"Stella Maris, we are not fake": Exploratory approach to the transmedia universe of the television series La Mesías (Movistar+, 2023)

Abstract

La Mesías (Movistar+, 2023) is a Spanish television series that unfolds the story of a dysfunctional family from which emerges a musical group, Stella Maris. In the television series, its creators reinterpret viral phenomena of online origin, especially the case of the Spanish group Flos Mariae. The main objective of this paper is to explore the transmedia universe of the series, for which it is necessary to locate, compare, and analyze the actions of the fictional musical group on social media. The intention is also to identify how a relation is established between the fictional narrative and the virtualized narrative on social media. An exploratory and descriptive methodology based on the case study is applied. The results confirm that transmedia actions around Stella Maris and La Mesías expand the narrative of the series, to the extent of leading it to a performative experience. Furthermore, these actions propose a play on the boundaries between mediated reality and fiction based on the developed transmedia narrative. The results invite discussion about the "real" nature of artistic actions in the context of mediated cultural production.