Soap Opera Actors' Social Climbing in the Digital Media: A Study of Digital Traces in Social Media

摘要

This paper discusses social climbing which is regarded as an attempt as self and public branding to gain attention and recognition in social media. This activity is the behavior of actors in getting social capital. By using Bordieu's critical discourse analysis, this paper aims at describing several links between social-climbing, mobility, and branding in an effort to strengthen the identity of cultural actors. Two of the cases discussed are instances of 'salted fish' by Galih Ginanjar and the public branding which is done by his wife, Barbie Kumalasarie in Indonesian social media. The discussion reveals that Galih Ginanjar and Barbie Kumalasarie could be said to have done social-climbing to increase their popularity as celebrities who had not been much involved in their artistic world. Their efforts to raise status through social-climbing actions have drawn criticisms and insults. The controversy they made is precisely considered as their capitals in terms of Bordieu's perspective. Thus, social-climbing can be considered as an instance of self-branding in relation to social mobility in the disruptive world of the digital age.