Many Internet users did not hide their anger and disappointment, following the appearance of the artist Mia[1]on stage, in Italy, donning a tight jumpsuit, accompanied by suggestive choreography. The paradox is that the clothing supposed to cover the body reveals it and makes it accessible to all eyes.
Apart from any moral, moralistic and moralizing approach, the reaction of Internet users can be assimilated to an offbeat look that the Puritan casts on a body whose transformation he finds difficult to accept. A look imbued with certain moral values such as modesty and restraint. Especially for those who knew her before and were nostalgic for her clothing, sometimes accompanied by a veil.
In reality, what they could not grasp was the double play of the artist behind the veil. On the Italian scene, Mia appeared to fans as she was, unvarnished, in an “authenticity”, sometimes unbridled. The artist “kills” reality to allow the character to survive.
This body that she exposes to the gaze of fans and other Internet users is only the sublimated body of the star. The one who owes her existence only to the spotlight and is defined only through the gaze of others. The star is ready to do anything to maintain this symmetrical relationship, this contagious attention. It will become more beautiful, more captivating on stage, and enter into a logic of disincorporation where the body is reduced to an “assemblage” of flesh. The fault of the cultural industry[2] !
Mia has tasted the flavor of the desired and sought-after fame (different from the one that falls into your lap). But this will come at the cost of dispossession of his body. The star runs the risk of being reduced to the state of a product with variable and volatile value[3].
This showbiz body has a price and its value rises when it strips itself, reveals itself, sometimes, to the point of obscenity. It is then necessary to shock, provoke to spark controversy and be the center of all attention. In his insatiable desire to maintain the curve of celebrity, the star is a victim of the loss of limits. She no longer has privacy and feels no modesty. The pillars of its identity are blown away by mercantilist logic.
Who knows? Mia could, as some showbiz and sports celebrities have done, have a sublimated body part insured. Like Mariah Carey who had her legs insured for 695 million euros. This is also the case for Cristiano Ronaldo who paid 100 million euros for his legs[4] etc.
The transgressive behavior of the body-object, subjected to the sometimes mischievous gaze of fans, aims to shatter stock market records. The more the artist exposes his borrowed body, the more he submits to symbolic violence and thus becomes the attraction.
What if this body exposed to view hid discomfort? The sublimated body then becomes an instrument for facing adversities. Maybe Mia wants to take revenge on life? This is why the look she herself has on her body does not have the same impact as that of shocked Internet users. His reaction says it all.
She was in a borrowed body, for the duration of a performance. Mia will find her real body, the real body[5]in the privacy of his room.
*Mondeafrik.com
[1] Meaning and Etymology of the first name Mia: derived from the first name Marie, or the contraction of the first name Myriam. The old form of the latter would mean “dear”, “loved”. Personality: endowed with boundless energy and audacity, not to mention his strong personality. She does not hesitate to use her seductive abilities to get what she wants. Source: https://www.parents.fr/prenoms/mia-49755
[2] Concept created by the Frankfurt School and which explains that a large part of relationships between men is based or governed by economic processes where consumption and the wishes of companies become social phenomena.
[3] Laurent Muldworf, Conferences of Sainte-Anne, Monday May 13, 2019
[4] How much are the bodies of sports and showbiz stars worth? article published by L’Expansion.com, 11/16/2010
[5] Sadio Mané: The revenge of the real body (https://mondeafrik.com/2022/11/24/sadio-mane-la-revanche-du-corps-reel)
