From the literary field to reality TV: The perils of downward celebrity migration

Abstract

This article explores ‘downward celebrity migration’, that is, when a celebrity enters a field that is less legitimate than their field of origin. It does so by studying the case of Lucía Etxebarria, a Spanish literary celebrity who participated in a celebrity reality TV show ( Campamento de Verano (‘Summer Camp’)) in 2013. Using Bourdieu’s concepts of field and capital, this article analyses the ambiguous hierarchical position that Etxebarria occupied in the programme and how she was evaluated according to the specific rules of reality TV: authenticity, ordinariness, performance and submission to the programme’s authority. Etxebarria’s presence in the programme stirred up a heated debate about social, cultural and fame hierarchies, and she became the target of attacks that tried to undermine her symbolic capital through personal humiliation.

Staged reality in cinema

“…The obtained sign without an original meaning -simulacra -in the process of development proceeds through successive stages of reflecting reality, masking and distorting reality, masking the absence of reality, and severing the connection with reality. When the real loses itself, the meaning content becomes a field of nostalgia, secondary, possible to experience content and meaning detached from the original object, which only multiplies its meanings devoid of original meaning (Baudrillard, 1994;Oliva, 2020).…”

“…From the moment of "Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat" to the present, cinema has been no longer a miracle, but the viewer's transfer to the scene depicted has remained the main mechanism of impact -the screen carries the viewer to another plane of being, exposes reality from an atypical angle Diaz, 2019). In current conditions, where media content establishes public opinion and discursive strategies of information warfare accompany actual armed conflicts, it remains relevant to comprehend the phenomenon of staged reality as a representation mechanism of reality in hyperreality (Baudrillard, 1994;Thore, 2008;Oliva, 2020).…”

Héroes, ídolos y Jóvenes influencers

“…It cannot be forgotten that celebrity practices have inspired what is considered micro-celebrity. For example, their activity is related to discursive and economic practices that emerged in the 20th century around movie stars (Oliva, 2019). Today, the media popular among young people are different.…”