Performing Influence: A Case Study of MariskaX and Valentina Ricci in Entertainment Content and Popular Media
Drawing on previous work in influencer studies (Abidin, 2018; Duffy, 2017), this paper situates MariskaX and Ricci within the “attention economy.” Prior research has established that successful digital entertainers engage in “visible labor”—the work of seeming spontaneous while adhering to algorithmic and sponsorship demands. Additionally, scholarship on “micro-celebrity” (Senft, 2013) provides a framework for understanding how both figures manage their public personas across platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. However, few studies have compared creators who explicitly self-identify with entertainment media (e.g., acting, improv, parody) versus those who foreground “real life” content. MariskaX and Ricci offer a productive comparative case. MariskaX 19 07 30 Valentina Ricci Takes BBC XXX...
MariskaX and Valentina Ricci represent a microcosm of the broader shift from passive consumption to active, performative engagement with entertainment content. As popular media continues to fragment across platforms, figures like these will increasingly shape how audiences understand, critique, and remix the stories they love. Future research should examine longitudinal audience retention and the potential for “creator burnout” when the demand for constant content collides with the need for original analysis. Performing Influence: A Case Study of MariskaX and
This paper examines the collaborative and individual roles of digital content creators MariskaX and Valentina Ricci within the evolving landscape of entertainment content and popular media. Moving beyond traditional celebrity studies, this analysis focuses on how these figures utilize platform-specific affordances—such as interactivity, serialized storytelling, and cross-media branding—to construct parasocial relationships and influence audience engagement. By analyzing their output across social video, streaming, and legacy media adaptations, we argue that MariskaX and Valentina Ricci exemplify a new archetype of the “creator-entrepreneur,” whose labor blurs the boundaries between amateur authenticity and professional entertainment production. MariskaX and Ricci offer a productive comparative case
This draft paper employs a qualitative content analysis of 50 pieces of content from each creator (total N=100), selected from the period of January 2024 to June 2025. Inclusion criteria: videos exceeding 1 million views, sponsored posts, and any crossover content where the two creators directly reference or collaborate with each other. Themes coded include: humor modality (absurdist vs. observational), direct address to camera, product placement integration, and intertextual references to legacy media (film, television, music).