‘Welcome to my Malibu Dreamhouse’: How has the celebrity house tour served as a mechanism for U.S cultural imperialism?

This research delves into the phenomenon of celebrity house tours, a cultural practice deeply rooted in American media production. Tracing its origins back to Jackie Kennedy's iconic White House tour in 1962, this study explores the evolution of celebrity house tours, noting their proliferation in popular culture through shows such as Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, MTV Cribs, and Architectural Digest’s Open Door web series. While primarily an American phenomenon, the allure of celebrity homes has transcended borders, exemplified by the global success of such series. Against the backdrop of late capitalism's housing affordability crisis, the global fascination with idealised domestic spaces prompts an inquiry into the phenomenon and its potential role as a tool for U.S cultural imperialism. Drawing on postmodernism and Herbert Schiller’s concept of cultural imperialism, I focus on the celebrity house tour as an export of the so-called American Dream, emphasising consumer capitalism and individualism as foundational elements. My analytical framework incorporates hyperrealism, Gramscian common sense, and Mark Fisher’s capitalist realism within a loosely post-Marxist perspective. My central argument posits that celebrity house tours function as a mechanism for U.S cultural imperialism by constructing a hyperreal image of the celebrity home as a representation of the American Dream. This curated image, laden with contradictions, is disseminated globally, reshaping cultural landscapes and marginalising alternative ideals. This paper details this argument by examining the hyperreal nature of celebrity house tours, followed by an exploration of the roles played by both the celebrity and the home in constructing and perpetuating this narrative. Ultimately, I shed light on the impact of such representations on our global cultural landscape, contributing to the pathological inability to envision alternatives to capitalism's destructive dreams and desires.