Introduction

We can consider celebrity a changing, multifaceted category that encompasses various phenomena and generally involves different social actors (audiences/consumers/spectators, media institutions, companies, to give a few examples). Investigating the socio-cultural and media practices of celebrities allows us to reflect on significant issues concerning, on the one hand, the media system and the status of spectators and, on the other, the evolution of this phenomenology in conjunction with broader changes that have affected society and culture, and, on yet another, the specific fields in which celebrities can operate and assert their celebrity capital.2