Celebridades brasileñas en la política: historia reciente, continuidades y rupturas

This essay proposes to analyze the transition of Brazilian media celebrities into the political sphere during the last three decades by examining four paradigmatic cases of famous figures that have forayed into politics between the years 1982-2010. 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. Our study emphasizes the need to analyze the hierarchical relations between the different areas of cultural industries and the field of politics, rejecting the dominant explanations which describe celebrities that became politicians as a necessarily negative influence on the democratic process.