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.
A number of pop icons are distinguished for having died at a young age. These include James Dean, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Freddie Mercury, River Phoenix, Jean Harlow, Tupac Shakur, Bruce Lee, Janis Joplin, and Marilyn Monroe among others.
Some pop icons, such as Barney The Dinosaur, Mickey Mouse, Big Bird, Winnie the Pooh, Bugs Bunny, Superman, Spider-Man, Batman, Harry Potter, the Simpsons, and even Sherlock Holmes are fictional characters. Even inanimate objects have been recognized as pop icons.
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.
Read more about this topic: Pop Icon
Famous quotes containing the word distinction:
“Nominee. A modest gentleman shrinking from the distinction of private life and diligently seeking the honorable obscurity of public office.”
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914)
“There appears to be but two grand master passions or movers in the human mind, namely, love and pride. And what constitutes the beauty or deformity of a man’s character is the choice he makes under which banner he determines to enlist himself. But there is a strong distinction between different degress in the same thing and a mixture of two contraries.”
—Sarah Fielding (1710–1768)
“There is all the difference in the world between the criminal’s avoiding the public eye and the civil disobedient’s taking the law into his own hands in open defiance. This distinction between an open violation of the law, performed in public, and a clandestine one is so glaringly obvious that it can be neglected only by prejudice or ill will.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)