Celebrity capital in the political field

Russell Brand’s migration from stand-up comedy to Newsnight

Bibliographic Data

ID11267893
AuthorsJane Arthurs (Middlesex University, corresponding author), Sylvia Shaw (0000-0001-8302-4910, Middlesex University)
Year2016
Volume38
Issue8
Pages1136-1152
Publication date2016-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueMedia Culture & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0163-4437 • E-ISSN: 1460-3675
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0163443716635869
OpenAlexW1837775420
LanguageEN
Citations received16
References cited27

Our case study of charismatic celebrity comedian Russell Brand’s turn to political activism uses Bourdieu’s field theory to understand the process of celebrity migration across social fields. We investigate how Brand’s capital as a celebrity performer, storyteller and self-publicist translated from comedy to politics. To judge how this worked in practice, we analysed the comedic strategies used in his stand-up show Messiah Complex and undertook a conversational analysis of his notorious interview with Jeremy Paxman on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)’s flagship current affairs programme Newsnight. We argue that Brand was able to secure political legitimacy by creatively constituting himself as an authentic anti-austerity spokesperson for the disenfranchised left in United Kingdom. In order to do so, he repurposed his celebrity capital to political ends and successfully deployed the cultural and social capitals he had developed as a celebrity comedian to secure widespread engagement with his media performances

Advertising · Art · Charisma · Comedy · Legitimacy · Literature · Media studies · Performing arts · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Humor Studies and Applications · Law · Media Studies and Communication

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