[Commlist] CFP for panel on Got Talent’s reality format

We invite presenters to submit paper abstracts for a panel for the 
Popular Media and Culture Division at the International Communication 
Association’s Annual Conference 
<https://www.icahdq.org/mpage/ICA26-theme 
<https://www.icahdq.org/mpage/ICA26-theme>> to be held June 4-8 in Cape 
Town, South Africa, on Got Talent’s reality format.

As America’s Got Talent recently celebrated the conclusion of its 20th 
anniversary on air, we seek contributions to a panel exploring the 
influence and longevity, economic significance, and cultural power of 
AGT and/or the widely popular Got Talent franchise (Fremantle). Got 
Talent aired AGT in 2006, which became its first international edition, 
also providing the playbook for versions in over 70 countries, including 
Britain’s Got Talent in 2007. Distinct from Fremantle’s Idol and The X 
Factor, which feature the mining of professional signing talent, Got 
Talent showcases amateur performances of any age group across numerous 
entertainment genres, including singing, dancing, stand-up comedy, 
magic, ventriloquism, impressionists, acrobatics, contortionists, and 
more recently, techno-futuristic light and robotic spectacles.

While the conventional tropes of reality formats (e.g., “back-stage” 
personal narratives; discourses of care in live television production; 
fantasy of participatory democracy, promise of celebrity/stardom, etc.) 
remain the staple of the Got Talent brand, we welcome new or extended 
critical perspectives and research on Got Talent’s format evolution, 
modes of representation, digital distribution, and ideological 
implications that illuminate its transnational popularity in an 
increasingly polarized milieu. Paper proposals intersecting with ICA’s 
theme for 2026–“Communication and Inequalities in Context”–are encouraged.

Possible contributions may include, but are not limited to:
• Political economy of transnational talent reality formatting
• Celebrity production, democratization of celebrity
• Fandom, affect, audience practices, cultural labor
• Participatory democracy/culture
• Representation, identity, diversity/marginalization/alterity/disability
• Spectacle and commodification of performance
• Performance, (in)authenticity, exhibitionism/circus/carnival
• Discourses of care in live TV
• Aesthetics of reality scripting, music, visualization
• Production strategies in talent formatting
• Social media strategy/engagement/analytics
• International franchise distribution, brand licensing
• Got Talent history (format, production practices, performances, etc.)

If interested, please email Sue Collins ((scollins /at/ mtu.edu) 
<mailto:(scollins /at/ mtu.edu)>) by October 15. (The ICA submission deadline 
is Monday, November 3.) As per the division’s guidelines, please send a 
150-word abstract for your paper, along with a paper title and a brief 
bio (less than 100 words).

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