Melodifestivalen är ett underhållningsprogram som ofta associeras med kvinnor trots att kvinnor inte numerärt är mer framgångsrika än män i tävlingen. Kvinnor tillåts inte heller ta lika mycket plats som män i Melodifestivalen. Masteruppsatsarbetets huvudsakliga syfte är att undersöka vilka former av femininitet som ges utrymme i Melodifestivalen mellan åren 2002 till 2016. Detta har gjorts genom en studie av sekvenser från de TV-sända finalerna av Melodifestivalen. Masteruppsatsarbetet beskriver olika femininiteter utifrån teorier om performativitet, femininitet och kulturella representationer. Detta leder fram till en slutsats som visar att kvinnor representeras i relation till sin kropp genom förväntade vackra utseenden medan män representeras i relation till sin hjärna med expertuttalanden. Fokuseringen på kvinnans utseende representeras dock på olika sätt och de olika formerna av femininitet kan kategoriseras in i kategorierna ”modern/frun”, ”väninnan”, ”divan” och det ”kvinnliga subjektet”. De olika kategorierna förhandlar med femininitetsnormer och respektabilitet på olika sätt där både reproducerande och subversiva handlingar ingår.

Since its inception in 1956, the EurovisionSong Contest has been a stage for national representation and an opportunityfor countries to brand themselves. The 2012 Eurovision Song Contest in Baku,Azerbaijan is a prime example of nation branding, both for the host country aswell as the participating countries. Hosting the event gives a country the opportunity to present a specific nation brand, but there are other opportunities for those countries which only have a three-minute time-frame for their performance in presenting a national image. These performances are themain subject of this thesis, which main question is: How do nation-states use the Eurovision Song Contest as a means of nation branding?            To answer this question, I use three sub-questions. First, I focus on the concept of identity: how does musical performance represent national and European identity in the context of the Eurovision Song Contest? Secondly, I study the translation of national identity into an image that should appeal to all of Europe, by creating a specific nation brand: how do nations use nation branding through culture as a tool to build an appealing image within the context of Eurovision? Lastly, I study the performance of these nation brands in specific cases during the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest: how is a nation-branded image performed in the Eurovision Song Contest?             The first two chapters of my thesis consist of an analysis of literature on identity and nation branding in combination with national representation in Eurovision. My third and last chapter consists of performance analyses of 2012 participants, focusing on performances from Romania, Russia, Ukraine and Montenegro, which in 2012 were some of the richest performances in terms of symbolism concerningnational representation.

There are several studies observing the phenomenon of nation branding as political pursuits and as texts. However, the media are generally treated as neutral platforms in branding literature. Also, relatively little has been done to explore how the context of branding affects the level of text production, not least in relation to media events. Deploying a cultural approach, the present study suggests that the production of branding may be examined in terms of cultural codes (Hall, 1982) and dominant or preferred meanings (Hall, 1973/1992). The aim of this study is to explore processes of nation branding, as part of media events, from a media production perspective. This is done through observations of the encoding/decoding of the branding narrative of the Europeanness of Eurovision, as formula for a revised Ukrainian identity, in production and backstage processes of the event 2017. The material consists of qualitative interviews with five agents involved in the branding of Ukraine during Eurovision The analysis is based on the theoretical concepts of, firstly, Hall’s (1973/1992) model of encoding/decoding and, secondly, Ytreberg’s (1999) model for the analysis of text production. Hall emphasises the discursive aspects of audiences’ interpretations, but, with reference to Ytreberg’s idea of text production as a result of negotiated interpretations, it is argued that discursive aspects are just as significant for agents in the production process. Three cases are used to illuminate the tensions in the media production of the branding narrative: The encoding/decoding of a branding concept, of the relationship to Russia, and of a Ukrainian Europeanness. The tensions mainly occur between the agents in the professional position in relation to oppositional readings of the dominant code (Hall, 1973/1992). They can be understood as struggles over the preferred meaning (Hall, 1973/1992) of Ukraine’s Europeanness in the branding narrative, which are enacted in the media production. The two main strategies for negotiating the tensions regard the representation of the categories of time and space. However, I propose that the agents in the media production also perform a third strategy in relation to the tensions that arise, the detached strategy of professionalism, based in the frameworks of knowledge (Hall, 1973/1992) that the agents possess.

The use of cultural boycotts motivated by international conflicts between countries or regions has long been observed within sports. However, so far it has not been studied in other context of international competition like the Eurovision Song Contest. This essay aims to evaluate if we can understand political actions like boycotts or political symbolism through existing theories regarding political symbolism. This case study has chosen three withdrawals during the 21th century, which have been made due to conflict with another competing country. The withdrawals studied are Lebanon in 2005, Georgia in 2009 and Armenia in 2012. Through the use of political symbolism and boycotts as a political mean the three cases have been studied and classified. The result shows that current theories regarding political symbolism can be applied to understand two out of the three cases. The Lebanese withdrawal can be understood as a classic political boycott against Israel and the Georgian withdrawal as protest against Russia and therefor a case of political symbolism. The Armenian withdrawal has been characterized as a different kind of political symbolism than previously has been observed within the field of study. This essay has chosen to identify the case of Armenia as morally motivated political symbolism.

Denna uppsats har som syfte att undersöka samt analysera klipptekniker och kameraarbete genom en jämförelse mellan Eurovision Song Contest år 2000 respektive år 2016. Detta för att visa på hur kamera och klippning påverkar bidrags konstnärliga uttryck samt diskutera en eventuell utveckling. Barry Salts arbete angående kopplingen mellan datainsamling och filmstil appliceras på denna uppsats och ger den dess metodologi. En djupgående analys på utvalda bidrag genomförs utifrån en multimodal infallsvinkel. Detta för att förtydliga förhållandet mellan diskurs och produktion och därigenom ge uppsatsen en beskrivning av klipptekniker och kameraarbetes vikt i bidragens individualitet. Uppsatsens undersökning samt analys visar på en förändring under åren. Speciellt i vilka tekniker som används för att uttrycka bidragens konstnärliga faktorer men det som kvarstår är viljan att anpassa det visuella arbetet efter varje bidrags specifika egenskaper.

När Sverige är värdland för Eurovision Song Contest ges de en möjlighet att visa upp och presentera sitt land för en hel värld. Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka hur föreställningar om Sverige och svenskhet konstrueras och reproduceras genom Eurovision Song Contest. Genom att titta på tv-sändningarna från ESC 2013 och 2016 då Sverige stod för värdskapet analyserar jag hur Sveriges självpresentation görs och hur talet om Sverige och svenskhet bidrar till en föreställd gemenskap inom landet. Föreställningar om Sverige och svenskhet konstrueras och reproduceras hela tiden i programmen men det görs inom ESC:s specifika kontext. I ESC finns en föreställning om ett enat och jämlikt Europa. Denna föreställning behöver hela tiden upprätthållas av värdlandet i sin självpresentation. Därför tilldelas Sverige ständigt dubbla roller där de både behöver vara särskiljande för att kunna sälja in sitt land, samtidigt som de måste vara enande för att upprätthålla föreställningen om ett enat Europa.

The cultural event Eurovision Song Contest has shown signs to contain international conflicts where countries have not been able to keep them out of the competition, which has created a “spill over effect” on the event. This thesis has aimed to investigate why culture, in this case the Eurovision Song Contest, has become an arena for international identity politics, as the contest should be a depoliticised arena. The thesis has been studied as a case study and international conflicts have been investigated as the cases. The selected conflicts that are investigated in this thesis are the one´s between Russia and Ukraine, Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as Israel, Lebanon and Palestine. The conservative LGBTQ-discussion has also been analysed as a fourth conflict. The study has been analysed from a discourse analysis and with the theoretical perspective of constructivism, which has been used as an explanatory theory. The selected empirical material mainly involve media reports related to the Eurovision Song Contest.  The analysis shows that the countries demonstrated a lack of mutual understanding of each other's interests, which the theory constructivism claims are a requirement for cooperation. The conflicts have arisen and appeared in different ways, but all of them have also been about fragmented identity perceptions. This has partly been an explanation of why conflicts have arisen in a cultural context such as the Eurovision Song Contest. The explanation on the LGBTQ-discussion has also been about different perceptions of identity and interests but it has mainly been about a new norm, where love can exist between the same sexes and where identities do not need to be defined based on just men and women. According to constructivism, this new norm will need time to be accepted and until it will belong to social constructs. Eastern Europe and Western Europe differ in this fact where Eastern Europe has not come as far in the development with the LGBTQ-discussion.

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Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur nationer använder nationsmarknadsföring och narrativitet för att förmedla en särskild bild genom att nyttja Eurovision Song Contest som kommunikationsplattform. Undersökningen görs via en semiotisk analys som granskar utvalda visuella delar från tre nationer som agerat värd för evenemanget mellan åren 2009–2018. Resultatet av analysen visar på att nationerna följer olika narrativa spår som lyfter särskilda saker. I diskussionsavsnittet tas två olika hypoteser upp angående värdländernas nationsmarknadsföringar. Den ena är den kulturella hypotesen, alltså att värdlandets kulturella bakgrund präglar nationsmarknadsföringen. Den andra är den strategiska hypotesen som syftar till att värdlandet strategiskt väljer att använda särskilda narrativ utifrån exempelvis sin politiska situation. Diskussionen poängterar dock att andra faktorer kan ha inverkan på nationsmarknadsföringen, såsom huruvida nationen tidigare varit värdland i evenemanget.

Since its debut 1956 Eurovision Song Contest has been a live televised music competition. Over several decades the contest has evolved and with modern technology the contest is about more than just the musical aspects. There are now many more factors to consider while watching and judging the competing acts. Various modes of communications, such as audio, visual, and performance elements, collectively create meaning and contributes to the overall viewing experience. To understand which elements are more profound in creating meaning, a study of seven Eurovision fans was undertaken in a focus group. The fans got to watch seven handpicked Eurovision performances from within the past decade (2014-2023). The result is a discussion about how this audience perceive and value modes and to which degree these aspects generated meaning for each of them individually. Through a comprehensive analysis of the discussion, the study aims to uncover patterns, preferences, and the evolving role of multimodality in shaping the audience's perception of Eurovision as a multimedia spectacle. The participants were able to speak freely about the subject due to their shared interest of the topic, yet the conversation did not particularly hold any evidence of multimodal patterns nor multimodal grammar.