Christian and secular values for sale: the religious apostasy of celebrity and Disney's "Hannah Montana" star Miley Cyrus
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Date
2017
Authors
Sanchez Sabate, R.
Gelabert Santane, R. C.
Badilla Briones, Y. A.
Del Valle Rojas, C.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Faculty of Theology, University of the Free State
Abstract
Religious apostasy is a complex phenomenon that becomes even more obscure
when it involves public figures in the media industry with economic interests at
stake. A paradigmatic case is that of American singer Miley Cyrus, who went
from being a famous religious role model for conservative American evangelical
Christians to becoming a secular and liberal celebrity, playing in highly sexualized
live shows and videos. Drawing on a complementary use of sociological, economic
and language theories of value, this paper explores Cyrus’ religious apostasy as a
transformation from a Christian commodity to a secular one. Our study shows that,
while for the industry, be it Christian or secular, Cyrus’ sociological and language
values are always subsidiary to her economic value as a commodity, for Christian
consumers, her economic value depends on her social and language values.
Description
Keywords
Miley Cyrus, Walt Disney, Conservative evangelicals, Theories of value
Citation
Sanchez Sabate, R., Gelabert Santané, R. C., Badilla Briones, Y. A., & Del Valle Rojas, C. (2017). Christian and secular values for sale: the religious apostasy of celebrity and Disney's "Hannah Montana" star Miley Cyrus. Acta Theologica, 37(1), 97-119.