Fame Factory: Performing Gender and Sexuality in Talent Reality Television
This article discusses how gender and sexuality are performed in a highly feminised cultural symbolic context. The object of study is a reality show where the contestants compete in mainstream popular music. Fame Factory is a Swedish talent-hunt television series with many similarities to Pop Idol....
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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Linköping University Electronic Press
2011-10-01
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Series: | Culture Unbound: Journal of Current Cultural Research |
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Online Access: | https://cultureunbound.ep.liu.se/article/view/1984 |
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author | Hillevi Ganetz |
author_facet | Hillevi Ganetz |
author_sort | Hillevi Ganetz |
collection | DOAJ |
description | This article discusses how gender and sexuality are performed in a highly feminised cultural symbolic context. The object of study is a reality show where the contestants compete in mainstream popular music. Fame Factory is a Swedish talent-hunt television series with many similarities to Pop Idol. The audience may follow the struggle of the young artists off stage in the ’Fame School’ in addition to seeing and voting on their feats on stage. In the Fame School they learn to sing, perform and dance, but also to perform masculinity, femininity and sexuality, even if this is not explicit. Through an analysis of some key episodes of this reality show, the article discusses how gender and sexuality are produced and reproduced within this music television context. It is shown how the performances rest on highly traditional conceptions of these categories, but there are also certain transgressions, especially concerning sexuality, which undermine hegemonic structures. |
first_indexed | 2024-12-21T05:12:45Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-6a111d2f93ab4cfeb6b786449657f607 |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 2000-1525 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-12-21T05:12:45Z |
publishDate | 2011-10-01 |
publisher | Linköping University Electronic Press |
record_format | Article |
series | Culture Unbound: Journal of Current Cultural Research |
spelling | doaj.art-6a111d2f93ab4cfeb6b786449657f6072022-12-21T19:15:00ZengLinköping University Electronic PressCulture Unbound: Journal of Current Cultural Research2000-15252011-10-013310.3384/cu.2000.1525.113401Fame Factory: Performing Gender and Sexuality in Talent Reality TelevisionHillevi Ganetz0Gender Studies at the Department of Ethnology, History of Religions and Gender Studies, Stockholm University, SwedenThis article discusses how gender and sexuality are performed in a highly feminised cultural symbolic context. The object of study is a reality show where the contestants compete in mainstream popular music. Fame Factory is a Swedish talent-hunt television series with many similarities to Pop Idol. The audience may follow the struggle of the young artists off stage in the ’Fame School’ in addition to seeing and voting on their feats on stage. In the Fame School they learn to sing, perform and dance, but also to perform masculinity, femininity and sexuality, even if this is not explicit. Through an analysis of some key episodes of this reality show, the article discusses how gender and sexuality are produced and reproduced within this music television context. It is shown how the performances rest on highly traditional conceptions of these categories, but there are also certain transgressions, especially concerning sexuality, which undermine hegemonic structures.https://cultureunbound.ep.liu.se/article/view/1984Talent reality televisionpopular musicperformancemasculinityfemininitysexuality |
spellingShingle | Hillevi Ganetz Fame Factory: Performing Gender and Sexuality in Talent Reality Television Culture Unbound: Journal of Current Cultural Research Talent reality television popular music performance masculinity femininity sexuality |
title | Fame Factory: Performing Gender and Sexuality in Talent Reality Television |
title_full | Fame Factory: Performing Gender and Sexuality in Talent Reality Television |
title_fullStr | Fame Factory: Performing Gender and Sexuality in Talent Reality Television |
title_full_unstemmed | Fame Factory: Performing Gender and Sexuality in Talent Reality Television |
title_short | Fame Factory: Performing Gender and Sexuality in Talent Reality Television |
title_sort | fame factory performing gender and sexuality in talent reality television |
topic | Talent reality television popular music performance masculinity femininity sexuality |
url | https://cultureunbound.ep.liu.se/article/view/1984 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT hilleviganetz famefactoryperforminggenderandsexualityintalentrealitytelevision |