Serbia from Miki and Kupinovo to Europe: Public performance and the social role of celebrity

Abstract

This paper deals with the analysis of public performance and social role of a media star in the post-socialist Serbia on the example of Miki Đuričić, the participant of the first series of reality show Big brother in this region. The issues are regarded through the prism of theater anthropology of Erving Goffman, corrected and complemented with Baudrillard's concepts of simulacrum and simulation. Discursive, symbolic, social, cultural and political practices are discussed as well as the impact of that performance and the efforts of their representation in the light of 'new face of Serbia'.

Keywords

• Miki from Kupinovo
• celebrity
• public performance
• social role
• postsocialism
• second transition
• Serbia
• Europe