“Es el show de Maradona”

Between charisma and commodity

Abstract

The TV series Maradona in Mexico seems to make explicit the conflicting coexistence of rationality and irrationality, disenchantment and enchantment in the celebrity status of contemporary sport. Sport has, in fact, its own ritualistic, emotional, effervescent dimension, capable of rooting solidarity, identity, and social belonging. At the same time, the factors of commercialization, commodification and spectacular entertainment, based on the principles of economic rationality and profit orientation, are equally constitutive today, if not more influential. Thus, a sports celebrity maintains that complex balance between being a brand within a market logic and an identifying point of reference for communities of fans, apparently by virtue of charismatic qualities and a predisposition for enchantment. Maradona’s experience in Mexico – with his performance in the TV series – is no exception. The series tells the story of how Maradona, called upon to coach a low-ranking team in the Mexican second division, emerges as a charismatic leader, a centre of ritual attention, apparently gifted with mysterious and ineffable qualities. Despite his advanced age and very poor health, he still seems capable of arousing deep feelings, of instilling energy and of potentially leading a team – and with it the whole community – towards innovative and glorious footballing and moral achievements. However, his charisma does not escape the mesh of market rationality without being somehow contained and integrated. As a famous personality inserted in the commercial mechanisms of football, but also as a character in the television industry, he is experiencing that process of commodification of reputation that is typical of sports celebrities.