Abstract

This article outlines some ideas for the understanding of the historical function performed by stars in the development of a modern consumer society in the Italy of the Economic Miracle. More specifically, it identifies two main lines of interpretation. The first is that stars played an important role in the consumeristic integration of families and individuals within the new Italian society, contributing to the construction of new cultural identities and practices of the «self». The second is that stars actively contributed to the (either direct or indirect) discursive enactment of the new social meanings conveyed by industrial commodities, at the same time mediating between tradition and innovation