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:http://dx.doi.org/10.3384/cu.2000.1525.113401
id doaj-baec4b46f46e47d8a8beb62c9cea7da7
record_format Article
spelling doaj-baec4b46f46e47d8a8beb62c9cea7da72020-11-24T20:44:04ZengLinköping University Electronic PressCulture Unbound: Journal of Current Cultural Research2000-15252011-10-013401417Fame Factory: Performing Gender and Sexuality in Talent Reality TelevisionHillevi GanetzThis 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.http://dx.doi.org/10.3384/cu.2000.1525.113401Talent reality televisionpopular musicperformancemasculinityfemininitysexuality
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Hillevi Ganetz
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
author_facet Hillevi Ganetz
author_sort Hillevi Ganetz
title Fame Factory: Performing Gender and Sexuality in Talent Reality Television
title_short 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_sort fame factory: performing gender and sexuality in talent reality television
publisher Linköping University Electronic Press
series Culture Unbound: Journal of Current Cultural Research
issn 2000-1525
publishDate 2011-10-01
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.
topic Talent reality television
popular music
performance
masculinity
femininity
sexuality
url http://dx.doi.org/10.3384/cu.2000.1525.113401
work_keys_str_mv AT hilleviganetz famefactoryperforminggenderandsexualityintalentrealitytelevision
_version_ 1716818454262054912