Abstract
Abstract The project studies elderly celebrities in different cultural settings. Celebrity studies is a fertile and interdisciplinary area of research, which initially developed in the USA, UK and Australia and is still little known in Italy. As public figures, celebrities are important to specific audience segments, which recognize their significance. Namely, ageing celebrities have increasingly helped develop public discourse on the impediments of getting old and, at the same time, have turned into examples of how to conceive of old age as something desirable, self-fulfilling, powerful, successful. The field research on 'elderly' celebrities is rare at the moment, despite these particular celebrities’ visibility has risen significantly in recent years. Media productions featuring elderly celebrities or addressing an ageing audience represent symptoms of a process of revision of the taboo of old age. What appears evident is that a physical evolution is taking place that also calls into question an anthropological mutation (habits, routines, lifestyles). Through a mix methods methodological approach, the project aims to investigate this profound transformation in its cultural, social and media configurations. The project intends to investigate both how elderly celebrities build models of active participation in collective life for their peers, and how their social communication can nurture intergenerational links with other cohorts (Generation X, Y, Z, etc.). Overall, the research is aimed at highlighting the proactive function of older celebrities. These spread positive models of old age, marked by independence, free time, self-fulfillment. In this sense, the main purpose of the research is to show the social and civic function of elderly celebrities for the achievement of collective social well-being, in terms of stimulating active participation for the same age group and intensification of the intergenerational link for the other cohorts. In brief, the research involves four goals: 1. identification of a corpus of media products starring old age celebrities. Observation of communicative and social dynamics within social media profiles. 2. Comparative analysis of digital content, aimed at identifying key gender differences between celebrities, both in media products and in the management of social pages and profiles. 3. Identification of a corpus of elderly "sports" celebrities. 4. Study of the older celebrity-model’s (possible) influences on specific generational cohorts. Analysis of the evaluation of new elderly celebrity models made by audiences and diversified by generational cohorts.
Results achieved
The project achieved a wide range of scientific, institutional, and dissemination results, consolidating an interdisciplinary research framework on the relationship between celebrity, ageing, media narratives, sport, post-career trajectories, and cultural well-being. Over the course of the project, the two research units, based at the University of Bologna and the University of Salerno, worked in close coordination to develop a shared theoretical perspective and translate it into research outputs, public initiatives, academic events, publications, and communication activities addressed to scholarly communities and broader audiences. A central result of the project was the construction of a stable collaborative network between the two units. Throughout the project period, the research team maintained continuous communication through regular informal exchanges and twelve formal online meetings, each lasting approximately three hours and documented through meeting minutes. These meetings were essential for defining the scientific direction of the project, monitoring the progress of the research lines, coordinating individual and collective outputs, and planning seminars, workshops, conferences, publications, and communication initiatives. This constant interaction ensured coherence between the activities carried out by the two units and allowed the project to develop as a genuinely collaborative research environment. The project also produced significant results in terms of knowledge dissemination through a structured programme of workshops, seminars, and public academic events. Three workshops were organised, one at the University of Bologna and two at the University of Salerno, involving academic communities, local stakeholders, and territorial communities. Alongside these workshops, four inter-university seminars were held, two at the University of Bologna and two at the University of Salerno, involving scholars, doctoral students, students, and stakeholders in theoretical reflection on the project’s core objects and their relevance to the cultural and social dynamics of the territories connected to the two research units. The project’s dissemination activities began in March 2024 with the seminar “Ageing and Sports Celebrity in Media and Social Narratives”, hosted at the University of Salerno. The event involved the whole research group and external scholars with expertise in sports celebrity. A second major moment of internal dissemination took place at the University of Bologna in June 2024, with the doctoral seminar “Celebrity and Ageing between Sports and Audiovisual Media”. The seminar presented the project to doctoral students and researchers, while also advancing specific lines of analysis on sports heroism, myth, celebrity, social media practices, and the paradoxical relationship between athletic celebrity and youthfulness. In October 2024, the University of Bologna hosted the workshop “CELEBR-AGE”, which focused on transitions of age, the perception and cultural use of ageing, and the creation of positive models related to narrative and production practices, personal image, body management, influence, and intergenerational relationships between celebrities and audiences. The event involved scholars from several Italian universities and strengthened the national relevance of the research network. The University of Salerno hosted further key events that expanded the interdisciplinary reach of the project. In November 2024, the workshop “(Freak) Celebrity Culture, Ageing and YouTube” used Stefano Brilli’s book YouTube Freak Show as a starting point to explore the intersections between aged celebrity, freak culture, ridicule, fame, and influencer culture. Between March and April 2025, the seminar “Celebrity, Ageing and Media Narratives Between Sports and Entertainment” focused on celebrity, ageing, and post-career trajectories from the perspective of celebrity studies and media studies, bringing together cases from sports and entertainment. These activities refined the project’s interpretive framework, especially in relation to the ways in which celebrity capital is preserved, renegotiated, transformed, or depleted in later stages of public life. The culminating moment of the project was the international final conference held at the University of Bologna from 15 to 17 September 2025. The conference represented the main occasion for presenting the completed research of the PRIN PNRR project to an international academic audience and was strengthened by the participation of internationally renowned keynote speakers, including Henry Jenkins, Provost Professor at the University of Southern California; Matt Hills, Honorary Professor at the University of Bristol; and Renira Rampazzo Gambarato, Professor in Media and Communication Studies at Jönköping University, Sweden. Through multiple panels, the conference offered a broad overview of the issues investigated by the research group. In addition to the events directly organised by the two research units, project members presented their research at numerous national and international conferences, extending the visibility of the project beyond its institutional framework. The participation of project members in events held in Italy and abroad, including conferences in Amsterdam, Zaragoza, Paris, Cluj-Napoca, Porto, Rabat, Venice, Gorizia, Trento, Cagliari, Bergamo, Noto, and Ferrara, contributed to the international circulation of the project’s results and to the consolidation of research collaborations across disciplinary and national contexts. The project also generated a substantial number of scientific publications, one of its most significant outcomes. A major collective output is the edited volume Celebrity and Post-Career. The Renegotiation of Celebrity Capital in the Post-Career Era between Media Narratives, Self-Representation Practices and Audience Perceptions, edited by Roy Menarini, Ylenia Caputo, and Simona Castellano and published with Mimesis International in 2026. The volume gathers contributions from members of the research group and develops the project’s central hypothesis around the transformation of celebrity capital in the post-career phase. Another major editorial result is the special issue “Celebr-Age: Celebrity and Ageing in Media and Sport Contexts”, published in Mediascapes Journal and edited by Antonella Mascio, Roy Menarini, Sara Pesce, and Mario Tirino. Further publications developed within the project include articles, monographs, and conference proceedings devoted to collective memory, nostalgia, platformization, social media, and sports celebrity. The project also achieved important communication results. A dedicated website was designed, developed, and published as the main digital hub of the project, providing information on its objectives, research activities, team members, events, publications, and dissemination outcomes. In addition, a Facebook page was created to support the communication strategy and reach audiences beyond the academic community. The page was used to share updates on activities, promote seminars and conferences, and disseminate research outputs in a more immediate and accessible form.Dettagli del progetto
Responsabile scientifico: Roy Menarini
Strutture Unibo coinvolte:
Dipartimento delle Arti
Coordinatore:
ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - Università di Bologna(Italy)
Contributo totale di progetto: Euro (EUR) 230.957,00
Contributo totale Unibo: Euro (EUR) 122.000,00
Durata del progetto in mesi: 24
Data di inizio
30/11/2023
Data di fine:
28/02/2026
