“A parenthesis”, “a cocoon”: why did Star Academy 2022 do us good?

“It’s the parenthesis I needed most in my life, sincerely.” On Twitter, Coralyne seems grateful, and already nostalgic. She entrusts these simple words to Internet users, while the four finalists of the Star Academy say goodbye to the castle of Dammarie-lès-Lys. She follows their tears livesince it subscribed to the TF1 formula which allowed fans of the program to watch the daily life of the students live, from sports lessons on waking up to moments of friendship before bedtime.

On Saturday November 26, one of them will be crowned by viewers who will have mostly sent “1”, “2”, “3” or “4” by SMS, the big winner of this 2022 edition. Like Jenifer, almost twenty-one before, or the star Gregory Lemarchal, three years later. Nikos Aliagas will hold the suspense for a few seconds which will seem like an eternity to them, before delivering them, with the cry of a first name into his microphone. Like two decades ago too.

Reviving Positive Childhood Memories

Because if this reboot has met its audience, it is partly because it has rediscovered these cult codes.

The Endemol production and the channel were able to “revive our memories, create an effect of nostalgia”, analyzes Mélissa Pangny, psychologist specializing in the psyche and human behavior. Who immediately specifies: “Nostalgia is not only ‘It was better before’. This program has activated a positive nostalgia.”

If we manage to get back into it, it means we haven’t changed that much. It can be reassuring.

“Viewers who appreciated the concept in the early 2000s remember what states they were in and what emotions they felt in front of the shows, but also, beyond this framework, in the schoolyard, at the university. .. They remember who they were at that time and look back on their lives”, develops the interviewee.

This positive nostalgia caused by Proust’s madeleine tele-hook could also reinforce self-confidence: “If we manage to immerse ourselves in it again, it means that we have not changed so much and still have the same sensitivities, reasons the specialist. . It can be reassuring.”

“Light bubble” in an anxiety-provoking daily life

These six weeks in the decor of our childhood would then have brought back a happy “me”, belonging to a light era, far from an adult life with its problems… of an adult. “The spectator was able to quickly plunge back into the naivety and serenity in which he was at this period”, formulates the psychologist. Before qualifying: “This effect can only occur in those who had a peaceful childhood”.

In front of the television, we can talk about oneself and one’s own childhood to one’s child.

More than a “parenthesis” – to use Coraline’s term – in her personal life and daily hassles, Mélissa Pangny envisages this new generation “Star Ac”, and more generally, the phenomenon of reboot cult cultural programs suites of Sex and the City and Un dos Tres to the reunion shows of the six Friends or the cast ofHarry Potter), like “a light bubble, a cocoon, which allows you to extricate yourself from the current anxiety-provoking atmosphere”. And to Melik, press attaché and uncle of Ahcène, solar candidate of this new promotion, to illustrate: “I do not think of war, conflicts, inflation. It entertains me”. Merely.

Vintage entertainment is also good for Chloé, a 26-year-old Marseillaise. He quickly became an accomplice date with his daughter. “We both like it.” The psychologist also points out, for her part, “the tool of mediation, of transmission” that this return to the screen constitutes: “In front of the television, via the show and through comments, we can talk about oneself and one’s own childhood to one’s child”.

Appreciated return to true reality TV

Unanimously, enthusiastic respondents spoke of the authenticity of the program. It clashes with current reality TV, which, precisely, seems much less “real” to them.

We thought this spirit had disappeared since the birth of the candidate-influencers.

“I became attached to his sincere students, who want to succeed in music and not do buzz, testifies Karen, a 28-year-old physiotherapist from Toulouse. We thought this spirit had disappeared since the birth of the candidate-influencers.”

The residents of the mythical brick castle “are not there to cause scandals”, abounds Julie, a 21-year-old Parisian student, “now patched up with reality TV”, when she no longer identified with franchises such as that The people of Marseilles Where Angels, “too false”. She notes a welcome return to “fixed cameras”, which allow candidates to forget that they are being filmed. And force them not to pretend.

“The students seem more real than other reality TV candidates who are more trained in the exercise. There are also true teachers, who have a true career. This veracity in the format allows spectators a better projection, to feel closer to these potential future stars, to be touched by them”, lists the expert in human behavior.

A “breath of benevolence”

Chloé appreciated this diverse cast, where the youth were not represented as a silly and mocked group, while Karen felt carried by “the humanity of the teachers”, perhaps even more palpable than in the original version. .

His attachment to the various protagonists also held “to the deadlines of the week: the evaluations, the nominations, the preparation for the bonus”. Several stages, like so many moments to oneself. Or to share.

Because the “breath of benevolence”, to use the expression of director Michael Goldman during the last daily newspaper, which has (generally, with its share of failures not to be minimized) blown on our screens has even spread on Twitter. Where, despite incomprehensible trolls or aggressive tweeters, tenderly constructive or simply affectionate comments on students and their teachers rose each evening among the most shared messages in France on the platform. Appease Twitter? A feat.