The contemporary pop diva : melodrama, performance, stardom

This dissertation redefines and updates the term “diva” through a consideration of the significant changes that have taken place within the realms of stardom and celebrity, performance, popular culture, and the melodramatic mode since the turn of the twenty-first century. Divas have always been defined in relation to “excess,” whether in terms of their artistic virtuosity, emotionality, corporeality, or personal temperament. Within a twenty-first century cultural landscape characterized by a post-postmodern ironic sensibility, fast-paced technological innovation, and a seemingly endless proliferation of influencers and celebrities, the diva’s excessively sentimental performance style has taken on a distinctively nostalgic character. This form of contemporary divadom is exemplified by performers such as Mariah Carey, RuPaul, and Lady Gaga, each of whom displays a propensity for melodramatic emotion and aesthetic flamboyance across their bodies of work. I refer to these performers as melodramatic pop divas, a term that provides a descriptive framework for the performance aesthetic that each of these stars adheres to. I suggest that melodrama functions as an aesthetic category or performance style within the converged media environment of the twenty-first century. The lack of boundaries between media formats and genres within this environment allows the diva to seamlessly extend her melodramatic persona from on-screen performances in film, television, or music videos into public appearances on red carpets, talk shows, and interviews. The structure of the contemporary cultural landscape thus paradoxically enables the diva’s emulation of the holistic or all-encompassing form of stardom associated with studio-era Hollywood. In their public performances, contemporary melodramatic divas reanimate, reinforce, and refashion many of the romanticized myths and fantasies that compose the history of American popular culture.