Personalized technology is taking over people’s lives all across the globe; the Internet, X-box, i-phones, Blackberries. We now can perfectly tailor everything just for us, and our entertainment is increasingly interactive. According to Michael Keane and Albert Moran in their essay Television’s New Engines, this obsession with being involved in our own media has caused television networks to create new engines that will involve and inspire viewers, and because the personalized technology phenomenon is world wide, the new engines tend to spread through franchises like the Idol franchise.
Keane and Moran say included in this engine format is the concept of “voting off.” They state, “The voting off engine in turn plays off in-built conflict, often carefully integrated into the mix in the contestant selection stage” (Keane and Moran, 160). “Voting off” allows viewers to feel as if the show is being catered to them and makes them feel that “their” idol is uniquely their/ their nation’s own. In the early audition processes the show generally goes from city to city doing casting calls. Before each of these episodes there are always shots from around the city, giving viewers a tour of different parts of their country. This makes it difficult to not see the show as uniquely Philippine, German or American.
Despite this feeling of national pride the concept of Idol evokes, it is impossible not to see the homogeny that comes along with it. Indeed the contestants are all the viewers’ fellow countrymen from the places they live and recognize, however the format of the show is exactly the same from nation to nation, and most often contestants are required to sing songs made famous by Americans in America. For example, in the aforementioned mass audition sequences, contestants all attempt to sing American songs in English, and for each country the way the audition process is captured is exactly the same. The long line of hopefuls is seen cheering, the attractive host interviews potential contestants who are either praised or disparaged by the three judges, and of course there is always someone who makes a fool out of him or herself.
Here are images from Idol casting calls in Germany, The Philippines, and the U.S.
There is no argument that the homogenization of pop music and media around the globe has been happening for years, and whether or not Idol alone squelches a country’s local sound and color is difficult to say. However, there is no doubt that behind all the corporate (for lack of a better word) B.S., there is something positive about giving people a voice in their nation’s mass media. In her article from Newsweek Lorraine Alli says of the Idol franchise, “In places where the concept of democracy is still shaky, “Idol” lets viewers have the vote” (Alli). This above all, is the core reason for Idol’s success as a franchise. It allows people to feel connected to not only their fellow countrymen, but it also provides a global connection and a hopeful glimpse at a positive global future.
Sources:
Keane, Michael and Albert Moran. “Television’s New Engines.” Television and New
Media. 9.2 (2008): 155-169.
“American Idol.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Inc. 2009.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Idol October 19, 2009.
Ali, Lorraine. “True or False: ‘Idol’ Airs on Every Continent but Antarctica.” Newsweek.
July 2-9, 2007. 67.
Pinoy Idol. Fremantle Media. 2008. http://www.igma.tv/pinoyidol/videos/auditions/1
American Idol. Fremantle Media, Fox. http://www.americanidol.com/
Deutschland sucht den Superstar. Fremantle Media. 2009.
