Mid-Term Assignment

Ryan Bingham

Film 314 Midterm Essay

American Idol (Simon Fuller, 2002, UK) is one of the most successful American television franchises of all time; it has given us numerous top artists in the world of music and entertainment. It might surprise some Americans, however, that the show actually originated in Great Britain under the name Pop Idol (Simon Fuller, 2001, UK); then migrated to the U.S. Since then, the Idol franchise has exploded on to the international scene with sister shows cropping up in 37 additional countries.

The Idol franchise model was developed by 19 Entertainment; it is a competitive reality show that allows contestants to perform in front of a panel of three or four judges, typically top players in the music industry, who decide what singers move to the next round. After the field is weeded down to the more serious contestants, they then perform in front of a live audience and are broadcasted on national networks. The final decision lies with the fans who voice their opinion via telephone. This essay will examine three Idol franchises from Sweden, Australia, and Kazakhstan and how they exemplify globalization.

Sweden first created an Idol franchise in 2004 (Idol) and saw Daniel Lidstrom as its first winner. Pop Idol’s spread to Sweden is a good representation of the homogenization of media at the global level. 39 countries now have an Idol franchise, and Idol is not alone; there are multiple franchises that have penetrated the global market. To use Appadurai’s term, the global “mediascape” (Appadurai) has devolved into a non-diverse conglomerate of essentially identical programming with the only distinction being the language the contestants are singing in.
Kazakhstan first aired its version of the Idol franchise in 2003 and called it SuperStar KZ. Unfortunately, the show only aired until 2007. Despite being Kazakh, KZ was presented entirely in Russian. This may have led to the show being discontinued, as Kazakhstan is a country that has become accustomed to living in the vast shadow of Russia, politically, socially, and economically. Perhaps the viewership grew tired of this Russian influence and abandoned the program because KZ is somewhat of an anomaly in the seemingly ever-successful Idol franchise.

In 2003, Australia created their version of the franchise, Australian Idol. The show has been extremely successful and has quietly found ways to put small touches of individualism in this heavily communal franchise. Judge Mark Holden gives contestants a “touchdown” whenever they perform at an unusually high level, making him the only Idol judge with his own little catch phrase, which undoubtedly boosts marketability (Australianidol.com).

Each of these examples of the Idol franchise illustrates this quote from A. Aneesh’s Virtual Migration: “The programming schemes of virtual integration do not entail transporting the body from one place to another; instead they keep the body in one place while performance travels to other locations.” (Aneesh 69). This virtual travel is a huge cog in the wheel of life in the 21st century.

Works Cited
Arjun Appadurai. Modernity At Large
A. Aneesh. Virtual Migration
www.australianidol.com


Idol (Sweden)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qAWWqyfx50&feature=related

SuperStar KZ (Kazakhstan)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQWecSHMR7o

Australian Idol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZtmacqT4d4