Entertainment politics: Brazilian celebrities’ transition to politics, recent history and main patterns

Abstract

This article proposes to analyse the transition of Brazilian media celebrities into the political sphere during the last three decades by examining five paradigmatic cases of famous figures who have made forays into politics between the years 1982 and 2012. Global changes in the relationship between the media and the political system, as well as contemporary Brazilian history, have been taken into account while examining each case. The study emphasizes the need to analyse the hierarchical relations between the different domains of the cultural industries and the field of politics, highlighting new patterns of interaction between the field of media entertainment and the democratic process.