Keyword – media violence

Ádám, Guld:

Gladiators of Late Modernity on the Small Screen

The 2023 season of “Star Box”, aired on RTL televisiobn, achieved outstanding success in terms of view- ership. According to audience data, the show outperformed all its competitors in its time slot and achieved exceptional results particularly among the 18–59 years age group, securing the top position. When con- sidering the entire population, it ranked third on the weekly programme charts. This raises the question of what tools the show used to achieve such remarkable results. The aim of this study is to analyse the show’s appeal through the lenses of genre history, cultural studies, and communication and media theo- ry approaches. It uncovers the market logic behind the production of the show and examines the audience’s evolving attitudes toward the programme. Its central premise is that “Star Box” can be understood in the context of the attention economy as a deliberately high-stimulus manipulative format. It achieves maxi- mum impact by combining star and celebrity culture with tabloid media violence, presented in the form of a pseudo-sporting event.„„

Keywords: attention economy, celebrity boxing, genre history, media violence, tabloid