Mercè Oliva

Celebrity, class and gender in Spain: an analysis of Belén Esteban’s image

Belén Esteban is the most significant example in Spain of a new kind of celebrity that cannot be linked to traditional definitions of talent and work. She is often talked about with contempt, used as a synonym of ‘trash TV’ and seen as evidence of the loss of meritocratic values in Spain. This article analyses how her celebrity image provides a stage for political struggle that embodies current Spanish tensions regarding class and gender. Belén Esteban’s image offers a symbolic battleground upon which the debates about the place and roles of working-class women in Spanish society are acted out. In order to fulfil this aim, this paper analyses two stages upon which these debates are enacted. Firstly, there are the discourses of disgust surrounding her in the Spanish media. Secondly, there are her television appearances in Sálvame Diario (Save Me Daily) and Sálvame Deluxe (Save Me Deluxe), two celebrity gossip programmes in which she works and in which her celebrity image is mainly constructed.

Videogame analysis: a social-semiotic approach

ABSTRACT The relevance of videogames in the contemporary cultural ecosystem and their social impact make it necessary to develop theories and analytical models to understand the expressive potential of videogame design, and how videogames work as texts, giving shape to certain values, behavioural patterns and ideological visions. To do so, it is crucial to build a bridge between game studies and contemporary semiotics. Thus, with this aim, we present in this paper an analysis model for studying videogames as texts that combines theoretical and methodological elements from social semiotics and procedural rhetorics, a specific branch of game studies. Our model is based on four levels: the narrative, ludo-narrative, system-gameplay and designer-player dimensions. As a case study, the model is applied to the videogame The Last of Us.

‘Choose, collect, manage, win!’: Neoliberalism, enterprising culture and risk society in video game covers

This article aims to identify the relationship between video games and neoliberal values. To fulfil this aim, it analyses the covers of the 20 top-selling video games in the United States each year from 2010 to 2014 (a total of 80 different games). Video game covers are a type of paratext, that is, texts that accompany another text to promote it and to guide its reading. Thus, video game covers choose and highlight some of the games’ features over others, and by doing that they construct a discourse. In this article, it is argued that regardless of genre, the covers analysed convey and promote neoliberal values, such as freedom and choice, entrepreneurship, consumption and accumulation of goods, customization, novelty, individualism and meritocracy. This promotion of neoliberal values is combined with an appeal to the concerns of ‘risk society’. Thus, the covers of the top-selling video games play on fears linked to the new context created by the economic crisis while at the same time legitimizing the neoliberal ideal of the ‘enterprising self’ as a model for dealing with it.

Fama y éxito profesional en «Operación Triunfo» y «Fama ¡a bailar!»

The main aim of this paper is to identify the values conveyed by «Operacion Triunfo» and «Fama ia bailar!». Their popularity (especially among young people) and prescriptive nature (they convey life models by means of identifying problems and proposing objectives and solutions) make them relevant study objects. This paper focuses on how work and fame are depicted in «Operacion Triunfo» and «Fama ia bailar!», two areas that have hardly been studied in Spain. In order to fulfil the objectives of this paper, these programmes were analysed using a methodology that combines narrative semiotics, audiovisual style and narrative form analysis, as well as ludology and game design theory. The analysis shows that these programmes depict professional success as personally and socioeconomically rewarding, although it is extremely difficult to achieve. To obtain this success, the contestants are transformed through education and celebritisation. Finally, in these programmes there is a conflict between talent and fame. This paper concludes that «Operacion Triunfo» and «Fama ia bailar!» present fame as a life aspiration and also show the mechanisms used to produce it. The programmes depict modern society as meritocratic and evidence the impor tance of image in the modern workplace. Finally, they describe a «good worker» as someone passionate about their work, adaptable and capable of sacrificing his/her personal life.El presente articulo tiene como objetivo analizar los valores vehiculados por «Operacion Triunfo» y «Fama ia bailar!». Su relevancia como objeto de estudio reside en su popularidad (especialmente entre los jovenes) y su caracter prescriptivo (transmiten modelos de vida a partir de la identificacion de problemas y la propuesta de objetivos y soluciones). Este articulo explora como representan el ambito profesional y el concepto de la fama «Operacion Triunfo» y «Fama ia bailar!», dos temas poco analizados hasta ahora en Espana. Para ello, se propone una metodologia que combina la semiotica narrativa, el analisis de la enunciacion audiovisual y el estudio de las reglas del concurso. El analisis revela que en estos programas se representan el exito profesional como gratificante a nivel personal y socioeconomico, aunque tambien muy dificil de conseguir. Para alcanzarlo, los concursantes son transformados mediante el aprendizaje y la «celebritizacion». Finalmente, hay en estos programas una fuerte tension entre el talento y la popularidad como formas de llegar al exito. El articulo concluye que «Operacion Triunfo» y «Fama ia bailar!» son programas que prescriben la fama como aspiracion vital y reflexionan sobre su proceso de produccion; transmiten una vision meritocratica de la sociedad actual; ponen en escena la importancia de la imagen en el entorno laboral y definen un buen profesional como alguien apasionado, maleable y capaz de sacrificar su vida personal.El presente articulo tiene como objetivo analizar los valores vehiculados por «Operacion Triunfo» y «Fama ia bailar!». Su relevancia como objeto de estudio reside en su popularidad (especialmente entre los jovenes) y su caracter prescriptivo (transmiten modelos de vida a partir de la identificacion de problemas y la propuesta de objetivos y soluciones). Este articulo explora como representan el ambito profesional y el concepto de la fama «Operacion Triunfo» y «Fama ia bailar!», dos temas poco analizados hasta ahora en Espana. Para ello, se propone una metodologia que combina la semiotica narrativa, el analisis de la enunciacion audiovisual y el estudio de las reglas del concurso. El analisis revela que en estos programas se representan el exito profesional como gratificante a nivel personal y socioeconomico, aunque tambien muy dificil de conseguir. Para alcanzarlo, los concursantes son transformados mediante el aprendizaje y la «celebritizacion». Finalmente, hay en estos programas una fuerte tension entre el talento y la popularidad como formas de llegar al exito. El articulo concluye que «Operacion Triunfo» y «Fama ia bailar!» son programas que prescriben la fama como aspiracion vital y reflexionan sobre su proceso de produccion; transmiten una vision meritocratica de la sociedad actual; ponen en escena la importancia de la imagen en el entorno laboral y definen un buen profesional como alguien apasionado, maleable y capaz de sacrificar su vida personal.The main aim of this paper is to identify the values conveyed by «Operacion Triunfo» and «Fama ia bailar!». Their popularity (especially among young people) and prescriptive nature (they convey life models by means of identifying problems and proposing objectives and solutions) make them relevant study objects. This paper focuses on how work and fame are depicted in «Operacion Triunfo» and «Fama ia bailar!», two areas that have hardly been studied in Spain. In order to fulfil the objectives of this paper, these programmes were analysed using a methodology that combines narrative semiotics, audiovisual style and narrative form analysis, as well as ludology and game design theory. The analysis shows that these programmes depict professional success as personally and socioeconomically rewarding, although it is extremely difficult to achieve. To obtain this success, the contestants are transformed through education and celebritisation. Finally, in these programmes there is a conflict between talent and fame. This paper concludes that «Operacion Triunfo» and «Fama ia bailar!» present fame as a life aspiration and also show the mechanisms used to produce it. The programmes depict modern society as meritocratic and evidence the importance of image in the modern workplace. Finally, they describe a «good worker» as someone passionate about their work, adaptable and capable of sacrificing his/her personal life.The main aim of this paper is to identify the values conveyed by «Operacion Triunfo» and «Fama ia bailar!». Their popularity (especially among young people) and prescriptive nature (they convey life models by means of identifying problems and proposing objectives and solutions) make them relevant study objects. This paper focuses on how work and fame are depicted in «Operacion Triunfo» and «Fama ia bailar!», two areas that have hardly been studied in Spain. In order to fulfil the objectives of this paper, these programmes were analysed using a methodology that combines narrative semiotics, audiovisual style and narrative form analysis, as well as ludology and game design theory. The analysis shows that these programmes depict professional success as personally and socioeconomically rewarding, although it is extremely difficult to achieve. To obtain this success, the contestants are transformed through education and celebritisation. Finally, in these programmes there is a conflict between talent and fame. This paper concludes that «Operacion Triunfo» and «Fama ia bailar!» present fame as a life aspiration and also show the mechanisms used to produce it. The programmes depict modern society as meritocratic and evidence the impor tance of image in the modern workplace. Finally, they describe a «good worker» as someone passionate about their work, adaptable and capable of sacrificing his/her personal life. RESUMEN

Video Games, Dystopia, and Neoliberalism: The Case of BioShock Infinite:

An ideological analysis of video games should include both the narrative and ludic dimensions, since there can be frictions between these two dimensions and they can even contradict one another. This article’s main aim is to analyze BioShock Infinite, an illustrative case study of these conflicts. On the one hand, it is a video game that portrays a dystopian narrative, aligning itself with this genre’s critical progressive tradition; on the other hand, its gameplay has an accentuated neoliberal bent. The analysis of BioShock Infinite also helps us to critically discuss certain trends in game design in contemporary mainstream video games that connect with and reinforce neoliberal values.