |isbn=0-8264-1433-8 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/alicesadventures0000broo}} Sheriff Woody, Buzz Lightyear, and Willy Wonka{{cite news |title=David Bowie Art Turns Singer Into Batman & Other Pop Culture Icons |url=https://screenrant.com/david-bowie-art-batman-captain-america-willy-wonka/ |access-date=28 November 2022 |website=Screen Rant}} are regarded as pop icons. Even inanimate objects have been recognized as pop icons.

{{cite book

|first = Mark

|last = Vail

|title = The Hammond Organ: Beauty in the B

|edition = 2nd

|publisher = Backbeat Books

|date = April 1, 2002

|isbn = 978-0-87930-705-9

|url = https://archive.org/details/hammondorganbeau00vail

}}

{{cite book

| first = David

| last = Sheff

| title = Game Over: How Nintendo Zapped an American Industry, Captured Your Dollars, and Enslaved Your Children

| publisher = Random House

| date = April 27, 1993

| isbn = 978-0-679-40469-9

| url = https://archive.org/details/gameoverhowninte00shef

}}{{cite web |url=http://www.cr.nps.gov/nR/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/36liberty/36liberty.htm |title=The Liberty Bell: From Obscurity to Icon |work=Teaching with Historic Places |publisher=National Park Service|date=October 16, 2006}}

Some figures attain transitory or context-specific "pop icon" status for particular events that captivate public attention, such as in the case of the O.J. Simpson trial.{{cite book

| first = Max

| last = Boot

| author-link=Max Boot

| title = Out of Order: Arrogance, Corruption and Incompetence on the Bench

| publisher = Basic Books

| year = 1998

| isbn = 978-0-465-05375-9

}}

Pop icon#Notable pop icons

Attributes and origins

=Longevity=

=Ubiquity=

Distinction

See also

Notes

References

Further reading