Using Reality Television As a Tooi for Popular Education by Bonnie

Emotionai Awareness: Using Reality Television as a Tooi for Popular Education

Bonnie Maureen Bamett

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts

Department of Integrated Studies in Education Culture and Values in Education Mc Gill University Montreal, Canada

August 2005

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Despite being dismissed as low brow, nonsensical and a cheap form of entertainment, the present cultural phenomenon of reality television reveals a shared space where people are exposing more personalized, emotional aspects of themselves than typically seen in other genres of television programming or areas of contemporary public life. This recent trend of reality TV is both heightening and challenging many of the long-standing ethical debates over the boundaries between public and private, individual and collective as well as rational and emotional experience and needs to be considered within a pedagogical context. This study will explore reality television's position as a means of popular education, while attending to a broader social context of changing media and corresponding cultural shifts. A McLuhanesque study, this thesis will investigate what socio-cultural changes are occurring in our media environment as a result of our experiences within new media technologies. RÉSUMÉ

Malgré son indifférence comme une fonne de divertissement vulgaire, peu intellectuel et absurde, le phénomène culturel actuel de la télévision réalité indique un espace partagé où les gens exposent des aspects plus personnalisés et émotifs d'eux mêmes que typiquement vus dans d'autres genres d'émissions télévisées ou secteurs de la vie publique contemporaine. Cette tendance récente de la télévision réalité intensifie et ranime plusieurs des débats moraux de longue date concernant les frontières entre les domaines public et privé, individuel et collectif aussi bien que de l'expérience rationnelle et émotive. Elle doit être considérée dans un contexte pédagogique. Cette thèse explorera la position de la télévision réalité en tant que moyen d'éducation populaire, tout en examinant un plus large contexte social des médias changeants et des décalages culturels correspondants. Cette étude

McLuhanesque quels changements socioculturels se produisent dans notre environnement médiatique en raison de nos expériences avec ces nouvelles technologies des médias. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

1 would like to thank my mum for her intellectual curiosity and love of life, and my sister,

Brigid for her invaluable support and caring. Thank you to the precious support of Ralia

Koutsogianopoulos, Naoko Takahatake, Vander Caballero and Anjali Choksi; 1 am grateful for your every word and hug.

Special thanks to the DISE department for providing a great space to explore and grow in. With thanks to the professors whose paths 1 crossed; Elizabeth Wood, Claudia

Mitchell, Ron Morris and Dean Roger SIee, 1 learned a lot from your genuine care and inspiring energy!

Most notably, 1 would like to thank my supervisor Michael Hoechsmann for your encouragement. 1 appreciated your opinions and interesting suggestions. 1 leamed a lot from you! Thank you © TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS ...... 1 CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION ...... 3 1.1 AN OVERVIEW ...... 3 1.2 DEFINITION OF REALITY TV ...... 4 1.3 THE POPULARITY OF REALITY TV ...... 5 1.4 Focus OF THE STUDY: OVER-ARCHING QUESTIONS EXPLORED ...... 6 1.5 OVERVIEW OF THE THESIS ...... 7 CHAPTER 2 - LITERA TURE REVIEW ••..•.•.••.•.•.•••••.•.•.•..•••.•••••••.••.•.••••..••...•.••.•..•..•.•..•.•.•.•...•.•.••••••••.•••• 8 2.1 CHAPTER Focus ...... 8 2.2 HUMANIZING TECHNOLOGY: AN OVERVIEW OF WHERE IT's AT ...... 9 2.2.1. Donald Norman: Emotional Design ...... 9 2.2.2. McLuhan 's Three Technological Phases ...... 11 2.3 LAUGH OR CRY: A TIMELINE OF REALITY TV ...... 13 2.3.1. Television History Changed Forever: 01/11173 ...... 15 2.4 NEW MEDIA: Do YOU FEEL IT? ...... 18 2.4.1. What is "new media"? ...... 18 2.5 REALITY TV: THE LUKEWARM MEDIUM ...... 20 2.5.1 TV.Com ...... 23 2.6 THE FEAR FACTOR: WHY BEING MEDIA LITERATE IS so SCARY! ...... 25 2.7 PEDAGOGY OF DISCOMFORT: THE "DIRTY LITTLE SECRET" ...... 30 2.8 CHAPTER SUMMARY ...... 33 CHAPTER 3 - METHODOLOGY: INTRODUCING THE TETRAD ..•.•....••.•••.••••••••••..•••••.••••••••••••.•• 34 3.1 CHAPTER Focus ...... 34 3.2 GENERAL ApPROACH ...... 34 3.3 FRAMEWORK ...... 36 3.4 ANALYSIS ...... 36 3.5 PROCEDURE ...... 37 3.5.1 How to Read a Tetrad ...... 40 3.5.2. Key Tetrad Questions ...... 41 Enhancement...... 41 Obsolescence ...... 41 Retrieval...... 42 Reversai ...... 43 3.6 METHOD INSTRUMENT ...... 44 3.7 SAMPLE ...... 45 3.8. CHAPTER SUMMARY ...... 47 CHAPTER 4: A TETRADIC READING OF AMERICAN IDOL ...... 48 4.1 CHAPTER Focus ...... 48 4.2 ENHANCEMENT ...... 50 4.2.1 The Personal ...... 50 4.2.2 Emotions ...... 55 4.2.3 Competition ...... 57 4.2.4 Global Village ...... 58 4.3 OBSOLESCE ...... 59 4.3.1 Musical Aptitude ...... 59 4.3.2 /nstitutional History ...... 61 4.3.3 Traditional Audition...... 62 4.3.4 Social Norm ofEtiquette ...... 63 4.4. RETRIEV AL ...... 65 4.4.1. Public Performance ...... 65 4.2.2 Flogging ...... 68 4.4.3. Judeo-Christian World View ...... 69 4.5. REVERSAL ...... 71 4.5. J The Protestant Work Ethic ...... 7J 4.5.2 Failure ...... 73 4.5.3. Discomfort ...... 75 4.6 CHAPTER SUMMARY: REVIEW OF ANAL YSIS ...... 79

CHAPTER 5 - CONCLUSION ...... 85

5.1 THESIS OVERVIEW ...... 85 5.2. FIFTEEN MINUTES OF (LUKEWARM) FAME ...... 85 5.3. THE EDUCATIONAL (NOT EXPLOITIVE) MERIT OF REALITY TELEVISION ...... 89

REFERENCES ...... 92

Figure 1. McLuhan on Hot and Cool Media ...... 21 Figure 2. Illustration of a Tetrad ...... 44 Figure 3. The Four Parts orthe Tetrad Applied to American Idol...... 49 Figure 4. Breakdown of Episodes of American Idol, Seasons 1-4 ...... 60

2 CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION

In the information age, you don't teach philosophy as they did after feudalism.

You perform it. If Aristotle were alive today he would have a talk show.

-Timothy Leary

1.1 An Overview

The recent trend of reality TV is both heightening and challenging many of the long standing ethical debates over the boundaries between public and private, individual and collective as weIl as rational and irrational experience; therefore this trend needs to be considered within a pedagogical context. Despite being dismissed as a low brow, nonsensical and cheap form of entertainrnent, the present cultural phenomenon of reality

TV reveals a shared space where people are exposing more personalized, and emotional aspects of themselves than typically seen in other genres of television programming or areas of contemporary public space. This thesis will explore how the personalized and emotional elements of reality television programming offer ordinary people an opportunity to extemalize their personal self and emotional experiences in the public realm. As a McLuhanesque study, this thesis will investigate what socio-cultural changes are occurring in our media environrnent as a result of our experiences within new media technologies.

3 1.2 Definition of Reality TV

reality television, television programmes that focus on non-fictional

subject matter, primarily with the aim of providing entertainment rather

than information; this style of programme is regarded as a television

genre.

reality TV orig. Us. = reality television

The Oxford English Dictionary Online, 2004 edition

While reality television is not a new media, but rather a new development in an existing one (i.e. television) this thesis explores how the attributes of new media technologies have influenced our emotional engagement within the current phenomenon of reality

1 television • This study explores what contemporary socio-cultural impulses may be revealed in the phenomenon of reality television. It is a study of cultural change as reflected in this new media genre. As a media education study, this thesis considers how emotions are cultivated within education and society at large, and suggests that media education should be more inclusive of the personalized, emotional impetus of leaming.

The traditional role of emotions within education has been one of discipline and subjugation, where emotions have been excluded as a reasonable means of knowing.

While emotions are ever present in our leaming process they are often ignored or depreciated by intellectuals as being irrational and nonsensical, containing no purpose within the logical search for truth. Academic scholarship has tended to privilege rational thought over 'irrational' emotionality; however, post-modem and critical feminist

1 Both the terms reality television and reality TV will be used interchangeably throughout this thesis.

4 theorists have challenged this convention and emphasize emotions as an essential and insightful conduit to knowledge (Lupton, 1998). 1 would argue that the CUITent public personal and emotional displays of ordinary people on reality television programs challenges how emotions have customarily been characterized as a natural, private, individualized experience, where acknowledging and discussing one's emotions within a community has been exc1uded, if not shunned, from our public sphere.

1.3 The Popularity of Reality TV

Elspeth Probyn (2004), a Professor of Gender Studies at the University of Sydney, notes that if asked what she thought the appeal to watching talk shows or reality TV programs was, her educated guess is that it is something regarding the staging of real emotions.

This staging of real emotions is most evident in the fact that reality television programs explore and act on emotional experiences people can relate to. With shows such as

Survivor, Fear Factor, Eliminated, Average Joe and Joe Millionaire, reality television programs succeed as they play off real-life concerns of looking for love, experiencing fear and anxiety, competing to win a job or an immense prize, or becoming a millionaire - or other fantasies that many people can relate to (Frisby, 2004). Cynthia Frisby, a

Professor of Advertising at the University of Missouri, School of Journalism, Columbia, states that "despite the shifting desires of society and the fickleness of television audiences, the human need to compare and relate has provided a market for this genre

(ibid)."

Human emotional experience lS multi-faceted, encompassmg biological sensations, psychological ramifications and philosophical underpinnings. This increase in public,

5 shared emotional experiences in the media is an excellent opportunity for educators to illuminate the emotional awareness of leaming that has traditionally been excluded or located in the hidden curriculum. By emotional awareness, 1 mean a personal understanding of one's feelings and what to do with such insight. This is important to consider, as the absence of emotional awareness in leaming has the detrimental effect of separating the leamer from the passionate engagement of knowing, as weIl as incapacitating the leamer from consciously acting.

1.4 Focus of the Study: Over-Arching Questions Explored

The examination of the phenomenon of American Idol resides within a set of over arching questions. We must ask what we can leam from observing how we are engaging with the media-environment we are creating. In particular, what aspects of reality television are resonating with the viewers? What meaning resides in this new genre? This particular investigation oftoday's pop culture phenomenon ofreality TV seeks to explore what (if any) innovative and evolutionary shifts are taking place within this new genre of television programming. Little work has been done on the specifie topic of reality television and the means by which people are re-inventing themselves through this new genre of television programming. This study hopes to contribute to a growing body of research in this emerging area of 'media ecology'. The following three focal questions structure and guide the investigation of what cultural shifts may be occurring as a result of our engagement with reality television. The over arching questions of this study are:

• Why is reality TV resonating as a cultural phenomenon now?

• What cultural shifts are occurring as a result of this new television genre?

6 • What are the educational implications of the answers to the two prevlOus

questions?

1.5 Overview ofthe Thesis ln this chapter, 1 have introduced and highlighted the neglected role of emotions within education and society at large to explore how the CUITent phenomenon of reality television is exemplifying a desire to connect more personally and emotionally within the media experience of reality TV. In the second chapter, 1 review literature from various disciplines in order to assess the cultural positioning of the technological innovations that are influencing the new genre of reality television programming, as weIl as literature on the historical positioning of reality TV shows. The chapter also discusses in depth the work of educational theorist Megan Boler on emotions and education. The third chapter,

Methodology, introduces the methodological instrument of the tetrad, based on Marshall

McLuhan's Laws ofMedia. In the fourth chapter, which is focused on analysis, 1 conduct a tetradic reading of the reality television program, American Idol, and offer a comprehensive reading of the intertextual experiences of reality television. The concluding chapter summarizes how a closer look at reality television reveals that it is arguably more educational than it is exploitative ofpeople's personal identity

7 CHAPTER 2 - LITERA TURE REVIEW

2.1 Chapter Focus

This chapter draws on work from various fields, including education, sociology, communication, and cultural studies, in order to offer a comprehensive basis for investigation of reality television. The interdisciplinary nature of the research reviewed in this chapter will inspire our motives and study in popular education. The first section focuses on work conceming the design and success of technological innovations; both recent and classical sources are reviewed. This is followed by positioning the new genre of television programming, reality TV, within a McLuhanesque and new media framework to better understand our experience with it. Subsequent sections explore the

CUITent notion of a 'pedagogy of discomfort' as a more viable means of approaching existing needs to be media educated, as opposed to outmoded notions of being 'media literate' .

8 2.2 Humanizing Technology: An Overview of Where IT's At

The current phenomenon of reality television has rapidly increased in popularity in recent years. Due to this sudden growth, there exists limited research on the educational implications of this new genre of television programming. The ubiquitous nature of reality television implies that further study into its educational qualities is warranted.

Researchers in fields such as sociology, communications, and cultural studies have similarly focused on the study of new media, and this study draws on those fields to enhance an education-focused perspective on this new phenomenon. Therefore, this thesis draws on a multidisciplinary body of literature to investigate media education.

2.2.1. Donald Norman: Emotional Design

People Propose, Science Studies and Technology Conforms

- Donald Norman' s person centred motto for the 21 st century

The work of Donald Norman in technology design is claimed to have "influenced the way a generation of designers saw the world" (Schofield, 2004). The design guru is most-renowned for his work with one of the leading computer manufactures, Apple

Corporation, in making the Macintosh computer more usable. Currently, as a Professor of

Computer Science at Northwestem University, Norman's goal is to humanize technology.

His recent book, Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things (2004), explores how emotions play a crucial role in the design of technology. His current work is summarized by the idea that since we now know how to make products that work fine,

"how can we make products that make you smile?" (Norman, quoted in Schofield, 2004).

9 Norman describes design as requmng the following three components: the visceral, described as the fast, immediate appeal of a product; the behavioral, which is the usability of a product; and the reflective, defined as a person's emotional relationship with a product. The reflective design element can be enhanced by brand marketing and cultural conditioning, as it relies on the product's emotional appeal to a person, that is, whether the consumer loves or hates it. Norman (2004) states, that once the initial functionality of a product has been achieved, the reflective design then becomes the most important aspect regarding the product' s success. On an abstract level, we can view reality television as a product that exemplifies a reflective design success, as people c1aim to either love or hate it. Norman's work gives insight into our investigation of the allure of reality television and into the desires of our contemporary culture.

Marshall McLuhan, known widely for formulating such popular media puns and probes as "The medium is the message" and "The medium is the massage", provides a unique view on humanizing technology. McLuhan's views on humanizing technology differ from those of Norman, in that cultural transformations result from new technological innovation. McLuhan's (1964) ideas stem from the notion that our engagement with any form of technology alters our individual consciousness and society at large. According to

McLuhan (1954), "all media are extensions of sorne human faculty - psychic or physical"

McLuhan's work developed at a time when the form of a medium and its personal and cultural effects had not yet been studied thoroughly by the research community. This position was summarized by McLuhan himself:

10 AlI media work us over completely. They are so persuasive in their personal, political, economic, aesthetic, psychological, moral, ethical, and social consequences that they leave no part of us untouched, unaffected, unaltered. The medium is the massage. Any understanding of social and cultural change is impossible without knowledge of the way media work as environments. (McLuhan, 1964, p.26)

Thus McLuhan's insights are central in investigating how our individual consciousness

and that of society at large are altered as a result of our CUITent engagement with the

existing phenomenon of reality television.

2.2.2. McLuhan's Three Technological Phases

McLuhan describes three major technological phases, each of which had a profound

change on our consciousness: the phonetic alphabet, mechanical machinery and electrical

technology. The first phase was the introduction of the phonetic alphabet, which

McLuhan thought fragmented the tribal way of life from a sensory balance by now giving

dominance to visual experience, the 'eye.' With this shift in communication from an

auraI to visual culture, the phonetic alphabet individualized our social community

structure and detribalized our way of life thus ultimately reducing the use of alI the senses

at once to a predominantly visual experience.

Second, the invention of mechanical technology accelerated this fragmentary process with the printing press in the 16th century. With print, the eye sped up and the voice

quieted down, leading the literate person to further private, individualized experiences.

McLuhan (1962) notes "it is very much worth dwelling on this matter, since we shaH see from the invention of the alphabet there has been a continuous drive in the Westem world

11 toward the separation of the senses, of functions, of operations, of states emotional and political, as well as of tasks." As books became more readily available to the mass populace, other than simply as possessions of the clergy and elites, literacy was beginning to increase at a faster rate. Therefore, for McLuhan, the invention of the printing press, which privileged the 'eye' over the 'ear', accelerated the fragmentary process of our senses and societies.

Finally, the invention of the telegraph in 1844 signified the beginning of an electrical revolution that McLuhan (1962) envisioned would ultimately retribalize our sensory experience to be akin to that of the non-literate culture. Whereas the first and second phase extend the eye over the ear, McLuhan prophesized that the third phase would bring about a technology that required simultaneous use of all the senses. McLuhan was adamant about the relationship of technology and biology, that "the new media ... are nature" for the reason that technology refers to the social and psychic "extensions" of the human body or senses (Kroker, 1995). Therefore this last (our cUITent) phase of electrical technology, as an extension of our nervous system, reflects this belief and perpetuates on his theory concerning the shifting "ratio of senses" we experience with any new technology. For McLuhan, the effect of all new technologies is imposed silently and pervasively with deep assumptions upon the human psyche by reworking this "ratio of the senses". The CUITent externalization of our central nervous system, by electrical technology, causes us to participate intensively and integrally in an immense simulation and amplification of our bodily senses (Kroker, 1995).

12 While the works of both Norman and McLuhan epitomize different approaches to humanizing our experiences with technology, both are considered here with regards to our experience with the CUITent phenomenon of reality television. Norman's work offers insight into the investigation of why reality television is popular now, in relation to the design elements of a television program. As Norman notes, once the functionality of a product has been achieved, the reflective (emotional) element of design determines the product's survival. The emotional connection people have with reality television will be explored further in the Data Analysis chapter. For McLuhan, technologies are extensions of the body and media is an extension of the psyche, therefore McLuhan attempts to humanize technology by exploring our relationship with the mass media. In the following section, Norman's reflective design element is considered as a possible reason why reality TV is resonating now as a cultural phenomenon, with regards to where reality television began and how it has survived for so long as a product.

2.3 Laugh or Cry: A Timeline of Reality TV

America's obsession with reality television began in the early nineties with programmes such as COPS, America 's Most Wanted and MTV's The Real World gaining instant popularity. These shows were not America's first attempt at this new variety of programming, but they set the tone for the CUITent phenomenon ofreality TV. Therefore, an investigation of reality television's popularity merits a brief examination into the geme's origins and background. While not a new media, reality television is a new geme of television programming that incorporates and connects with other present-day media, such as the Internet and cellular phones. Yet it actually began on radio.

13 The granddaddy of the reality TV genre has often been referred to as Candid Camera

(http://www.candidcamera.com). Despite its inception in radio, Candid Camera has been

on and off television since 1947, "catching Americans in the act of being themselves"

(ibid). Equipped with only a hidden camera and gentle humour, the show attempts to

"capture the reactions of ordinary people to extraordinary and even bizarre situations" aIl

in the name of wholesome fun. As a program involving and relating to ordinary people,

Candid Camera also offers "Laughter Therapy". The creator of Candid Camera, Allen

Funt, founded Laughter Therapy, a private, non-profit organization, with the intention to bring "a smile, laughter, and hopefully, sorne therapeutic benefit to those with serious

illnesses" (ibid). Laughter Therapy acts as a lending library to individuals who write in

and request one of the four series of the Candid Camera videos.

Daytime talk shows are regarded as the grandmother of reality TV

(www.infoplease.comlspotlrealitytv.l.html). Beginning in the 1960's, these programs

also featured ordinary people exposing their personallives, and particularly their intimate problems, on television and in front of a live audience. Laura Grindstaff (2002), a professor of Sociology and author of The Money Shot: Trash, Class, and the Making of

TV Talk Shows, conducted an ethnographie study for several years on two predominant

American daytime talk shows and pinpointed the main element of this genre of programming, what she calls the "money shot". The money shot is the moment the producers are after where emotions erupt and increased ratings ensue. While daytime talk shows often have professional psychologists and therapists offering advice and assistance to the distressed guests, more often than not they feed emotional sensationalism, instead of counselling it.

14 Whether it is the profit-oriented intention of the "money shot" or a humanitarian aim with

Candid Camera's "laughter therapy", these genres of programming elicit an expressive and intimate engagement with the viewer not found in scripted shows with actors. As a public experience, Candid Camera attempts to amuse the viewer with, "Smile! You're on

Candid Camera!" often catching the participants' instant reaction to a surprising situation.

On the other hand, daytime talk shows seek to expose, and often exploit, the personal lives of ordinary people and celebrities, under the auspice ofhelping individuals.

2.3.1. Television History Changed Forever: 01111/73

Television ate my family

- Lance Loud

Although a close relative of reality television, with non-fictional subject matter, neither

Candid Camera nor daytime talk shows constitute reality TV's defining moment. It was on Thursday, January Il, 1973, that television history was changed forever with the premlere episode of An Arnerican Farnily on the PBS network

(www.pbs.orgllanceloudlamerican). Documented in 12 episodes, An Arnerican Farnily followed the lives of Mr. And Mrs. Loud and their five children over a seven month period. The Loud family was chosen as a typical all-American-nuc1ear-family living in

Santa Barbara, Califomia who opened their home and lives to an audience of 10 million viewers. The programme became a national success as it depicted the reallife tribulations faced by the Loud family which inc1uded the marital problems and subsequent divorce of

Mr. and Mrs. Loud. It was also one of the only programmes at the time to air an

15 argumentative family debate on social issues: first, the opposing views of the Loud family on the Vietnam War and then, most notably, Lance Loud, the eldest son, becoming the first television personality to reveal his homosexuality on air.

Airing at a time when television programmes depicted married couples sleeping in separate beds and not showing a pregnant woman's stomach on camera, An American

Farnily challenged the conventional values of American life during the 1970's. Following his television debut, the eldest son of the Loud family, Lance Loud, became a public icon, most notably as a writer, musician and friend of Andy Warhol. Unfortunately, on

December 22, 2001, at age 50, Lance died of liver failure caused by a co-infection of hepatitis C and HIV. Just before his death, Lance arranged with his family and the producers of An Arnerican Family to make a film as a final episode of the Loud fami1y.

Lance Laud! A Death in An Arnerican Farnily honoured the 30th anniversary of An

American Farnily and celebrated the life of Lance Loud as an illustration ofhow to, and how not to, live one's life. An American Family was acknowledged by TV Guide magazine as the first reality television series and named one of "The 50 Greatest Shows of AlI Time" (www.pbs.org/lanceloud/american). Margaret Mead, the renowned

Anthropologist, said of An American F amily:

[An American Family] is, 1 believe, as new and as significant as the invention of drama or the novel - a new way in which people can leam to look at life, by seeing the real life of others interpreted by the camera. Margaret Mead, (www.pbs.org/lanceloud/american)

ln a recent article, Faye Ginsburg (2003), a Professor of Anthropology at New York

University, points out how Mead's vocal approval of An American Family, the precursor

16 to reality TV, was considered controversial by the Academy at the time. While most other public intellectuals were condemning the programme, Mead almost single-handedly praised the endeavour of the Loud family as, "a revolutionary, wonderful and daring step in the use of mass media." Mead illustrated the broader impact this type of prograrnrning could have on our culture by comparing this new style of programming revealing the family to what the novel did in the nineteenth century for public life (Ginsburg, 2003).

Unfortunately, critics today are still just as quick to condemn and belittle reality TV, denying that it can be a valuable point of reflection regarding our contemporary cultural impulses as the literary critics of the 19th century.

This overview of reality television's onset reveals that reality TV is not new, but has escalated as a cultural phenomenon in recent years. This thesis proposes that the current popularity has occurred in line with our technological progress, as reality television programming encompasses many of the aspects of new media. Furthermore, this thesis proposes that reality TV, in fact, fills in certain social and personal gaps ofwhat has been ignored in previous media experience. These questions will be explored in subsequent chapters. The next section examines existing work on what constitutes 'new media' and reality television's positioning within this framework.

17 2.4 New Media: Do youfeel IT?

While exploring the significance of the pop culture phenomenon of reality TV, it is

important to consider the technological means that constitute and deliver this form of programming. McLuhan famously noted that "the medium is the message," stressing the

importance of considering the form in which a message is transmitted, as weIl as, if not more so than, its subject matter. Therefore, as reality television programming is resonating as a cultural phenomenon now, it is important to consider how it is shaped within the current characteristics of what is referred to as "new media". The following

section considers what constitutes the medium ofreality TV within the context oftoday's newmedia.

2.4.1. What is "new media"?

Current media theorists such as Lister, et. al (2003) in their work, New Media: A Critical

Introduction, explore the changes and uses of the term 'new media' in regards to media production, distribution and use, noting that new media are more than technological changes but are also textual, conventional and cultural. These media theorists note that since the mid-1980's a number of concepts have developed to define the key characteristics of the field of new media (Lister, et. al, 2003, p.13). Acknowledging that new media are also old media, these theorists identify five key terms for the contemporary discourse of what compromises "new media": digitality, interactivity, hypertextuality, dispersal, and virtuality.

18 Digitality is 'media that use computers' where digital media experiences offer new opportunities to manipulate and intervene in media (Lister, et. al, 2003, p.19). These multiple opportunities are often referred to as the interactive potential of new media

(ibid, p.19). The authors illustrate how interactivity exists on two levels of meaning, an ideological and instrumental. The ideological is understood as the 'value added' characteristic of new media, where old media offer passive consumption, while new media offer interactivity. The theorists de scribe these ideological qualities as a means to offer more options for the consumer, as a connection to maximize the consumer's choice of media text. As a commodity, it personalizes the media text for the consumer. This is similar to Norman's reflective design element, and as such this thesis focuses on the personalizing aspect of reality TV, which is discussed again later in the Data Analysis chapter. The second quality of interactivity, instrumental, deals with the functionality of the media text where "the audience for new media becomes a 'user' rather than the

'viewer' of visual culture, film and TV and 'reader' of literature (ibid, p. 21). Arguably, this second component of interactivity increases one's participatory engagement with a media text, as does the hypertextual experience.

The hypertextual component relates to the hypertext characteristic of computer technology, where documents are linked together for the user to follow their own 'path' through a body of information or narrative (Lister, et. al, 2003, p.387). The dispersal quality refers to how sorne aspects of new media, in contrast to old media, are more diffused and fragmented with in the culture at large; as networked based communities are more available than centralized ways of distribution of material (ibid, p.386). Lastly, virtuality has a long history in philosophy and theology and is arguably the most

19 ambiguous concept of the new media tenns. As a tenn used in our daily discourse, it is most often used in reference to the aspects of our everyday life that are technologically simulated.

These five key tenns highlight the utility of new media. Expanding on these notions, this thesis attempts to explore how these functions ultimately connect the user to a more personalized and participatory experience than previous fonns of technology and what implications this has for education. These personalizing and participatory qualities will be investigated further in the following chapters within the McLuhanesque framework that acknowledges the transfonnative effects of the mass media on our subjectivity and society.

2.5 Reality TV: The Lukewarm Medium

Another of McLuhan's influential media theories is his notion of hot and cool media.

McLuhan presents the classification of media as hot or cool to offer a useful means of understanding the way media function and the different effects they have on individuals and society (Berger, 1995). McLuhan explains the difference between hot and cool media as;

There is a basic principle that distinguishes a hot medium like radio from a cool one like TV. A hot medium is one that extends one single sense in "high definition." High definition is the state of being weIl filled with data. A photograph is visually, "high definition." A cartoon is "low definition," simply because very little visual infonnation is provided. Telephone is a cool medium, or one of low definition, because so little is given and so much has to be filled in by the listener. On the other hand, hot media do not leave so much to be filled in or completed by the audience. Naturally, therefore a hot medium like radio has very different effects on the user from a cool medium like the telephone. (McLuhan, 1964, p.36)

20 To further illustrate the defining characteristics of each form, Figure 1 contains two lists based on McLuhan's distinctions. Italics are added to highlight the qualities that pertain to reality TV and will be explored in more detail in the following chapters.

Figure 1. McLuhan on Hot and Cool Media

Hot Cool high definition low definition much information /iule information low participation high participation excludes includes radio telephone movie television photograph cartoon printed word speech phonetic alphabet hieroglyphics lecture semmar advanced countries backward countries city s/ickers rustic waltz twist

Source: Berger, 1995, p.59

21 The distinction of media as hot or cool is based on how much information they provide.

For instance, television's low resolution involves the viewer. The experience ofusing the remote control and channel surfing engages the viewer's participation more so than listening to the radio would. With the exception of channel surfing through the car radio, typically a radio is left on one station and played as background ambiance, therefore

McLuhan positions it as a high resolution, low participation medium. WhiJe the notions of hot and cool media are easily debatable and somewhat convoluted in explanation, the overlapping qualities are worth considering with regards to the experiences of watching a reality television program. The notion of reality television as a lukewarm medium looks at aIl facets of its viewing experience, the ways in which it both inc1udes and exc1udes, the varying amounts of information it provides and its relation to existing mediums.

Once again, as reality TV is not a new medium, but a new geme of television programming that incorporates aspects that are found in both hot and cool mediums, it alters the viewer's traditional experience into a more intertextual multifaceted experience.

The following section considers reality television programming within work that investigates the interconnectivity of different mediums. For McLuhan, the essence of any medium is the 'content' of another. Therefore, examining the medium itself can be more revealing of the personal and social consequences than the subject matter aJone.

22 2.5.1 TV.Corn

The hybrid or meeting of two media is a moment of truth

and revelation from which new form is born.

- Marshall McLuhan

Arguably, part of the "message" of reality TV is its similarity to Internet use. June Deery

(2003) in, TV.Com: Participatory Viewing on the Web, looks for signs to come of how television will alter the way it communicates with its audience through exploring the existing use of the World Wide Web by television viewers and producers. Deery notes that, although to date we do not find a complete merging of television and the World

Wide Web, we do see a dual use of two separate media that are becoming increasingly interlocked. Deery defines dual media in terms of the depth to which a viewer can go to attain more information about a program as weIl as the extension of a show with extra footage on the Web. Although this has been possible via magazines, it is the synchronicity with which information is exchanged that distinguishes this Web-TV relationship.

Deery examines Web-TV relations of reality TV, because it is where much dual media experimentation has taken place and because it is a genre designed to attract a new, young, Web-savvy audience. Qualities of the Internet are also present in reality TV programs, with notions of interactivity, participation, public/ private experiences, voyeurism and exhibitionism being exemplified by both Internet and reality TV shows.

Deery notes how "reality shows attempt to recreate the interactivity, direct participation

23 and validation of so-called ordinary people and their experiences that users find online." 1 agree and propose that one of the main appeals of the experience of reality TV is that it engages the viewer on a more personalized level than previous forrns of (media) television programming. This desire for more personalized and participatory experience in television programming is something that is also being exemplified within new forrns of media and pop culture. The qualities that constitute what 1 am referring to as personalizing and participatory experiences are explored and developed further in the

Data Analysis chapter.

Where Deery draws on the attributes of reality television in exploring the dual media experience of television and Internet, Steven Johnson (2005), in his book, "Everything

Bad is Good For You", investigates how reality television demands more cognitive work from the viewer then previous types of television programming. Johnson's work veers from the literature previously examined regarding the structural impact of new technologies and focuses on the more personal cognitive changes that we experience with pop culture. Johnson advocates "that popular culture has, on average, grown more complex and intellectually challenging over the past thirty years (Johnson, 2005, p.xiii)".

The main focus of Johnson's work is on our experiences with video games, television, the

Internet and film. For Johnson, the space of popular culture involves the collision of competing forces - the neurological appetites of the brain, the economics of the culture industry, and changing technological platforrns (ibid, p.l 0). As McLuhan's approach to mass media regards our engagement with electrical technology as an extension of our central nervous system, Johnson's explorations are of how the cognitive experiences we

24 have with our current popular culture is actually making us "smarter". Speaking ofreality television show transcripts, Johnson says:

The spe11ing isn't perfect, and the grammar occasionally leaves something to be desired. But the level of cognitive engagement, the eagerness to evaluate the show through the lens of personal experience and wisdom, the tight focus on the contestants' motives and character flaws - a11 this is remarkable. It is impossible to imagine even the highbrow shows of yesteryear - much less The Dukes ofHazards [sic] - inspiring this quantity and quality of analysis ... The unique cocktail that the reality genre serves up - real people, evolving mIe systems, and emotional intimacy - prods the mind into action. You don't zone out in front of shows like The Apprentice. You play along. (2005, p.l 06)

Johnson describes three elements that contribute to the complexity of recent television viewing. The three categories are multiple treading (more than one storyline at a time, a multiple narrative),jlashing arrows (a narrative signpost, placed strategically to help the audience know what is going on), and social networks (formed when viewers draw upon external information, for example, to understand the jokes in The Simpsons or Seinfeld)

(Johnson, 2005, p.65). These are three qualities Johnson emphasizes as predominant shifts in television viewing experiences that are actua11y making us work more on a cognitive level.

2.6 The Fear Factor: Why Being Media Literate is so Scary!

Steve Johnson (2005) acknowledges that "there may indeed be more 'negative messages' in the media sphere today, as the Parents Television Council believes. But that's not the only way to evaluate whether television shows or video games are having a positive impact. Just as important - is the kind of thinking you have ta do ta make sense of a cultural experience (Johnson, 2005, p.l4)" (emphasis added). This type ofleaming is not occurring in the c1assroom, but in living rooms and basements across the country

25 (Johnson, 2005). While Johnson does not delve into the morality debates of television content (and neither does this thesis), far too often, sweeping statements of the demi se of popular culture predominate in those debates.

Karen Sternheimer, (2003) in her book, It's Not the Media: The Truth About Pop

Culture 's Influence on Children, explains that what lies behind our fear of media culture is anxiety about an uncertain future. She notes how this fear has been deflected onto children, symbolic of the future, and onto the media, symbolic of contemporary society

(Sternheimer, 2003, p.3). Sternheimer points out that it is not the media but very real poliey issues that hurt ehildren, as eoncems of poverty, family violence, child abuse and neglect, and the lack of quality education and health care are problems that merit public attention before media culture. Sternheimer refers to these fears as "The Flawed Logie of

Media Phobia", and argues that only focusing on the media in a cause-and-effect approach fails to help us understand the connection between media culture and politics and power, as well as the central role media has in American culture and its influence on individual behaviour (ibid, p.5). Sternheimer's work raises insightful and pertinent questions regarding the exorbitant amount of attention the media gives the media, in sustaining its well-being, not necessarily our own, and how, fundamentally, what lies behind these diversions is not only the economic ratings, but also fear driven mindsets.

While fear driven mindsets depreciate the pop culture of the day, unfortunately the concepts of being media literate are also stagnant and ill-fitting to the types of leaming actually occurring watching TV, playing video games and surfing the Net in living rooms and basements all over the world. What will be explored further in the data analysis and

26 highlighted in the conclusion is how people are participating in emotionally intimate experiences with reality television. Therefore, it is essential for current media educators to acknowledge and incorporate this emotional/sensory awareness element into what it means to be 'media literate'.

The advent of electronic communication is where our current post-literate society emerged. While the literate mind has a single perspective, the post-literate now has multiple perspectives. Eric Havelock (1963), in Preface to Plato, looks at the role of writing as separating the knower from the known, and "getting rid of memory to make room for innovation." For Havelock, literacy is a process that makes room to think

(Havelock, 1963). As we are amidst a post-print, post-literate, hyper-textual era, the space created by electrical technology allows for multiple sense experience, creating even more room 'to think'. This is not to misunderstand technological innovations as leading to greater intelligence, but rather, technological innovations of our current electronic culture are allowing more simultaneity and exchange of information, which is

(broadening) affecting our literacy/ sensory experience.

Brian L.Ott (2003), in his article, 'Tm Bart Simpson who the heU are you?" A study in post-modern identity (re) construction, explores how the television show, The Simpsons, by being aware ofboth the function and past within the narrative at all times, exemplifies the prototype of post-literate society with its multiple readings and 'hyper consciousness.' Ott illustrates a timeline of television programming over the last thirty years beginning with The Waltons ('70's), The Cosby Show ('80's), and The Simpsons

(90's); each reflecting the social nOrmS, values, challenges and cultural pulse of the time.

Similar to the literature mentioned earlier (Johnson, 2005 and Lister et al 2003), the

27 timeframe of the past thirty years is in line with the qualifying characteristics of new media and how pop culture has exemplified a significant shift within our cultural experiences since the 1990's. Ott situates his study of The Simpsons in contrast to The

Waltons and The Cosby Show, as they made no claims to represent an external reality, whereas The Simpsons "changed the protocols of reading and in the process challenged the difference between image and reality altogether (2003)". Ott's study of the multiple readings of The Simpsons challenged how we interpret media texts and is use fuI in relation to this thesis in the exploration of what cultural experiences are being reflected via reality television programming. Arguably, reality television programming can be termed as the television programming representative of the cultural ethos of the turn of the new millennium.

As a comprehensive illustration of CUITent media literacy explorations, the book

Adolescents and Literacies in a Digital World, compiled by Donna E. Alvermann (2002), contains essays about broadening the term literacies to include the performative, visual, auraI and semiotic understandings needed for constructing and re-constructing print and non-print based mediums. Investigating issues of surviving in an attention economy, communicating across generations, creating "shape-shifting" portfolios, reinventing literacy teacher education, and using digital tools to foster critical inquiry (Alvermann,

2002, p. viii), Alvermann notes how the literacies described in Adolescents and Literacies in a Digital World "reflect the sociocultural, economic, and political struggles that come with reading the world, not just the word - in effect they are the literacies that adolescents need presently as citizens of a fast-changing world filled with numerous complexities and challenges not yet comprehended. While such socio-political issues are

28 vital to media education, this thesis proposes the need to go further and include the sensory aspect of engaging with media text as an emotional experience. The following chapters will explore how this is cUITently occurring with reality television texts.

Bertram C. Bruce, (2003) proposes an interesting question: "If literacy is an expression of culture, what does it mean to create hybrid, umbrella, and technologized varieties?(Alvennann, 2003, p. 8-9)" In considering literacy as an expression of our culture, perhaps media literacy can be more effectively explored beginning within the

CUITent cultural realm. David Howes (2003), in his book, Sensual Relations: Engaging the Senses In Cultural & Social Theory, advocates just that. Howes recounts how recent anthropological work that has come out of the 1980s and 1990s has moved away from linguistic and tex tuai paradigms towards an understanding that treats cultures as ways of sensing the world (2003, p.29). There is no "natural" state of the senses among humans, we can only ever know the senses as socialized (Classen 1993b, 37-4, in Howes, 2003).

Therefore, exploring the socialization of our senses within media text is essential and is not cUITently being acknowledged within the concept of "media literacy".

This thesis is not an in-depth look at being media literate, although it is evident that work in the literacy field appears to lack any inclusion of the personalizing and participatory qualities that are occurring because of our engagement with CUITent media text.

Therefore, as much of the CUITent literature on media literacy concentrates on the technical production and social positioning of media texts, as opposed to acknowledging our existing sensory experiences with media text, this thesis proposes acknowledging

Megan Boler's work of a 'pedagogy of discomfort' as a more viable option of being media educated than being media literate.

29 2.7 Pedagogy of Discomfort: The "Dirty Little Secret"

Bad news reveals the character of change: good news does not.

- Marshall McLuhan

For Johnson, the most important thing that can be said about reality television is that it is structured like a video game (Johnson, 2005, p.92). While reality television and video games do share the participatory element of real people and evolving rule systems, reality

TV programs offer an emotionally intimate experience not found in either video game or

Internet participation. This emotional intimacy within media texts will be explored in further chapters. However, Johnson admits how one ofthe 'dirty little secrets' of gaming is how much time you spend not having fun (ibid, p.25). There is great discomfort and frustration at the beginning of gaming as the rules are not fully established. This unease is similar to the harsh behaviour and sudden twists that occur in much reality TV programs.

The fact that people are actively seeking out and relishing this discomfort is both revealing of a cultural impulse and a guide for educators.

Megan Boler (1999) in her book, Feeling Power: Emotions and Education, thinks of the new millennium as marking a turning point with respect to emotions and education.

Emotions have customarily been characterized as a natural, private, individualized experience whereby acknowledging and discussing one's emotions within a community have been excluded, if not shunned, from our public sphere. Boler explores the inclusion of emotions in education as a necessary direction of social justice and education.

Considering emotions as both a site of social control and political resistance, Boler

30 (1999) advocates "pedagogy of discomfort" as a means of acknowledging and

incorporating emotions within education.

Situated within feminist pedagogy, Boler (1999) probes the underexplored role of emotions and power in education, examining how emotions shape inquiries and analysis, how and why we are taught to leave emotions out of scholarship and why emotions are so rarely the subject of our studies. Considering the historical exclusion emotions have had

from education with the binary position of "truth" and reason on one side and emotional

"subjective bias" on the other, Boler notes how women too have been positioned on this

2 "negative" emotional side • She notes that education is not merely the "instruction" or the transfer of information but shapes our values, beliefs and who and what we become, shaping our moral assumptions and judgments and how we treat other people. Boler believes that we have the power to drastically change our cultural values and violent practices through exposing and challenging the unspoken "emotional" investments of our ideological beliefs.

Grounding emotions in education, as within the wider culture, Boler situates emotions as a site of social control. This is largely due to the fact that education is a social institution serving the interests of the nation-state and functioning to preserve the status quo and social order. She regards the societal control of emotions as a vital and underexplored aspect of education in relation to hegemony, where the contradictory rules of emotional conduct and expression function to uphold the dominant culture's hierarchies and values

(1999). For example, the dominant position of men in our society has excluded women

2 Arguably, the realm of popular culture is also positioned on this less valued side.

31 from many positions of authority on the basis of their emotional "irrationality". As her book title states, Feeling Power: Emotions and Education, "we leam how to intemalize and enact roles and mIes assigned to us with in the dominant culture. We 'feel power' in the sense that we enact our appropriate roles of subordination and domination significantly through leamed emotional expressions and silences (1999)." As such,

Boler's work on emotions considers the culturally specific context, rather than universal absolutes.

Boler conc1udes that emotions are not a singular experience but a collective one rooted in a shared consciousness, and emphasizes the need for emotions to be brought out of the private realm and into the public sphere (1999). Her argument does not advocate that pedagogy of emotions be based on confessionals where we all bare our souls, but that we develop creative ways of incorporating emotions within educational practices (1999).

Boler proposes a "pedagogy of discomfort" as both an invitation to inquiry as weIl as a calI for action "where a central focus is to recognize how emotions define how and what one chooses to see, and conversely, not to see (Boler, 1999, p.177)".

The pedagogy of discomfort is a calI to action, where a pedagogy of discomfort is not only a mode of inquiry but also a catalyst for action - action that is hopefully the result of leaming to bear witness (1999, p. 179). Boler views education as always an ethical undertaking, therefore any pedagogy or curriculum potentially evokes resistance, fear and anger, where pedagogy of discomfort requires not only cognitive but emotional labour and awareness of these feelings (Boler and Zembylas, 2003). "The pedagogy emphasizes the need for both the educator and students to move outside of their comfort zones. By

32 comfort zone we mean the inscribed cultural and emotional terrains that we occupy less by choice and more by virtue of hegemony (Boler and Zembylas, 2003). Hegemony dominates our social and political structures and leaves no separate space to question and leam; arguably, pop culture currently offers a separate space to explore and grow in.

2.8 Chapter Summary

A review of the literature across disciplines is indicative of the position of this thesis to explore what the inter-related factors are that constitute and situate reality television as a current cultural phenomenon. The work that has been illustrated in this chapter demonstrates the need and benefit of drawing across disciplines to consider the constant flux of cultural change in relation to the mass media, considering the work of media studies, pop culture theorists, and educators in order to develop an insightful perspective on what popular education experiences are occurring within reality television programs.

The following chapter explores McLuhan's Laws ofMedia, in applying his tetradic methodology to brainstorm and explore a new cultural phenomenon.

33 CHAPTER 3 - METHODOLOGY: INTRODUCING THE TETRAD

3.1 Chapter Focus

This chapter outlines the methodologicaI approach of the research study, introducing the process of conducting a tetradic reading of the reality TV program, American Idol. The first sections provide an overview of the qualitative approach of the study and aIso a rationale for employing a tetradic reading. Next, drawing on the work of media educators and sociologists, a framework for analyzing the new genre of reality TV is presented. The procedure and tetrad instrument for interpreting a text based on Marshall McLuhan's

Laws of Media are described in depth. Finally, the application of the tetrad model to

American Idol is introduced. In the following Data Analysis chapter, this application provides insight into what the CUITent phenomenon of reality TV reveals about our contemporary pop culture.

3.2 General Approach

The analytical approach to understanding the phenomenon of reality TV with the framework of the 'tetrad', to be described later in the chapter, is largely based on a qualitative approach. The philosophical underpinnings of qualitative research best guide the interdisciplinary and exploratory questions regarding this study. Situated within the framework of media education and the sociology of emotions, this qualitative study considers the integral role of a culture's values and meanings as reflected in the pop culture phenomenon of reality television. Where quantitative analysis would center on the concrete, enc10sed products of the media's meaning production, qualitative approaches examine meaning production as a process that is contextualized and inextricably

34 integrated within wider social and cultural practices. For instance, the quantitative approach of television ratings infonnation can reveal how many people watched a program; it does not make known the ways in which viewers watched the program. It does not reveal to us how people interpreted it, what they thought it was about, or what relationship they thought it had to their own lives. (McKee referencing Gripsurd, 2003, p.2). It is on this process ofpeople's engagement with reality television that this thesis is centered.

The textual analysis method is chosen as the most appropriate technique for this study as it allows researchers to gather infonnation about the ideological, cultural and social meaning in a text. In media studies, a text means more than the written word; it refers to an artifact or product, such as a television program, a video game, or even an activity, which has structure, specific qualities, meaning and which can be analyzed and read (Lister et al, 2003, p.391). The purpose of analyzing the television pro gram

American Idol is to find out about the sense-making practices that were in place in a culture where the program is found to be meaningful. More specifically, the concept of intertextuality explores the position and significance of a text within a cultural context, emphasizing that a text does not exist in isolation, but rather any one text is understood in tenns of its relationship to another text. As this study is grounded in a McLuhanesque approach that considers the interconnected sensory experiences we have with technology, an intertextual reading was chosen as it could best facilitate an ideological, cultural and social reading of the environment in which the American Idol program is situated.

35 3.3 Framework

The methodological framework for this study is largely based on the work of

scholars from disciplines inc1uding education, sociology and communications, as these

fields of inquiry provide a basis for research into popular culture and the socio-cultural position of emotions. Most notably, the work of media educator and feminist theorist

Megan Boler grounds the role of emotions within education and society at large,

advocating the new millennium as a tuming point for the role of emotions in education.

For the purpose ofthis study, a large part of the philosophical underpinnings conceming the role of emotions in society and what educators can do in response to the need to acknowledge the socio-cultural position of emotions are rooted in Boler's theory. Central to this project is an interrogation of whether reality television, also referred to as

'discomfort TV', 1S similar in nature to the Boler's 'pedagogy of discomfort'.

Specifically, are people using this new genre of reality television programming as a means of challenging socio-poiiticai conventions? Could reality TV also be an attempt to humanize our relationship with technology?

3.4 Analysis

There are two distinguishable approaches to considering our engagement with a media text: first, the content analysis of the meaning being signified through a text, and, second, as the media analysis which considers the effects of a medium independent of its content (Logan, 1995, p.19). For exampIe, a content analysis of a billboard advertisement may analyze the semiotics of an image on a billboard. However, a media analysis wouid consider the effect of the billboard itself on the viewer. Where the

36 meaning of the advertisement may evoke an emotional response in the viewer, the form of the advertisement as a billboard also has an experiential impact on engaging the viewer. It is this experiential aspect of one's engagement with media text that this thesis seeks to explore. This thesis does not seek to explore what emotions people are experiencing, but rather how the form of technology, the medium itself, influences one's personal experience.

3.5 Procedure

To ensure a consistent and valid analysis of the American ldol episodes, an instrument is required. The instrument that will be applied for this study is the tetrad from Marshall

McLuhan's, Laws of Media: A New Science. As an educator, McLuhan found it most important that people become conscious of their personal engagement with technology.

Therefore he introduced the Laws ofMedia, which are questions he asks in tetradic form.

These four questions, referred to as the tetrad, are asked with regard to one's experience with a medium. The Laws of Media questions are as follows, with "it" being the artifact or concept in question:

• What does "it" enhance or intensify?

• What does "it" render obsolete or displace?

• What does "it" retrieve that was previously obsolesced?

• What does "it" produce or become when pressed to an extreme?

(McLuhan, 1988, p.7)

37 As a heuristic device, the tetrad organizes the se questions into one succinct model (see

Figure 2 below). In Laws of Media: The New Science, McLuhan presents the tetrad with the word of the object or concept to be explored in the centre, and the questions placed at the four separate corners, such that the responses diverge in different directions. For the purpose of this study, the tetrad is set up as a square with each question placed at a separate corner and the icon of the medium, in this case, a television, placed in the centre.

This format aIlows for a simple and contained reading of the four interwoven questions of the tetrad. The very nature of the Laws ofMedia in tetradic form aIlows for any person to ask (and have the answers checked) by anyone, anywhere, and at any time regarding any human artifact (McLuhan, 1988, p.7).

The tetrad emerged from a discovery that aIl media technologies have a fundamentally linguistic structure (McLuhan, & Powers, 1989, p.x). While exploring the linguistic structure of communication, McLuhan uncovered a tetradic form, where the capacity of humans to extend themselves through their senses into the environment constituted an inquiry into the formaI aspects of (linguistic) communication. Therefore, as mentioned in the previous chapter, McLuhan considers the written word as the tirst technology where we were able to let go of our environment in order to grasp it in a new way. Exploring any artifact in tetradic process allows us to consider how aIl media forms:

(A) intensifj; something in a culture, while at the same time, (B) obsolescing something else. They also (C) retrieve a phase or factor long ago pushed aside and (D) modity (or reverse) when extended beyond the limits of its potential (McLuhan & Powers, 1989)

Based on the synchronicity of these four experiences, the tetrad model is derived as a means of examining the structural impact of technologies on society. Therefore, the tetrad

38 is ideal for examining what (if any) cultural impulses are being revealed in this CUITent cultural phenomenon of reality television.

A tetrad includes analysis not only of objects, but also of particular processes, ideas or models. As the structure of media dynamics are inseparable, the objective of presenting the Laws of Media in tetradric form is to draw attention to situations that are still in process; situations that are structuring new perceptions and shaping new environments, even while they are reshaping old ones (McLuhan, 1988, p.116). The result is a four-part metaphor whose reading ultimately reveals a cyclical process of intertextuality that compresses the past, present and future into one through the power of simultaneity (McLuhan & Powers, 1989, p.x.).

Similarly, the process of the tetrad is parallel in nature to the feedback-Ioop of textual analysis. McKee's (2003) feedback-Ioop of textual analysis illustrates how texts in the media have to draw on existing ways of making sense of the world. Ways that are interpreted by people and placed into the text that they themselves produce such as speech, writing, and dress codes, are then fed back into mediated texts (McKee, 2003, p.46). In line with the sense-making practices of individuals, media texts work within practices that already exist (ibid) However, the tetrad's four questions not only consider this (past) feedback loop of textual analysis, but take it further by considering the simultaneity of the past, present and future experience of any given medium within its ever shifting environment.

39 3.5.1 How to Read a Tetrad

There is no 'right way' to read the tetrad, as the parts are concurrent. However, there is a vocabulary to McLuhan's Laws of Media. McLuhan employed the terms 'figure' and

'ground', borrowed from Edgar Rubin, who in 1915 used the terms to talk about the characteristics of visual perception (McLuhan, 1988, p. 5). McLuhan extended the terms to include the whole structure of perception and of consciousness, where all situations comprise an area of attention (figure) and a much larger area of inattention (ground)

(ibid). As the figure and ground continually interact with each other across a common boundary that defines each simultaneously, the shape of one conforms to the shape of the other (ibid).

To better understand the interactive concepts of figure and ground, McLuhan offers the example of being at a lecture, "at a lecture, attention will shift from the speaker's words to his gestures, to the hum of the lights or to street sounds, to the feel of the chair or to a memory or association of smell. (McLuhan, 1989)" This example illustrates how each new figure (our initial attention) in tum displaces into the ground (the larger area of our inattention). The ground provides the structure or approach of awareness (in the instance of the lecture example, the ground would be "the hum of the lights or to street sounds, to the feel of the chair or to a memory or association of smell") acting as the terms in which figure is perceived (ibid). However, McLuhan notes how the study of ground, on 'its own terms' without figure is impossible, as it is at any moment environmental and subliminal

(ibid). For this reason, an anti-environment is needed in order to study the effects of such figure and ground in any experience. The questions of the tetrad are an attempt to offer

40 the perspective found in an anti-environment. We re-ask the questions so as to reveal the physical, psychic and social effects of the medium. (McLuhan, 1988, p.264)

3.5.2. Key Tetrad Questions

Therefore the methodology of this study will focus of the four specific questions of the tetrad regarding what sensory experiences are Enhanced, Obsolesced, Retrieved and

Reversed from one's engagement with any new technology. In essence, "figure" characteristics are found in the questions of Enhancing and Obsolescing, while "ground" notions are derived from the Retrieval and ReversaI questions. Although they are rooted in the notion of figure and ground, these concepts will only be briefly acknowledged as the main focus is on the tetrad questions which are described as follows:

Enhancement

What aspects of a situation are intensified and/or what senses are extended?

In terms of McLuhan's figure/ground, figure/ground concepts, what qualities are

"inflating, amplifying, or playing up"? (McLuhan, 1989, p.263) For example, with regards to the reality TV program, American Idol, the individual contestant (the ordinary person) now becomes a public personality.

Obsolescence

What former situation became impotent or displaced? The figure retums to ground.

What is displaced? Pushed off stage or out of the spotlight? What gets sidelined while the enhancement process gets under way? What used to be the norm (but is no longer as a result of the new thing)? Sometimes this process drives the whole set of relationships.

41 This year's model car deliberately makes last year's obsolete. Nothing is as obsolete as yesterday' s newspaper or last week' s ad campaign. What used to be "in charge" before the novelty arrived? (McLuhan, 1989) McLuhan situates, figure/figure, as the obsolescing qualities that downplay, impede, makes numb or pushes aside (McLuhan,

1989, p.263) For example, "how the PC obsolesced the secretary, the radio obsolesced the music hall and concert hall, E-mail obsolesces snail mail, telephone calI, visit, couriers, formality, and how virtual reality makes the outside world, the "real world," irrelevant (McLuhan, 1998, p.31)"

Retrieval

What process that has been long obsolete is brought back into use? Ground becomes figure through the new situation. What part is Renewed? Retrieved? Reactivated? What old- perhaps very old- thing is updated here? What comeback is made? What is revived?

RevivaIs and retrievals occur conspicuously in culture and the arts, but also in the sciences and elsewhere. Lately, for Batman, Mission Impossible, The Fugitive, the old thing cornes back, but always in a new form and on a new ground - renewed, with new aesthetic significance. As ground/ground, McLuhan (1989, p.263) notes how retrieval replays, revives, or brings back, an experience with the text. Such as the way in which,

"the movie retrieves the novel, speech retrieves thought, the car and motorcyc1e bring back the knight in shining armor; they retrieve the road and tumpike and toll road as highways, the digital watch retrieves the sundial (uses light to tell time )." (McLuhan,

1998, p.32)

42 ReversaI

What involves dual action simultaneously, reversing its original character? What does the subject turn into when its enhancement process eventually becomes the norm instead of the unusual? What happens when the figure becomes ground? What happens when you push the enhancement phase too far? With the figure/ two grounds, reversing or flipping into something else. (McLuhan, 1989, p.264) As Eric McLuhan (1998, p.30), exemplifies this with "information overload = pattern recognition, a little joking = fun and games; too much = an attack, a little candy = a joy; too much = poison and how one reader = a correspondent; a hundred thousand = a public."

These Laws of Media in tetrad form are intended to reveal the subliminal and previously inaccessible aspects of technology, thereby illuminating the hidden effects of these artifacts on our lives (McLuhan, 1989, p.109). Applying the tetrad in this study allows us to consider both what the effects of the new genre of reality television programming are on us, as well as the meaning being signified. This ultimately allows us to observe how we are engaging with the media environrnent we are creating.

43 3.6 Method Instrument

EssentiaIly, the tetrad is a tool to analyze the transfonnative effects of any new medium and offer perspective. Below is an illustration of the tetrad, followed by a brief example interpreting television.

Figure 2. Illustration of a Tetrad

A What does the artifact ENHANCE or B If sorne aspect of a situation is enlarged intensify or make possible or accelerate? or enhanced, simultaneously the old This can be asked concernmg a condition or unenhanced situation is wastebasket, a painting, a steamroller, or a displaced thereby. What is pushed as ide or zipper, as weIl as about a proposition in OBSOLESCED by the new 'organ '? Euclid or a law of physics. It can be asked about any word or phrase in any language.

C What recurrence or RETRIEVAL of D When pushed to the limits of its potential earlier actions and services is brought into (another complementary action), the new play simultaneously by the new form? form will tend to REVERSE what had been What oIder, previously obsolesced ground its original characteristics. What is the is brought back and inheres in the new reversai potential ofthe new form? fonn?

Diagram 1. (McLuhan, 1989)

44 3 For example, a brieftetradic reading oftelevision could be :

A. The experience of watching television extends our auraI sense

B. Thereby, obsolescing our individualized experiences (as experienced

with the advent ofprint)

C. The formerly obsolesced sense of individuality retrieves our sense of

community through this new "televised experience" brought about as an

attempt to retribalize our way of life

D. When extended beyond its limits, television reverses our tribal way of life

(fragmenting our sense of community)

While this is a brief tetradic reading, the Data Analysis chapter that follows will illustrate in great detail the relationship of these questions to reality television.

3.7 Sample

The sample for this research study draws on several episodes as well as public responses to the third season of the reality TV program, American Ida!. While 1 am not generalizing the results of this tetradic reading of American Ida! to all reality TV programs, this study is primarily an attempt to understand the cultural significance of the reality TV phenomenon at this time, therefore sorne of the questions gathered may be generalizable to qualities of other reality TV shows. The instant international popularity of the Ida! shows, such as Pop Ida! in the United Kingdom, is indicative of a major global cultural experience and was the main incentive in selecting American Ida! as the sample program.

3 This is an over-simplified tetradic reading, based on my own interpretations of McLuhan's notions to illustrate the flow of conducting such an inquiry.

45 In 200 1, the Idal phenomenon, a somewhat revolutionary talent competition, began in the United Kingdom as Pap Idal. Gaining instant popularity, Pap Ida! quickly became the most watched program on European television (Rich, 2004, pA). By the summer of 2002, Pap Ida! was adapted for the United States, and American Ida! became an immediate success. This research study will focus on the third season of American

Ida! which aired during the winter and spring of 2004. Premiering to 30 million viewers on the FOX network, the third season of American Idal broke television-ratings records.

This third season of American Ida! was the most viewed show on television during 2004

(ibid). With an average of 19 million votes cast each week for favorite contestants, and over 70,000 auditions, American Ida!'s appeal clearly merits exploring. Also, by 2004, the Ida! series had begun airing in over 28 countries with Canadian Ida!, Indanesian Ida!,

Australian Idal, Singapare Idal, Idala Brasileira among many others. This enormous international popularity was more than any other type of reality television show at this time.

The third season of American Idal aired for five months, consisting of forty-two episodes, six of which are special episodes. The program included the audition process, the singing competition, the voting results, as weIl as intermittent special episodes. This study does not analyze each episode as weIl as its public response. Rather, a selection of seven episodes is examined that are a typical reflection of the program's style. This study will draw on the following episodes:

1. Two of the special episodes, S-4, "Uncut, Uncensored and Untalented,"

which aired March 01, 2004, and S-5, "American Idol: The Final Five

'04," which aired May 3,2004,

46 II. Three regular programmmg episodes; two full length programs,

Episode 86, "Elton John theme," and Episode 95, "5 ldols sing," as well

as Episode 94, "Only 4 Remain," which is a half hour show of the

voting results. Theses episodes are concentrated on the mid to end of

the competition to best exemplify the show's heightened emotional and

experiential character.

3.8. Chapter Summary

The tetrad could be read with innumerable interpretations and l am only offering one regarding American Idal, with the hopes of offering an explanation of linkages. The links are based on the interdisciplinary quality of the study. The tetrad is used to generate ideas and does not offer a finite formulaic reading. The fluidity of such a tetradic reading is advantageous to this cultural study of reality TV as both culture and our uses of technology (media) are ever-changing. Essentially, the tetrad is about exploring patterns.

After observing each specific law of media, an overview of the findings based on the patterns revealed through the tetrad will be discovered. The tetrad is an anti-environment

- created to reveal and distinguish the subliminal and unconscious (ground) experience we have with technology. As McLuhan highlighted, we tend to follow a path derived from familiarity with our environment. Therefore it is important to separate and give perspective on our media environment, which the questions of the tetrad attempt to achieve.

47 CHAPTER 4: A TETRADIC READING OF AMERICAN IDOL

4.1 Chapter Focus

This chapter presents a tetradic reading, based on Marshall McLuhan's Laws of Media, of the third Season of American Idal. Examining the television program American Idol during season three allows us to assess the overall impact of this type of program within popular culture. Each of McLuhan's Laws of Media will be considered in relation to

American Idol. The last section of the chapter will take into account the four questions as a whole, in tetradic form, and synthesize the main patterns/ findings. This chapter consists broadly of two sections. First, the tetrad will be used to brainstorm and reveal

CUITent cultural impulses of the reality TV experience of the program American Idal.

Second, an overall analysis of the tetradric results will be presented. The core of the chapter is divided along the lines of the four parts of the tetrad as outlined in Figure 3 below.

48 Figure 3. The Four Parts of the Tetrad Applied to American Idol

Enhance Obsolesce

The Personal Musical Aptitude Emotions Institutional History Competition Conventional Audition Global Village Social Norm of Etiquette

Retrieve Reverse

Public Performance Protestant Work Ethic Flogging Failure Judeo-Christian World View Discomfort

Prior to applying the tetrad to American Ida l, it is worth noting that while the term

'viewer' is used to de scribe the person watching American Idal, it is not fully representative of the many ways people interact with the pro gram. Those who engage with American Idal arguably experience far more than 'viewing' alone: sorne audition, others vote with text message or telephone calI, sorne critique, sing along, cry along, and chat online about the program. However, the term viewer is used here, as television is essentially a visual medium.

As outlined in the previous chapter the tetrad is a hermeneutic instrument with multiple readings and interpretations. This is only one variation of a tetradic reading, as there are innumerable, and often interchangeable, categories. As was McLuhan's intention, the tetrad is an innovative tool for brainstorming the experiences of a medium, not for acquiring conclusive unalterable formulas. This particular reading focuses on the

49 elements of the program that are central to this thesis investigation of the public display of people's personal and emotional experiences that occur within reality television programs. Therefore, this tetradic analysis will focus more on elements supporting this investigation, and will touch upon less significant features of the show only briefly.

4.2 Enhancement

4.2.1 The Personal

One of the main ways American ldol illustrates a personalizing quality of the show is how the contestants publicly reveal more private, personally specifie information about themselves than previously seen on television programming or in other public areas of contemporary society. The program interviews the contestants and edits those interviews in such a way as to encourage their speaking openly and publicly about their experiences in the contest and their personal lives. Typically, most game shows or competitive sporting events do not offer this level of insight into the contestant' s personal lives. This personalizing element distinguishes American ldol from other competitions and is also found in most reality television programs.

There are several features throughout the pro gram that present personal information about the contestants, offering insight into their private lives. For instance, prior to each contestant' s performance a banner appears at the bottom of the screen identifying the contestant's name, age and hometown, followed by a briefbiographical interview. AIso, throughout their performance the camera shows the family and friends of the contestant in the audience with a banner across the screen revealing their relation to the contestant.

This banner element is similar to what Steve Johnson referred to as the 'flashing arrows'

50 of television programming that are set up to guide the viewer along the experience. In this instance, these aspects of the program situate and identify the contestant within an individuaIIy personalized context, with their name, age, hometown and showing who the supportive people are in their lives. By illuminating these personal aspects of the contestant, the viewer is offered a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the contestant's personallife that may create a simulated sense of rapport.

It is not only the profiles of the contestants but also the role of the host and judges who gear this personalizing factor. At the beginning of each pro gram the host, Ryan Seacrest, introduces himselfby enthusiasticaIIy saying such things as, "1 am Ryan Seacrest and l'II be your date for the next hour!" and "Here we go friends!" Wording his introduction this way implies an intimate connection to the audience. More than simply being personable,

Ryan Seacrest endeavors to create an actual connection by implying a personalized relationship with the viewers such as l'II be "your friend" and "your date" for the evening.4 Ryan Seacrest also gives the contestants and judges nicknames. For example, he refers to contestant John Peter Lewis as "J.P.L" and contestant Jasmine Trias as "Jazz" and Judge Randy Jackson as the, "the dog, da bomb, da dude". Along with these nicknames, Ryan Seacrest also identifies contestants with signature dance moves that he refers to throughout the season, such as Fantasia Barino's "The Bobo" dance and George

Huffs "Bounce" moves. These commentaries create a more personalized connection between the audience and the contestant. Typically, we have nicknames for our close friends and kin as an intimate gesture of familiarity and closeness. Here 1 would suggest

4 This reading (interpretation) of Ryan Seacrest's choice ofwords may fall more into what McLuhan de scribes as the ground; however it is noted here in Enhancement as an example to explore how American Idol may be constructed to have a more personalizing experience with the viewer than seen in other fOTIns of television programming.

51 that Ryan Seacrest is using nicknames as an attempt to reenact the bond found between acquaintances. 1 assume none of the nicknames stuck with these people as John Peter

Lewis does not seem to reveal an inkling of fast paced-urban-edge that is often associated with an acronym and Jasmine Trias never once sang a jazz song~ and aside from being a black man~ who makes shaky attempts at speaking Ebonics~ Randy Jackson's mainstream persona does not seem to have much ghetto-authenticity.

Each week in relation to the theme of the episode, personal information is revealed about the contestant. For instance~ in Episode 03.32 "5 Idols Sing"~ each contestant sang two songs from the Big Band Era which they chose. In between songs the contestants would speak to the audience~ making a dedication with each of their performances. In the middle of her two songs, Diana DiGarmo spoke to the audience about her song selection:

"Thank you, Thank you very much .. .1 sang that song for my grandpa cause it is one of his favorites. And you know aIl the veterans and my brother and everyone else~ who is in the army~ because~ 'thank you for watching over us'. [Audience applause] But! Here is another one~ don't be worried, we are not going to get sad. But here is another one from the Big Band Era, made famous by one of my favorite performers~ Miss Judy Garland ... " ln a similar style, in between her two songs~ Fantasio Barino spoke to the audience:

"Wow! Thank you, thank y'all! Wow! That song right there reminds me of my little brother because he drives me crazy. Now this next song 1 am gonna sing was recorded by Barbara Streisand. And whenever 1 sing this song it reminds me of my little girl~ so, 'this one is for you baby. ",

These moments of the contestants talking to the audience about their families and making individual dedications reveals the program's attempt to connect the audience to the contestants on a personal level. In this episode~ the contestants speak of the relationships

52 in their families. Having the contestants talk about their families, in this episode, is

similar to the grandparent 'old school' nostalgia feel that is associated with a theme such

as the Big Band Era. While the producers may simply be trying to fill time by

encouraging the contestants to speak between songs, there lS still the emphasis on

5 connecting what they say to their personal lives • This lS different from other

competitions because whether or not the contestant is a single mother or supports troops

in Iraq, theses aspects do not impact upon their talent, yet, seem emphasized here, on

American Idol, with the sole purpose of linking the audience more familiarly to the

contestant.

A motivation for creating this c10seness with the contestants may be to form a connection

with the audience. The judges often speak of the contestant's ability to connect with the

audience. It is difficult to distinguish if the judges are speaking of a charismatic quality,

what Simon Cowell (2003) names the X Factor that many successful artists have, or if

they are looking for a connection to the audience that would influence higher ratings and

increase the popularity of the show. It can be assumed that both levels of connection are being invoked. In his book, Backstage Gossip from American Idol & The Secrets That

Can Make You A Star; l don 't mean to be rude, but ... , Simon Cowell (2003), writes of the X-Factor. Where Judges Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson speak of self-confidence as being a key asset for stardom, Simon Cowell describes the X Factor as being the most valuable quality:

5 This is merely one example, but each episode asks the contestants a personal question relating to the theme of the show and revealing a personal aspect ofthemselves. For example, in Episode, 03.24, 'Elton John songs' in the episode where the contestants sing Elton John songs, after having met him during the week, each contestant is interviewed and asked what is the 'best day of their lives?'. Most of the contestants mentioned part of the American Idol experience as being one of the best days of their life; others mentioned more specifie stories of getting married or having a child.

53 The X Factor draws people to you and translates to real star power. It's also somewhat beyond your control. Madonna had it, of course, and aIl the American Idols - Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, and Clay Aiken - have had it. Even though each developed as a talent and gained more confidence as the show progressed, they aIl possessed an innate charisma that drew the audience to them the minute they started singing. What 1 hope for during the audience process of American Idol is to find that one person who has the X Factor. (Cowell, 2003, p 5 - 7)

On the program, the X Factor is never mentioned, yet the word connection is repeatedly used by the Judges in their comments on air. For example on Episode 03.36, "Three

Sing", after Fantasia Barino's first performance, Judge Paula Abdul comments, " ... you did just what this competition is about; you are unique and connect to millions of people each week". In the performance which foIlowed by Diana DiGarmo, Judge Simon Cowell says, "So what? Youjust haven't connected tonight..." During Diana DiGarmo's second performance of the show, Paula Adbul comments, " .. .it was good, you can sing that, but you have to put more yourself into it and connect ...."

The X Factor is a rare and unique quality that draws people to performers; it is a quality that connects people to the performer and cannot be fabricated. While the X Factor may have been the key quality the Judge Simon Cowell was looking for during the audition process, there is little that can be done to create this charismatic X Factor for the voting public during the competition of the final twelve contestants. As the X Factor cannot be replicated or conditioned, the producers of American Idol attempt to manufacture areas of the pro gram that are more flexible in drawing the audience to the contestants. Therefore, perhaps the emphasis in this season of American Idol on the contestant's personal self is either a distraction from the contestants' lack of the X Factor and! or a means of attempting to create a doser connection between the audience and the contestant. For

54 example, there was an episode where the contestants were asked what qualities of themselves most resembled their astrological sign. Their astrological sign could not be any further away from a contestant's ability to perform, yet this may offer the audience more personal information for their use in bonding with the contestant.

4.2.2 Emotions

The personalizing quality mentioned essentially leads to the public display of emotions.

For, as weIl as creating a connection between the audience and the contestants, another consequence of revealing personal information about the contestants may be to create an emotional ajjinity with the audience as they relate and perhaps aspire to be in the privileged place of the contestant6 or simply as a means of a collective public emotional expression. There are public displays of emotions throughout the show; by those who auditioned, the final twelve contestants and even the Judges. People are openly crying, screaming, and cheering throughout the season. Sorne contestants cry after their performance, other performances induce tears in the audience, with the elimination episodes stirring up sadness in the contestants, audience and even the Judges. There are aspects of the show that specifically cater to this emotional element. For instance, during the cross country auditions there is a space called the 'Focus Room' that is set up for people to express their feelings about their audition experience. Whether it is disappointment and anger at the Judges for not selecting them, or sheer joy and gratitude for qualifying to the next Hollywood round, a space is provided where people on the show are encouraged to public1y express and share their emotions.

6 This is similar to the notion of the propaganda experience of the 'American Dream' which will be discussed further in the ReversaI section, but is touched upon here within the context of an emotional affinity that may be forming from the personalizing aspects of the program; therefore it is placed in the quality of 'Emotions' as an experience that is being Enhanced.

55 Another striking feature of the program that encourages public displays of emotions is the

'Tribute Pack' which is played on each voting episode where a contestant is eliminated from the competition. The Tribute Pack is a short video composed as a recap of the losing contestant's experience in the competition. Beginning with their first audition, the Tribute

Pack video has the voice over of the contestant reflecting on their experiences and their individual hopes and aspirations in the competition. It is typically an emotionally laden video. Alongside the Tribute Pack being played on the large screen of the American Idol stage, the losing contestant is shown standing in front of the screen watching with the other remaining contestants standing on the side of the stage. This portion of the show is edited in such a way as to induce the 'money shot' whereby the losing contestant, the remaining contestants, and the audience are aIl brought to an emotionally heightened, often tearful experience, as the heartfelt Tribute Pack reinforces the losing experience for the contestant and viewers. 7

The appeal of these personal and emotional aspects is enhanced within American Idol

(and most reality television programs) as there may be a desire within our contemporary culture to share and express these experiences publicly; in contrast to the typically exclusive position publicly sharing emotions and personal information have had in our society. Situating these personalizing and emotionally intimate aspects of American /dol as main appeals of the program, this thesis investigated this trend as being similar to

7 Arguably there is also a personal growth factor to the American Idol program where contestants mature and develop as performing artists throughout the season, and the Tribute Pack intensifies the end ofthis growth experience and their chances ofbeing the next Idol. The eliminationJ voting-results episodes emphasize emotions of the Loser's experience with the Tribute Pack as weIl as airing a performance by the Loser, not a performance by the remaining Winning contestants. This emphasis on the Loser will be discussed further as a point in the ReversaI section.

56 youth's CUITent use of the Internet. A recent study (Hoechsmann, 2004, unpublished) that explored what the most visited sections of youth web sites are indicated the 'personal profile' section as generating the most popularity and visits. Arguably this attraction to the personal profile's of the other users on a website is reflective of a desire to know other people's personal information; presumably to strengthen and form a sense of

8 community or connection . Contrary to notions of people's engagement with media text as fragmenting and isolating experiences, people may actually be connecting with each other on more personal and intimate ways with new media technologies. Arguably reality television programs are serving as an outlet for people to connect and express the personal and emotional sides of themse1ves more than is typically seen on te1evision and in other areas of contemporary society.

4.2.3 Competition

There is also a competitive element that is central on American Idol. While this is typical of any contest, it is interesting to explore why it is so pronounced as part of the reality television genre now. CUITently, there is a parallel of the process of elimination on these programs to that of many of our contemporary work environments. Each week there is a constant sense of excitement and anxiety about who will be e1iminated from the

American Idol competition as an entire show is dedicated to the voting results. This is similar to the competitive anxiety found in many work places; where work environments often have the sense of being like a game of musical chairs as there are not enough chairs and someone will be eliminated. For, at any point there may be lay offs or cut backs. Just

8 The trend ofreality television programs has also impacted community experiences. Notably, most everyone has an opinion about these shows; whether or not they have even seen one. The concept alone of many reality television programs generates discussions around the water-cooler, just as much as talking about a previous night's episode.

57 as someone is eliminated each week on the reality television programs the competitive nature of work environments today affects job security due to factors such as mergers and political instability.9

In their article, In academe and 'survivor', sociability trumps talent, Steven G. Kellman et al. (2000) draw parallels between academic institutions and reality television programs:

"For the privileges of their positions, instructors consent to be viewed, reviewed, supervised, and assessed throughout their careers. Whether living on campus under constant surveillance by students and colleagues-or off, all college teachers live in the public eye and in dread ofwhat is whispered into public ears ..... Just as it is not always the most accompli shed scholar and teacher who gets hired and promoted, the survivor of Survivor is less likely to be the most skillful survivalist than the most politically adept." (KeIlman,et al., 2000)

Certainly, these aspects of life in academia are transferable to other professions as weIl. A constant sense of anxiety may loom over the work environment regarding who is next to be voted off (or promoted), because unfortunately, as Kellman mentions, popularity may win out over genuine capability.

4.2.4 Global Village

Another quality that is being enhanced through American ldol is McLuhan's notion of a

Global Village. EssentiaIly, McLuhan's Global Village distinguishes visual space, as the linear, quantitative means of perception of the Western world (acquired with the onset of the phonetic alphabet with the experience of the eye extending beyond over the ear), and acoustic space, as the holistic, qualitative mode of the East (McLuhan, 1986). Whereby,

9 This thesis positions the experience of the elimination within the discomfort factor that is explored in the following ReversaI section, yet is mentioned here briefly as the competitive element for a majority of the discomfort stems from this initial competitive game strategy formula of American Idol (and most reality television shows).

58 the mechanical technology of print is a medium that accentuated the continuity of visual space, television and other electronic mediums such as computers and global networks

JO would now bring users towards a more multi-centered path of acoustic space • As a time period, and not a place, the Global Village follows the Gutenberg Galaxy with the advent of electronic mass media that would collapse both time and space barriers in human communication and retribalize our way of being. As mentioned in the previous

Methodology chapter, the motivation for selecting American Idol for this study is its instant global popularity. After its inception in the UK as Pop Idol in 2001, the Idol phenomenon caught on in over twenty-eight countries by 2004. Arguably, the enormous global popularity of the Idol phenomenon is worthy of an investigation of what may not only be an American cultural impulse, but a global inclination; what McLuhan would regard as a move towards our Global Village.

4.3 Obsolesce

4.3.1 Musical Aptitude

Seemingly, musical aptitude is obsolesced from the American Idol program. Despite the fact the show is a music competition, season three focused on elements that have little-to no correlation to a contestant's musical talent, such as emphasizing the contestant's personal information and their public displays of emotions over musical aptitude. This is a study of the third season of American Idol, but Figure 4 provides a comparison of the layout of the other seasons, illustrating the different elements season three emphasized.

10 As McLuhan notes, in an attempt to retribalize our sensory experience to that of the non-literate person.

59 Figure 4. Breakdown of Episodes of American Idol, Seasons 1-4

Season 1* Season 2 Season 3 Season 4

# of Episodes 24 37 42 42

# of Audition Process 0 14 14 19

# of Finalist Competitions 0 18 22 21

# of Specials 0 5 6 1

*As a pilot of the United Kingdom Pop Idol program in the United States, the format of season one differed significantly from the following three seasons.

With talent, the winner would ultimately aspire to continue on with a successful singing career gained from the recording contract they won. Il There are fort Y two episodes in season three; fourteen are focused on the audition process, twenty two on the competition of the top twelve contestants and six Specials throughout the season. Of the 70,000 people who auditioned in five major cities across the United States, 117 people qualified for the Hollywood audition, where the judges selected twelve finalists for the American public to vote upon. These twelve contestants made up the American Idol group who toured the United States following the televised competition. Within the first ten episodes of season three, the judges selected Fantasia Barino and Diana DiGarmo as the first two contestants for the top twelve coveted Idol positions whom the public would vote upon to be the new American Idol.

Il Yet, seemingly the producers of American Ida! made more money from the revenue of the third season of American Ida! 's television program, American Ida! merchandise, and the American Ida! (top 12 finalists) tour, than the proceeds of the third season's one winner.

60 lronicaIly, Fantasia and Diana were then both selected based on the public votes as the last two contestants of the twelve to compete for the ultimate Idol prize. Thirty two episodes followed from the episode when Fantasia and Diana were selected as the first two contestants of the twelve finalists to being the last two contestants of the competition vying for the Idol position. The musical aptitude of Fantasia and Diana was thus distinguishable from the other contestants at the beginning of the season. The audience tuning in for over thirty more episodes is indicative of an appeal of the pro gram residing in the process of the contestant's experiences rather than the final Idol winner, as the contestants with the most vocal ability are apparent from the beginning. Therefore, the musical talent of the contestants becomes obsolete to the experience of watching the program as (in the case of season three) the Idol winner was apparent from the beginning ofthe season, and her success did not continue following the show.

4.3.2 Institutional History

The premise of American Idal is to find the person who can be the next American Idal and continue on to a successful music career based on the opportunity of a recording contract from the competition. In theory, one could assume that the program's previaus

American Idol winners would become obsolete with the new Idol winner taking the limelight. However, Kelly Clarkson, the winner of the first season, in 200 1, remains the most popular and successful of aIl Idol winners thus far. Although this is a study of the third season of American Idal, one of the notable differences between seasons one

61 through four is how much emphasis is placed on the personallives of the contestants in season two and season three versus se as ons one and four. 12

4.3.3 Traditional Audition

American Idol obsolesces the traditional audition process of the mUSIC industry.

Typically an artist breaks into the music industry after many years of struggling with voice lessons, auditions and countless demonstration ree1s. Unless someone is spotted by a scout, bom into a family of fame or begins in the entertainment industry as a

Mouseketeer, ovemight success is a rarity and years of perseverance is the norm. On one episode of American Idol, after contestant Jon Peter Lewis c1umsily performed his song and forgot the lyrics, Simon Cowell was baffled at how Jon Peter Lewis was even still in the competition, noting "1 am confused .. .in a real audition, he would have been given two seconds but this audience gives him a standing ovation." Therefore the real audition process is now obsolesced as the voting audience now determines who will win the recording contract. The public support for Jon Peter Lewis is most likely related to people's tendency to vote with their heart and not their head (as is often the case within anyelection).

An objective of the American Idol program is to expose what really goes on in the audition room. Unlike Popstars, the predecessor of the music competition reality television show, Pop Idol would now reveal what really occurs in an audition. "This was going to be the hook of the show, and it was not going to be pleasant" (Cowell, 2003,

12 It will be interesting to follow whether the career of the fourth season's winner will be as successful as Kelly Clarkson from season one, as season four seems to have placed less emphasis on personalizing the contestants than on highlighting their talent.

62 p.86)13 Within the first sixte en episodes, the Judges have weeded out the buffoons and the American viewing public would then seemingly be in control of the fate of the twelve final contestants. While certain contestants may be more talented, charismatic or just luckier than the others, they are essentially aIl someone that music industry producers have aIready approved. Most notably, the top twelve contestants are now automatically part of the American Ida! cast that guarantees them the opportunity to tour the United

States as part of the Season Three American Ida! group. This actually seems to reveal that the audition process is merely illusory. Major decisions are still in the hands of the powerful producers, and the public is merely playing along.

4.3.4 Social Norm of Etiquette

Etiquette is also obsolesced on American Ida!, for the most part solely by Judge Simon

Cowell. As part of the title of his book indicates, "1 dan 't mean ta be rude, but ... ",

Simon Cowell (2003) has created an image for himself of being an impolite judge who does not sugar-coat any of his opinions, as he seemingly attempts to be as offensive as possible with his comments. Cowell contextualizes his abruptness within the brusque stereotype of British banter, as weIl as what he describes as the harsh reality of the music producing industry which does not cater to etiquette, but rather 'tells it like it is' with no holding back.

13 Essentially, the private experience of the audition would now be made public - arguably this could place the audition experience in ReversaI; as extending this public, shared audition experience to such an amplified, community space reversing the conventional audition process of talent seeking music producers. However, traditional audition is placed here in Obsolesce to illustrate the illusion ofthe public's role in the voting selection process.

63 Exploring how the social norm of etiquette is obsolesced on the progrmn American Idal

(and in many other reality television programs) is significant as this loss of protocol is often associated in many reality television programs as being inappropriate and based solelyon containing a 'shock value' appeal of the shows. Arguably, this lack of etiquette on American Idal and other reality television programs is synonymous with the allure of popular culture as a safe space that allows people to challenge and grow away from many limiting traditional conventions. Simon Cowell's il1 manners can be perceived as rude and merely appealing to the shock value element for higher ratings. However, this controversial shock value element of most reality television programs is most interesting in reality television's ability to challenge traditional conventions, most notably by bringing forward issues that have been lost or silenced within the politically correct structure ofprimetime television programming. 14

As mentioned in the previous Literature Review chapter, during the 1970's when the reality television program An American Family aired, it was perceived as offensive and inappropriate as it dealt openly with such issues as family debates on the Vietnam War, visibly exposed marital problems that led to the subsequent divorce of Mf. and Mrs.

Loud, and revealed the eldest son Lance Loud's homosexuality. These were three extremely controversial issues at the time, and pop culture afforded a safe space to explore them. Currently Simon Cowell's rudeness, while an extreme form ofhonesty, is merely his attempt at conveying what he says is the true behind-the-scenes reality of the

14 While tbis point of etiquette could have been illustrated as shock value within the qualities that are Enhanced, it is mentioned here as Etiquette being Obsolesced as it best exemplifies the traditional value that is being challenged in lieu of the political correctness of manners.

64 struggles of these musicians. 15 While Simon CoweIl's behavior initially appears to be a

shock value factor of the show, arguably, he is actually subverting much of the political-

correctness that is currently on prime time television programming. While Simon Cowell may not at first seem like a revolutionary voice for the anti-political correctness movement, his lack of etiquette is refreshing in the current conservative television media,

and is far more reflective of the "honesty" found online.

4.4. Retrieval

4.4.1. Public Performance

A main incentive of the new media industry is to re-enact real life sensations and experiences as far as possible. This is seen most notably within the video game industry as weIl as the reality television genre. American Idol has retrieved many real qualities, those of real people, real time, and a live audience; features that attempt to simulate an authentic experience. Features of real people, real time and a live audience retrieve a

sense of realism that has been lost in much of the fictitious-television experience. For instance, reality television programs are made up of ordinary people; people with the

same identity on and off the screen. Brian Ott's study (2003), 'Tm Bart Simpson, who the heU are you?" A study in postmodern identity (re) construction, illustrates how throughout the timeline of television programming, there has been an increase in the audience identifying and connecting to television personalities who are the same character on and off screen. The desire to see ordinary people has been a slow progression with the popularity of such programs as The Cosby Show, Seinfeld and The

15 Arguably, the qualities that Simon Cowell speaks ofas being the comerstone of the music industry are also being challenged by other contemporary arts scenes. For example, the CUITent Indy music scene is an attempt to subvert the fabricated Pop Star personality that producers such as Simon Cowell seek.

65 Simpsans. Perhaps this is due to the simultaneous increase in the Intemet's use, as people

l6 desire less mediated experiences •

Aside from the cheap labor of using ordinary, non-professional actors, these real people on the show have nothing to lose; they have no public celebrity reputation at stake.

Popular celebrity actors will most often not risk their multi-million dollar careers for the money shot appeal of these programs. 17 This money shot appeal of Laura Grindstaff

(2002) as mentioned earlier in the Literature Review chapter, is the moment where real people express themselves and erupt emotionally on screen. As mentioned in the previous point of Enhanced qualities, this public display of emotions is one of the defining characteristics of reality television and is mentioned here, as it is real people who are exhibiting these real emotions, not fictitious characters.

Another contributing factor to the public performance element of American Idal, particularly during the final voting episodes, is how they air "Live" and in front of a

"Live Studio Audience". Airing live simulates a real lime element to these programs which may reinforce a more realistic appeal of the show; implying there is little to no time for editing during a /ive show. However, throughout these live episodes there are several features of the program that are not live and are heavily edited to cater to different

'money shot' appeals of the show; such as the Tribute Packs of the lost contestants or the

16 By 'less mediated' 1 am referring to less fictitious qualities between the user and the medium. For example, television personalities such as Seinfeld or Bill Cosby are the same character on and off the screen; something that is (in the ory) seen with Internet use. Aside from dishonesty (which is rampant on the Net as in rea/life) in general people maintain their same identity on and offline and perhaps this has transferred to people's experiences with television. 17 Although there are many has-been celebrities who go on reality television shows as an attempt to revamp their career and! or make money.

66 brief biographic interviews played just before a contestant perfonns. The interview and

Tribute Pack are edited to guide the viewer through a particular experience, as Steven

Johnson (2005) mentions, with 'flashing arrows' set up to help the audience know what is going on in relation to American Ida 1. These flashing arrows of strategically placed pre recorded clips are to guide the viewer through the program's money shots where emotions erupt and higher ratings ensue.

While viewers are fully aware that the video clips are pre-recorded, there is an emphasis on the program being live, with an icon on the corner of the screen, "LIVE", as well as constant reminders by the host of the show being aired live. Another appeal to the program airing live is the suspense of the people genuinely being themselves without a script and potential mishaps imminent at any moment. There is an element of truth and surprise to the show being aired live which reinforces the believability that there will be a new/ next American Idal and that they are part of this privileged selection process of who will win. The instantaneous experience of being live is also similar to the Internet where people are connected online at the same/ real time.

Although many situation comedies are filmed in front of a live audience, the audience is rarely shown or heard, as a laugh track typicalIy represents the audience presence. The live audience of American Idal is shown with the Judges seated offstage with the audience members. The contestants also use the space of the audience to perfonn, and even run through the aisle while singing. Arguably, the Live Audience retrieves the experience of previous mediums such as radio and non-mediated community experiences where people can engage and participate in the program. Be it a calI in radio program or a

67 town hall meeting, the live audience integrates the show with the audience and public more so than conventional television programs.

4.2.2 Flogging

Flogging has been shown on American Idal. The term is associated throughout different historical periods with having a disciplinary function, religious purpose or erotic use.

Customarily, flogging has been an archaic form of public aggression that humiliates someone into submission. While this may seem an extreme quality to attribute to

American Idol, a large segment of the show emphasizes the losers. 18 Episodes 03.68 "The

Road is to Hollywood! (ls Paved with Broken Dreams. And Asphalt.)" and 03.78 "Uncut,

Uncensored and Untalented" are specifically dedicated to the losers of the country-wide audition. These two special episodes, along with the banter throughout the regular competition programs, emphasize the humiliation and ridicule many of those who auditioned, as well as the twelve final competitors, endure from the judges and public scrutiny.

While flogging has been forbidden since the time of slavery in North America, perhaps there is a remnant of this public humiliation today. It is difficult to know if the appeal of the judges' comments resides in the shock value quality as mentioned in the previous

Obsolesce section that may be challenging traditional conventions of etiquette, or if the judges make such harsh comments in an attempt to be more honest and true to the insensitive reality of the music industry. Either way, there is a public appeal of the

18 There are essentiaIly, 69,999 Iosers ofSeason Three and only one winner. The appeal of the American IdoIIosers will be mentioned further in the following ReversaI section, yet is mentioned briefly here as a potential factor of the audience appeal.

68 degradation of many contestants on American Idol. This is not a study based on personal interviews or one that explores the psychological motivations of people's engagement with reality television. However, it is still interesting to consider if flogging, as a past socially accepted means of punishrnent, is re-appearing, or leftover. The terrn flogging stems from the Flagellation of Christ, the time when Jesus was physically beaten leading to his Crucifixion.

4.4.3. Judeo-Christian World View

Many Judeo-Christian views are often referred to as the fundamental basis of Western moral values and many of its foundations are seen throughout American Ido!. Whether as conscious figure or unintentional ground, these themes are worth exploring. For instance, the notion of monotheism, the belief that there is only one God, is gerrnane to the outcome of only one American Ido!. Although the show searches for this one Idol several seasons over, the premise of the program is similar in nature to the monotheistic notions of worshiping only one god; that there is only one person worthy of the Idol title (each season). Similarly, the forms of worship, such as the concepts of having a sacred space and sacred time to worship, are also enacted within American Ido!. The program airs the same day and time each week within the revered space of the Arnerican Idol studio with the final episode held at the Kodak theatre (the same theatre where the Academy Awards take place). Also the use of psalms in community prayer is similar to the community experience of the contestants singing popular familiar songs that the audience can relate

69 to and appreciate on a nostalgic level. Although subtle, these qualities are present as ground to the experience ofviewing American Idol. 19

The notion of Idolatry also has a significant appeal to the program's name, American

Idol. Idolatry is often ascribed to a person or thing that is the object of excessive or extreme adulation (Oxford English Dictionary, Online 2004). Many religions

(particularly Judeo-Christian ones) consider the practices of other religions to be idolatrous, as the Bible regards the worshipping of other gods as false gods. With regards to the marketing of American Idol, there may be a sinfulness quality associated within the concept of Idolatry, with the familiarity (mainly unconscious ground) of Judeo-Christian values serving to both perpetuate and challenge these beliefs. As mentioned in the previous Literature Review chapter, Marshall McLuhan notes how with media text we are often drawn to the familiarity of what we know. With much of American culture steeped in Christian ideals, the subtlety of its presence is seen in American Idol.

Therefore, although ground, there is an awareness of these Judeo-Christian beliefs encompassed within American Idol.

It is worth noting in this section sorne of the Western values and practices that are retrieved on American Idopo. For instance, the three judges perpetuate much longstanding discrimination found in American culture. While there are three judges, each has a distinct character and presence, that represents a particular stereotype; Randy

19 Also throughout Christian beliefs there is significance to the number three, and the presence ofThree Judges on American Idol is similar to the Christian Trinity (of the Father, Son and Roly Spirit). This presence ofthe Three American Idol Judges plays into the constant sense of judgment and surveillance that rcredominates in Christian faith. o While these points may be considered being Enhanced, they are mentioned here as there is a subtly to their presence as ground, than as obvious direct appeals of the show.

70 Jackson as a black man, has the cool hip hop persona who speaks so much slang that it sounds like Ebonics; Paula Abdul, with a stereotypically soft sweet female personality, nurtures and cares for the contestants in a maternaI feminine fashion, as her opinion is rarely, if ever, considered; most markedly the voice of Simon Cowell has the most impact and value among the three judges, not surprising, in as his British white male presence reiterates the powerful Colonial position that still resonates within American culture.

4.5. ReversaI

4.5.1 The Protestant Work Ethic

When extended beyond its limits, the personalizing qualities mentioned in the

Enhancement section reverse into propaganda attributes of the Protestant work ethic. The

Protestant work ethic is often described as the American Dream, whereby with hard work and determinism anyone can achieve prosperity. American Idol perpetuates the notion that ''you tao, can be the next American Idol", that with the opportunity of the program anyone can attain the one coveted Idol position of success and fame. Several features of the show cater to this American Dream appeal of the program. For instance, in the episode 03.26, "Trip to the Movies" each contestant is asked to sing a song from a movie.

Before they sing their chosen song, there is a brief clip of the contestant speaking about what their favorite movie is and why. The contestant's responses are edited to engage the viewer. For example, when asked what his favorite movie is, George Huff replied: "My favorite movie is The Wiz, when 1 first seen it as a kid it stuck to me like glue ... The movie The Wiz inspired me to try out for American Idol because 1 looked at my situation in comparison to Dorothy's and Dorothy stepped out and didn't even know there was a whole world. But here 1 am sitting here in front of aIl of you. Just pursue your dreams no

71 matter what." Ryan: "alright here we go; he is pursuing his dreams against aIl odds that just happens to be the title track ofthe film he has chosen. Give it up for George Hum"

George Hufrs response is in line with the propaganda notion of the American Dream whereby his aspirations to succeed and follow his dream is likened to those of Dorothy in

The Wiz. Similarly, in answer to this question, the contestant Fantasia Barino said her favorite movie is Finding Nemo, because, 'just as Marvin strived to get to Nemo, 1 am striving to be the next American Idol". Identical to the American Dream, American Idol brings about the notion that everyone one has an equal opportunity to attain fame and fortune - no wonder 70,000 people showed up in season three alone to audition.

Regarding the influence of mass media in perpetuating cultural stereotypes, Jacques Ellul

(1962) writes; "This need of a certain cultural level to make people susceptible to propaganda is best understood if one looks at one of propaganda' s most important devices, the manipulation of symbols. The more an individual participates in the society in which he lives, the more he will ding to stereotyped symbols expressing collective notions about the past and the future ofhis group. The more stereotypes in a culture, the easier it is to form public opinion, and the more an individual participates in that culture, the more susceptible he becomes to the manipulation ofthese symbols."

The figure of the personalizing aspect of American Idol becomes ground with the sub text of the American Dream, as there are propagandists' notions within the American

Dream that bring about certain cultural stereotypes. While the American Dream concept may seem optimistic and prosperous, in that every person has an opportunity to succeed, this is not the case. The American Dream notion neglects to consider the obvious social

72 and cultural repressions that many disadvantaged people endure. For instance, within the idea of the American Dream a poor person may believe it is their own fault they cannot achieve success and social mobility when in fact there are many institutionalized and socialized obstacles that can defy someone's personal motivation.

4.5.2 Failure

The premise of American Idol is to create a pop star of the person who wms the competition, yet one of the most notable features of season three was the popularity of the failed contestants.21 Season three afforded much attention to the failed auditions; airing those whose auditions were so horrible they were mocked and shown as a farce. The most striking of these failed auditions was William Hung. From the initial airing on American

Idol 's audition shows, William Hung became an instant household name for his awkward, tone deaf performance of Ricky Martin' s "She Bangs". Immediately following the program which aired this audition, there was an instant reaction within the online community where William's ninety second audition was uploaded on the Internet and rapidly shared as a video clip, also as his own personal email account became bombarded with public responses.

The sudden public frenzy around William Hung resulted in him receiving a recording contract where his debut CD, Inspiration, reached thirty-fourth position on the Billboard

Top 200 in its first week (Chi, 2005). He was also featured on Entertainment Tonight,

The Tonight Show, The Today Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Dateline NBC, CBS's

21 Perhaps this is due to the short lived success of the season two Idol winner Rueben Studdard when runner-up contestant Clay Aiken achieved instant fame and was seen on the coyer of the Rolling Stone Magazine - instead ofRueben Studdard. Taking it even further, in season three, the most celebrated loser (William Hung) becoming a pop icon.

73 The Early Show, Extra, On Air With Ryan Seacrest, and Jimmy Kimmel Live (ibid). With major publications like the Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, and USA Today all running articles on him, along with interviews on radio shows across the United States, William

Hung became an instant pop icon. Whether as a conscious manipulation on the part of the

American Idol producers or initiated suddenly by public demand, William Hung catapulted into immediate fame as "The True Idol'.22. Still today, William Hung remains an active public personality, whereas Fantasia Barino, the competition winner of season three, faded trom the limelight and has yet to forge a successful music career.

The public response to William Hung was both fast and peculiar. William is not selling talent or sex, but exploded into the public eye based on his awkward audition. Simply because his fan-initiated website received four million hits within the first week, we need not suppose that he was being publicly revered, as opposed to teased. It is unclear if

William Hung is exemplifying the American Dream, ofhard work and perseverance, or if his image is being exploited in perpetuating the stereotype that an awkward Asian man does not have a chance at achieving such popular status; this is unclear and difficult to decipher. Most notably, as he gained sudden and enormous attention trom the media, there are to date (with the exception of Bruce Lee) no other adored Asian men in the

American mass media.23 While the attraction to his awkward performance may be one of sympathy and inspiration, it is entrenched within conflicting messages. Perhaps his popularity does stem trom a genuine compassion towards his innocent persona of

22 The True Idol was the original name for William Hung's debut CD, later released as Inspiration. Perhaps acknowledging Hung as the True Idol may have been detrimental to the potential reputation of the Idol winner, yet his experience can certainly remain an Inspiration as tbis beeame the debut CD title. 23 The specifie topie of William Hung's popularity merits an entire Dissertation, but is mentioned briefly here with regard to his popularity and success as a competition loser, surpassing that of the eompetition's contest winner.

74 publicly expressing himself, and the public truly has honed in on his attributes as being those of A Real American Idai!24

4.5.3. Discomfort

Similar to the "dirty little secret" of video gaming, as mentioned by Steven Johnson

(2005) in the previous Literature Review chapter, engaging with reality television programs also encompasses elements of discomfort and unease. Aiso known as

"Discomfort TV" there are many different facets of distress throughout reality television programs. The discomfort element is mentioned here as being reversed, as throughout

American Idol discomfort is welcomed and encouraged as a constant undertone (ground) of the program. Discomfort is embedded throughout American Idal - during the auditions, the competition, and Special episodes highlighting the difficulties people experience both throughout the competition, and their extemal personal life. Previously, prime time television shows did not illustrate the uncomfortable side of human experiences, while reality television challenges this. For instance, the sitcom Friends may have joked about the character Monica Gellar having been an obese teenager but the show only aired picture perfect characters who flawlessly and humorously went through life, whereas reality television programs reveal far more diverse experiences, and in the place of a laugh-track there are real life tears and screams, of people's many upsets and disappointments. Problems are not solved within half an hour.

At tirst glance it may seem that the ordinary people on these programs are left publicly scrutinized and ridiculed. However, in applying the tetradic reading and considering what

24 As noted on his official website, William Hung, A Real American !dol!

75 the reversaI qualities are, that is, what is both figure and ground, and asking what involves dual action simultaneously, reversing its original character, here the experiences of discomfort are arguably reversed into pleasure. As an educator 1 find it is most interesting to think that viewers, particularly youth, may be acquiring the ability to persist and persevere through a difficult leaming experience. The Personal and Emotions qualities mentioned in the Enhancement section of the tetrad, when pushed to their extreme, can often be tremendously uncomfortable, especially when one is faced with things one does not want to acknowledge. A considerable amount of growth and leaming is lost as people resist recognizing experiences that are unsettling. There may not be a lot of self-responsibility taught on reality television shows, but it is certainly a start, if not a stepping stone, in allowing people to express and challenge their emotions by encouraging self reflective and self aware qualities.

The American Idol special episode 03.68 Uncut, Untalented and Uncensored, featured the season's worst auditions. It was an episode where the producers brought back the people they thought were the most foolhardy of the auditions. Paula Fuga was one of the audition losers brought back to perform and speak again. Paula auditioned in Hawaii, singing Son of a Preacher Man and wearing a tee shirt that said "Big Girls Rock", and she herself was obviously obese. On this special losers episode Paula performed a song with her ukulele that she wrote. The song was about the three judges and her American

Idol experience. The words of Paula's song offer insight as to the experiences of the season's 69,9991osers.

76 Paula's Song

Here 's a little song l wrote, listen as l bring if in a minor note. Ryan is the host that l love the most. l am representing every reject from coast to coast.

American Idol, in Hawaii ... (afew words in Hawaiian) .. for this opportunity

Thank you, Randy, for shutting me down, thought you were my dog but you played me like a clown. Paula, girl, you know that was wack. You said that l was sweet, but you never had my back. Simon, Simon, words J'Il be rhyming. You crack me up every single lime, and in the back ofmy mind - l think ofail you said - everyday you wake up on the wrong side ofthe bed.

American Idol in Hawaii One ofthe best things that's ever really happened to me .....

What is most striking about Paula' s song is how she says she is represenling every reject from coast to coast and along with her disappointing experiences with the three judges she emphasizes that American Idol in Hawaii, was one of the best things that has happened to her. This song she performed while wearing her signature, "Big Girls Rock" tee shirt was a heartrending and endearing performance. The clear message was that although she was disappointed, her American Idol experience was obviously a good experience. For whatever reasons, she found great joy in having experienced the loss of

American Idol. 25

25 One of the most notable things about the Canadian Idol auditions here in Montreal, Quebec was how, of aIl the thousands of youth who tumed out to audition, as they were set up throughout the malI days in advance, it resembled the experience of a pilgrimage. As 1 sat in the audition line, 1 noticed people forming instant bonds and connections with each other based solely on this common experience. For those auditioning, even though they may not make the cut to the next round, they had already experienced a momentous amount of emotion in waiting and striving to make it to the end.

77 The mam sentiment that encapsulates the many mixed expenences on the show is discomfort. There is a discomfort for those participating in the audition (with the risk of public1y expressing oneself), a discomfort throughout the competition (of public scrutiny ofwhether one will win or lose), a discomfort with the judges (with their direct criticism) and mostly a discomfort with the viewers in watching (aIl the public humiliation and adulation of the contestants). With examples mentioned in previous sections, such as the attention focused on the losers of the audition, the eliminated contestants, and the features ofthe programs that emphasize the contestants' struggles within the competition, there is a constant sense of anxiety for both the contestants and the viewing audience.

1 recall the first time 1 ever watched the reality television program Fear Factor and was thrilled to have such a lighthearted opportunity to scream and yeU in horror at my

26 television . The program was obviously unsettling as my roommate and 1 sat cringing on the couch with our eyes covered, peeking through our fingers to get a glimpse at the horror. However, what struck me the most was how this program created a safe space to express fear and anxiety, which are such common emotions in our society, yet which we are usually discouraged from expressing public1y. This is similar to the discomfort found in American Idol. American Idol encompasses a multitude of sensory experiences, not simply the one-dimensional enjoyment which is standard primetime marketing appeal.

Crimes and problems are not solved within a one hour episode. Instead, viewers are often left frustrated (and at times thrilled) by the unsuspected direction that a reality television

26 The tragedies revealed on the news are often too upsetting, remote or shown too quickly to fully allow viewers to conceptualize certain pain. Yet, watching someone eat "gross" insects or do a daring stunt (in a safe space) offers a sound bite rush of emotions that are experienced as quickly as they are let go.

78 show could take. It is this predominating discomfort appeal of reality television shows that this thesis explores.

4.6 Chapter Summary: Review of Analysis

Megan Boler and Michalinos Zembylas (2003) in their article, Discomforting Truths: The

Emotional Terrain of Understanding Difference, discuss how in relation to the myth of liberal individualism, difference is not an obstacle to attaining the American dream. They note:

In the land of equal opportunity everyone competes on a level playing field. If you work hard you will succeed; whoever reaps the benefits of the American dream deserves the rewards so rightly eamed. In the land of the free, difference is either overlooked, tolerated or celebrated as a flavourful ingredient for the melting pot. Those who challenge these cherished myths face an uphill battle and often a thankless task. Equal opportunity, the virtues of hard work, just desserts-these beliefs are as pervasive and taken for granted as the air we breathe. It is a painstaking process to develop a critical and conscious awareness of something as omnipresent as oxygen. (Boler and Zembylas, 2003, p.ll 0)

Megan Boler reiterated in this article what she discussed in her earlier work Feeling

Emotions: Emotions and Education (1999), where she outlines a "pedagogy of discomfort" as an educational means to comprehending the production of norms and differences in our society. Boler and Zembylas (2003) offer this pedagogy as an approach for both the educator and student to move outside their comfort zones. By comfort zones,

Boler and Zembylas mean, "the inscribed cultural and emotional terrain that we occupy less by choice and more by virtue of hegemony" (2003, p.lll). Boler and Zembylas

(2003, p. 111) refer to Peter McLaren's definition ofhegemony where:

Hegemony refers to the maintenance of domination not by sheer exercise but primarily through consensual social practices, social forms, and social structures produced in specific sites such as the church, the state, the

79 school, the mass media, the political system, and the family. (McLaren 1998, p. 182)

For Boler and Zembylas (2003), pedagogy of discomfort involves becoming aware of the intensely embedded role emotions have in framing and shaping our daily habits, routines, and unconscious participation within hegemony, noting that "the comfort zones reflect emotional investments that by and large remain unexamined because they have been woven into the everyday fabric of what is considered common sense" (Boler and

Zembylas, 2003, p. 111). This has the purpose of emphasizing emotions as part of a radical education to bring a focus on the ways in which we act out and embody dominant values and assumptions in our daily habits and routines (Boler and Zembylas, 2003, p.

111).

The tetradic reading of American ldol revealed different features of the pro gram which enable many of our hegemonic practices and structures such as competition, social norms, Judeo-Christian World views and the American dream. The pedagogy of discomfort requires a critical investigation on both cognitive as weIl as emotional levels.

It is essentially counter-hegemonic, for it attempts to challenge existing emotional rules that assert regulative ideals about difference (Boler and Zembylas, 2003, p.l12). Boler and Zembylas note how no one escapes hegemony as we are aIl discomforted by it.

Throughout history popular culture has been a separate space for people to challenge many of our inscribed hegemonic structures, and this is also prevalent within the CUITent pop culture reality television phenomenon.

80 From the tetradic reading of American Idol, many hegemonic structures were revealed that are perpetuated or simply reflected in the program, but there are also three notably distinguishing qualities that actually challenge many of our society's power structures.

Two enhanced qualities are the persona l, where people are connecting on more personalizing levels with one another, as weIl as the sudden and rapid increase in people publicly displaying and sharing their emotions. Thirdly overall, with the program emphasizes experiences of discomfort. These three experiences, particularly those of discomfort, can result in valuable insights for educators; for as Paula Fuga sang on the

Uncut, Untalented and Uncensored, special episode of American Idol, she was

"representing every reject from coast to coast" and even throughout the disappointment of losing, "American Idol was one of the best things that has ever really happened to her". As the program now enters its fifth season and continues to attract tens ofthousands of people to the auditions and tens of millions of viewers, something has resonated within this experience that has created a phenomenon.

As a pop culture phenomenon, it is interesting to consider what elements of the show may be surfacing as a means of challenging traditional conventions. This thesis has focused on the public, shared emotional experiences people are having. As mentioned in the

Literature Review chapter, Megan Boler marks the new millennium as a turning point with respect to emotions and education. Emotions have customarily been characterized as a natural, private, individualized experience whereby acknowledging and discussing one's emotions within a community has traditionally been exc1uded, ifnot shunned, from our public sphere (Boler, 1999). Yet here, reality television exemplifies a constructed, shared, public space where people are openly expressing and engaging on an emotional

81 level challenging what has been a long-standing inscribed hegemonic restraint. This public display of emotions on reality television programs is most striking particularly as it is resonating now.

As mentioned in the Literature Review chapter, revlewmg the timeline of reality television history, the concept of reality television essentially began with Candid

Camera, "catching Americans in the act of being themselves" which aired on and off radio, followed by television, beginning as early as 1947. The surge in popularity of the reality television program An American Family (while exceptionally popular with the viewing public) did not engender a cultural phenomenon. Reality television programs in the early nineties began a buzz leading to a pop culture phenomenon of this new television genre by the tum of the new millennium (simultaneously with Boler's timing of marking the new millennium as a tuming point for emotions and education). This thesis has attempted to explore what, if any, correlation there may be between what Boler advocates and the sudden surge of reality television with people public1y expressing themselves more openly in contemporary culture, questioning whether this public engagement and the commercial-market response is related to the innovative qualities of new media. This thesis proposes that there is a connection. This is illustrated by situating the qualities that were revealed using McLuhan's Laws of Media, of the tetradic reading of American Idal, within the five descriptive attributes of new media. As mentioned previously, "new media are more than technological changes but are also textual, conventional and cultural (Lister et al., 2003, p.13)". Therefore within this new media framework - with the utility of new media as being comprised of digitality, interactivity, hyper-textuality, dispersal, and virtuality - American Idal is explored.

82 Firstly, with digitality as 'media that use computers' American ldol is certainly reliant on the use of computers as a tool to communicate information with the public about the show, as weIl as a means for the public to communicate with each other regarding the program. lnteractivity, the second element, with its two levels of meaning, the ideological and instrumental, are both significant features of American ldol. Ideologically the program markets a diverse range of contestants, as the American ldol auditions cross the

United States to diversify the demographic background of the contestants. Yet for the past four seasons the American ldol winners (and two finalists) have always been from southem, religious states illuminating a potential ground ideological component that may

27 be a directing force of each season . The second element of interactivity, where "the audience for new media becomes a 'user' rather than the 'viewer'" (Lister et al., 2003, p.20) is also seen throughout the program, with people taking part in the audition process, the voting procedure, as a live audience member, or engaging in the constant online activity surrounding the show.

While not as dominate as the interactivity element, arguably there is a hyper-textuality factor to the program as viewers can create their own narrative with the additional information about the show and the contestants offered on the show's website and other online communities. The next quality, dispersal, "as new media production resources are

27 It is difficult to assume that the finalist from these 'bible belt' states is directly driven by the Judeo Christian World view factor mentioned in the Retrieved section. This geographic coincidence of the Idol winners may have more to do with the excitement small-town America makes over a camera crew arriving in their neighborhood. These scenarios may generate far more hype in rural areas (generating more of a money shot), than a camera crew at a downtown Manhattan apartment where there might be little to no fanfare outside, as people in most urban centers are more unfazed by cameras.

83 more widely dispersed than centralized mass media production resources (ibid, p.386)", as a component of the Internet use, perhaps influenced the creation of online communities that brought about William Hung's fame. Lastly, virtuality, while not a direct component of American Idal, is a concept which is embedded within a long-standing philosophical and theological framework and could possibly be explored in relation to the Judeo

Christian aspects of the program.

Cumulatively, based on this five-point definition, American Idal encompasses the new media framework. Aiso as mentioned in the previous chapter, for Boler (1999) emotions have been excIuded from our education system and society at large, and marginalized on the side of irrational, nonsensical and illogical notions (the same location in which pop culture is often positioned). Reality television's popularity may have come about as a result of this socially repressed element of sharing one's emotions and private personal self in public. Communication advances now afford a broader means to express one self and exchange information. Therefore, as a media education study, this thesis questions if the current reality television phenomenon is brought about now in conjunction with or in reaction to, the experiences people are having while using new media technologies.

Emotional expression and personal identity are certainly not new; rather they are a central element of our human condition. However, this desire to express and share them more publicIy on television is new. Conceivably Marshall McLuhan was correct in prophesizing that the advent of electrical technology is an extension of our central nervous system, as the experiences people are having within reality TV are the epitome ofthis.

84 CHAPTER 5 - CONCLUSION

The desire to arrive finally at logically connected concepts

is the emotional basis of productive thought.

- Albert Einstein

5.1 Thesis Overview

The overall goal ofthis thesis has been to explore reality television's position as a means of popular education, while attending to a broader social context of changing technology/ies and corresponding cultural shifts. To demonstrate the power of popular culture as an educational site and as an artifact that mirrors sorne of our attitudes back to us, I asked three key questions: 1) Why is reality TV resonating as a cultural phenomenon now? 2) What are the cultural shifts that are occurring as a result of this new television genre? 3) What educational implications do the answers to the two previous questions have? The balance of the thesis explored the scholarly antecedents to my study, the presentation of a methodological instrument - Marshall McLuhan's tetrad - and a close tetradic reading of American Idol to explore reality television's position as a contemporary cultural phenomenon. Drawing on the pop art of Andy Warhol, this concluding chapter illustrates how reality television may actually be more educational then exploitative.

5.2. Fifteen Minutes of (Lukewarm) Fame

Andy Warhol (1975), in his book, The Philosophy ofAndy Warhol, blames technology as the culprit for the loss of his emotions. He gives particular responsibility to the television

85 and tape recorder, noting " ... when l got my first television l stopped caring so much about having close relationships with other people" (1975, p.26). Before the CUITent popularity of reality television programs such as The Real World, Big Brother or

Survivor, Andy Warhol explored the experiences of constant surveillance and recording public expression by carrying around his tape recorder everywhere he went, taping everything and anyone in his environment. Warhol elaborates on his experience:

The acquisition of my tape recorder really fini shed whatever emotional life l might have had, but l was glad to see it go. Nothing was ever a problem again, because a problem just meant a good tape, and when a problem transformed itself into a good tape it's not a problem any more. An interesting problem was an interesting tape. Everybody knew that and performed for the tape. You couldn't tell which problems were real and which problems were exaggerated for the tape. Better yet, the people telling you the problems couldn't decide anymore if they were really having the problems or just performing. (Warthol, 1975, p.26-7)

Steven Shaviro (2004), in his article The Life, After Death of Postmodern Emotions, draws on the work of Andy Warhol in the 1960s to begin exploring the redefinition of emotion in the postmodem world, noting that with Warhol's tape recordings, "the distinction between what is 'real' and 'fake' is meaningless; if you cannot be sure whether you are performing or not, then everything you do tums into a kind of performance (Shaviro, 2004)"

What is most striking about the criticism of reality television for not being 'real' or 'true to life' is the implication that other forms oftelevision programming are representative of reality. As it is, reality television programming simply offers another means of exploring and expressing ourselves. What is interesting about Warhol's pop art that challenged the public performative nature of his friends is the sense of community and accountability in

86 their performance - for the permanence of a recording may attribute the experience as being real. Arguably these public performances, with Warhol's tape recordings, are similar to today's reality television phenomenon, and perhaps more representative of the truth. As we know in community and not in isolation, the public shared experience of ordinary people expressing themselves more openly than seen with previous television genres may be a result of the interactivity we have with new media technology.

Warhol's tape recordings may have been in tune with or ahead of the cultural impulses of his time, but he still credited mass technology as killing offhis emotions. Shaviro (2004) however, notes an important distinction; Warholloved the movies as much as TV and he did not say that movies put an end to his emotionallife, rather the opposite. Warhol felt

"the movies make things look so strong and real, whereas when things real do happen to you, its like watching television-you don't feel anything (Warhol, 1975, p.91)" Shaviro illustrates how Warhol, in a McLuhanesque fashion, distinguishes between the hot and cool medium experiences of movies and television. Movies are bigger than reallife and going to a movie theatre is a group phenomenon that takes us outside of ourselves and fills us with emotions that are not our own (Shaviro, 2004). In contrast, television is an intimate and cozy experience, which does not over-power us the way movies do, but shrinks things down directly to us (ibid). Warhol situated his tape recorder in this same

'cool' position of the television. The tape recorder went with him everywhere and became an intimate part of the environment, just like the television set that is always left on (ibid).

87 As mentioned in the Literature Review chapter, based on McLuhan's hot and cool medium theory, this thesis regards reality television as the new "lukewarm" medium, with the experiences of hot and cool media interconnecting as a result of our engagement with new media technologies. In a McLuhanesque approach, Shaviro (2004) illustrates the hot and cool distinction of television and movies:

Television is 'cool' in the sense that it lowers emotional intensity. It makes the extraordinary seem ordinary, whereas hot media, such as the movies, do just the reverse. Often we think of TV viewing as passive, but McLuhan rightly insists that it is highly participatory and interactive. After all we talk back to the television, we cut it off, we ignore it, we fight with it and make up with it again, just as we do with our spouses and our siblings. Television is a continually running low-intensity domestic drama, without the cosmic heights and sublime depths of tragedy. (Shaviro, 2004)

This conventional experience oftelevision as making the 'extraordinary seem ordinary' is being challenged with reality TV programming. Now, in reality television programs, ordinary people are making the commonplace seem astonishing. This thesis suggests that the fascination of reality television programs resides in the hegemony of our society's values. For as Boler mentioned, the historical exclusion of emotions from education and our society at large has been with the binary position of "truth" and reason on one side and emotional "subjective" bias on the other. Currently, this is being challenged, as people are publicly expressing their personal and emotional selves more openly and visibly on reality television shows than seen in previous gemes of television programming or areas of contemporary public life.

The long-standing notion of emotions customarily being characterized as a natural, private, individualized experience (with acknowledging and discussing one's emotions within a community or public sphere shunned) is also being confronted within the current

88 pop culture phenomenon of reality television. Arguably the sensitive, daring and at times simplistic topics of reality television programs can be se en as a popular education means of carrying out a pedagogy of discomfort, just as Boler's pedagogy of discomfort is offered as a means for educators and students to step outside of their comfort zones, comfort zones that we occupy less by choice and more by virtue of hegemony (Boler &

Zembylas, 2003). Boler discusses how we feel power, how with a pedagogy of discomfort that acknowledges the exclusive position of emotions in education and society at large, we now have the power to drastically change our cultural values and violent practices through exposing and challenging the unspoken "emotional" investments of our ideological beliefs (1999).

5.3. The Educational (not exploitive) Merit of Reality Television

A closer look at the experiences of reality television reveals that it is arguably more educational than exploitative of people's personal identity. For instance, on the program

Wife Swap, the original format gave the wives money to improve the other family's situation. This stipend was replaced with the wives implementing their own care-taking styles of running a family, allowing for an opportunity to learn and be exposed to insights into how other families live. Sa you think you can dance, another reality TV pro gram with the same producers as American Idol, places less emphasis on the external factors such as the judges' personal banter and stereotypes than American Idol did, and instead focuses more attention on the dance contestants and their experiences. Brat Camp is a

"tough love" program for misbehaving youth. The Apprentice is popular among MBA students. How ta be a Hilton teaches the social graces of the e1ite. Queer Eye for the

Straight Guy (part of the trend ofredo and make-over shows) teaches viewers "How To",

89 and is an extension ofthe popular 'how-to' and 'for dummies' book series, now being put on television. These genres of reality television programs are an attempt at improving someone's personallife and coyer numerous topics for diverse audience needs.

A recent article in the TV Times, (2005) Fine Tuning: The renovation of reality TV, discussing this fall's reality television line-up, mentions the "refreshing new trend in reality TV ... mean-spirited, watch-'em-make-fools-of-themselves shows are doing a slow fade and feel good, helping-those-in-need shows are on the way in ...." The popularity of shows such as Fear Factor also remains strong, and reflects reality television genres' catering to a variety of emotional experiences. Arguably as people continue to express their personal and emotional selves more openly, this will likely be followed by an educational experience of increased personal growth and knowledge.

The negative Vlew of reality television as a low-brow, nonsensical, cheap form of entertainment should not be confused with the uncomfortable process of self-awareness or personal growth. Marshall McLuhan commented on the quest for understanding of ourselves and our society in an interview with Playboy magazine:

Personally, 1 have a great faith in the resiliency and adaptability of man, and 1 tend to look to our tomorrows with a surge of excitement and hope. 1 feel that we're standing on the threshold of a liberating and exhilarating world in which the human tribe can become truly one family and man's consciousness can be fteed ftom the shackles of mechanical culture and enabled to roam the cosmos. 1 have a deep and abiding belief in man's potential to grow and leam, to plumb the depths of his own being and to leam the secret songs that orchestrate the universe. We live in a transitional era of profound pain and tragic identity quest, but the agony of our age is the labor pain of rebirth. (McLuhan, 1969)

90 Sorne people are quick to belittle, and are bothered by the concept of, reality television because they are tumed off by the public1y personalized and emotionally expressive format of the genre. Boler (1999) marked the new millennium as a tuming point for emotions and education. This thesis proposes that this is very likely true, as the social impact of new media technologies is fostering a space for more personal and emotional experiences to be shared - and the experiences of growth and leaming are not always comfortable.

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