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....

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Hillevi Ganetz
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Linköping University Electronic Press 2011-10-01
Series:Culture Unbound: Journal of Current Cultural Research
Subjects:
Online Access:https://cultureunbound.ep.liu.se/article/view/1984
_version_ 1819025568735166464
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