Field migration, cultural mobility and celebrity: The case of Paul McCartney

This paper discusses the phenomenon of celebrity migration, whereby figures established in one cultural field attempt to cross over into a neighbouring field, a long-standing practice in the arts more generally, but one which is fraught with risk for the individual. I illustrate this with a case study of the popular musician Paul McCartney, who has spent the last two decades attempting to take up residence in the field of classical music, with considerable commercial success. However, McCartney’s status as a classical composer is challenged by the almost universally negative reviews of his work in the classical music press. Since one criterion for defining a field is its specific principles of evaluation, it would seem that his migration has failed to establish him as a legitimate producer in his adopted field. Following a discussion of McCartney’s career and analysis of some of the critical reviews of his classical work, I suggest some reasons for this relatively unsuccessful migration with reference to other artists who have attempted similar boundary crossings.