How American Idol Constructs Celebrity, Collective Identity, and American Discourses
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AMERICAN IDEAL: HOW AMERICAN IDOL CONSTRUCTS CELEBRITY, COLLECTIVE IDENTITY, AND AMERICAN DISCOURSES A Dissertation Submitted to the Temple University Graduate Board In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Amanda Scheiner McClain May, 2010 i © Copyright 2010 by Amanda Scheiner McClain All Rights Reserved ii ABSTRACT This dissertation is a three-pronged study examining American themes, celebrity, and collective identity associated with the television program American Idol. The study includes discourse analyses of the first seven seasons of the program, of the season seven official American Idol message boards, and of the 2002 and 2008 show press coverage. The American themes included a rags-to-riches narrative, archetypes, and celebrity. The discourse-formed archetypes indicate which archetypes people of varied races may inhabit, who may be sexual, and what kinds of sexuality are permitted. On the show emotional exhibitions, archetypal resonance, and talent create a seemingly authentic celebrity while discourse positioning confirms this celebrity. The show also fostered a complication-free national American collective identity through the show discourse, while the online message boards facilitated the formation of two types of collective identities: a large group of American Idol fans and smaller contestant-affiliated fan groups. Finally, the press coverage study found two overtones present in the 2002 coverage, derision and awe, which were absent in the 2008 coverage. The primary reasons for this absence may be reluctance to criticize an immensely popular show and that the American Idol success was no longer surprising by 2008. By 2008, American Idol was so ingrained within American culture that to deride it was to critique America itself. In sum, the findings were that American Idol presents an ideal version of American culture, where gender, race, and class issues are non-existent, power is shared democratically, the American national identity is fair, generous, familial, and celebrity and success are easily attainable. This idealization of contemporary American culture functions to sustain the current status quo of economic and cultural standards. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my advisor, Carolyn Kitch, for her ceaseless enthusiasm for this project, editing skills, and never-ending encouragement. I’d also like to thank my committee members, Andy Mendelson and Nancy Morris, for reading and helping to revise a dissertation that became very long. Thanks also to Adam Spector for his help in finding the American Idol seasons online. Lastly, thank you to my wonderful husband, Jordan McClain. I greatly appreciate your willingness to listen, to discuss, and to watch an endless amount of reality TV. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………………………………………….III ACKNOWLEDGMENTS………………………………………………………………………………………...IV CHAPTER 1. AMERICAN IDOL ...................................................................................................1 2. OVERVIEW OF THEORY AND METHODS.....................................................15 3. RAGS TO RICHES AND THE DISCOURSE OF DREAMS..............................62 4. CONTESTANT ARCHETYPES ..........................................................................83 5. NARRATIVES OF AUTHENTICITY................................................................138 6. NARRATIVES OF TRANSFORMATION TO CELEBRITY...........................204 7. SHOW DISCOURSE AND COLLECTIVE IDENTITY....................................247 8. COLLECTIVE IDENTITIES ON THE AMERICAN IDOL MESSAGE BOARDS .............................................................................................................274 9. AMERICAN IDOL PRESS COVERAGE: 2002 AND 2008 ...............................294 10. CONCLUSION....................................................................................................327 REFERENCES ....................................................................................................356 v CHAPTER ONE: AMERICAN IDOL American Idol debuted in the summer of 2002 on the FOX network as just another show that could have been cancelled at any moment, unless it acquired the right audience. It did. By the end of the first season the finale attracted more than 23 million viewers, the highest ratings FOX had received for a non-sports show in ten years (Bignell, 2005). The ratings continued to grow over the subsequent seasons. The third season finale, in 2004, drew 34 million viewers, earning the rank of the third highest-rated program of the year, after the Superbowl and the season finale of reality show Joe Millionaire (Bignell, 2005). The American Idol ratings dominance continued in 2004 and 2005, with the 2005 fourth season averaging an audience of 26.8 million viewers over the course of the season, a five percent increase from the previous season. The 2006 fifth season premiere attracted a sizeable audience of 35.5 million viewers (Keveney, 2006) and an average audience over the season of more than 30 million viewers (Garrity & Waddell, 2007). The fifth, sixth, and seventh seasons averaged more than 30 million viewers per night (Rosen, 2007; Serpe, 2007). In 2007, the sixth season of American Idol ranked as the most-watched TV series for the fourth year in a row (Serpe, 2007). Moreover, by the end of the 2007-2008 television season, the Fox network had the most viewers of any channel for the entire season, including the highly coveted 18-to-49-year-old viewer age bracket (de Moraes, May 23, 2008a). American Idol was also the most time-shifted show, recorded on digital video recorders or TiVo and watched within seven days (Serjeant, 2008). One reason for the popularity of American Idol is its family appeal: it “lies at the intersection of youth and adult tastes, allowing everyone to show some expertise” (Jenkins, 2006, p. 81). 1 The American Idol ratings and popularity warrant study of the program and the communities engendered by it. As it dominates the television ratings, the contestants and judges appear in major news outlets, such as People magazine, Time, USA Today, The Today Show, and The Tonight Show. Stories associated with American Idol are prevalent across all forms of media. American Idol, originally British and titled Pop Idol, has entered the national lexicon. At least partially due to its enormous success, the format of Pop Idol is replicated across the globe. The American Idol brand is conservatively valued at 2.5 billion dollars (Atkinson, 2007). Each season, Americans across the country debate the merits of contestants, at home, at work, and live on TV. American Idol’s popularity is almost unavoidable. American Idol illustrates national ideas about American identity and celebrity and connotes prevalent social themes of 2000s American culture. American Idol is a model of the American obsession with fame, due to the thousands of people who audition and the annual millions of viewers. Simultaneously, the apparent transparency of American Idol permits the examination of the preoccupation with celebrity through the visible formation of a nobody into a star. Previously, icons were created behind the scenes, requiring the right mixture of a carefully groomed image, sex appeal, and marketing to produce fan frenzy. American Idol, while mimicking the tried-and-true formula for star creation, attempts to reveal some of the operations behind the curtain by allowing audiences to seemingly view and aid in the idol creation process, while at the same time ironically utilizing the same marketing techniques to help create the ensuing popularity. Celebrity is created through appearances on the show, in other media, and through gaining viewers’ adulation. 2 American Idol is a deceptively simple reality TV program. Each year thousands of people audition in six or seven cities across the country. TV viewers see presumably producer-selected auditioners sing for judges Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, Simon Cowell, and an occasional guest judge. Kara Dioguardi joined the judges in season eight and Ellen DeGeneres replaced Paula Abdul in season nine. The panel of experts then selects about one hundred contestants to participate in “Hollywood week,” which usually airs over two weeks. In Hollywood, the contestants perform individually and in groups. The judges eliminate contestants throughout the week, ultimately ending with a semi- final group of sixteen to twenty-four people, depending on the season. Next, during the semi-final round, the contestants perform over the span of three weeks in front of a small studio audience; the judges continue to critique contestants’ performances. However, they do not decide who is eliminated. From this point after “Hollywood week,” the voting audience determines who will remain in the competition. Every week, each contestant is assigned a toll-free telephone number. Viewers may vote by calling or AT & T subscribers may vote via text messaging. Typically, contestants sing on a two-hour Tuesday evening show and then people at home may vote for two hours following the show. The contestant who received the lowest total of votes is revealed on the program the next night, Wednesday—that person is eliminated. Seasons one, two, and three also included a semi-final wild card week, in which previously eliminated contestants were invited back to sing one more night in hopes of making the top twelve. The first season’s top twelve contestants included one wild card contestant chosen by the judges, while the