Discuss national cultural screen productions and their address of the local within a global commodity industry context - case study the Idol franchise, or the global news.
The Idol franchise, a manufactured culture, has created many well-known names all over the world. These world famous talents include Kelly Clarkson, Guy Sebastian, and many more.
The talent show craze arguably started in the UK with the series 'Pop Idol'. The success of the show has led to it been franchised in many countries and a large number of spin-offs was also created.
In relations to Guattari’s article, from my understanding, the Idol show is the Regime, a machine, a system that has set rules on how things are done. Pathway, is the case of Idol would be the way of how the television series is created through a search for talent, and how that whole process is commodified. And the Subjects in Idol, are the contestants, who are moulded and transformed by the Regime through the Pathways.
An example here is Kelly Clarkson,
Here is her at the auditions, very, let's say raw, unpolished, your girl next door.
Then, there is the Idol transformation,
And now, she is a superstar, selling millions of records!
The Idol franchise transformed the term 'talent search' from small local singing competitions to massive television productions that profit billions through the process of allowing everyday people to showcase their talent or lack of, to large amounts of audiences.
In a global commodity industry context, the Idol franchise created a global industry that profit billions through producing televised talent searches that simply manufacture stars. It has also spread the Hollywood culture of ‘everyone can become a star’ and giving its audience a sense of 'hey, you can do it too'.
In addressing of local in this global commodity industry, Idol and its spin-offs has allowed local citizens participate in this global craze while still catering to local tastes of what is talent and the local translation as to how the show should be like.
Talent shows in similar formats to Pop Idol from different countries include American Idol (USA), Indian Idol, Super Girls (China), One Million Star (Taiwan), Search for the Next Pussycat Doll (USA), Nouvelle Star (France) and more.
The shows are all supposedly aimed at searching for great talents across the countries and let them be heard. However, in catering to the taste of the audience in different cultures, performances throughout the shows vary.
Here are some clips of Idol, and similar spin-offs from all over the world,
Nouvelle Star
Search for the Next Pussycat Doll
- the show primarily caters for Pussycat Doll fans, and as the group itself has a sexy image, the performances are slightly more raunchy too.
One Million Star
- the performance uses the local dialect, and old folk songs which shows the Taiwan culture. And it also seems to be a new 'cool' to create music through combining mainstream pop with slightly older music.
Super Girls
- the show has segments where contestants are to sing old Chinese folk songs from different parts of China in a display of culture in contrast to the chart music contestants normally sing, as parts the older generations of Chinese audiences do not regard pop music as 'real music'.
Indian Idol
- this part of the show blends in the Indian 'Bollywood' music culture with the Idol 'Hollywood' culture.
Pinoy Idol
Also, through differences in culture, rejections and opinions may be projected differently.
Here are two examples of rejections, one from Idol spin-off, Super Girl in China, and another one from American Idol.
Super Girl
* Translation: the second girl that was rejected, the judges suggested her to audition to be a DJ, and said 'you will definitely be chosen'.
American Idol
The difference is clear, in Super Girl, no matter how bad the contestants were (at least I think there was a total lack of talent), the judges used a more reserved approach to tell the girl 'I don't think you can sing'. On the other hand, Simon just tell the girl 'you can't sing'. Very straight forward.
In conclusion, Idol is a global franchise with a local touch, just like McDonald’s in Japan have Tamago Double Mac, KFC in some parts of Korea sell salads instead of chips (yes, it's true). The Idol system is very similar all around the world, but the local culture embedded into the shows are what really makes the series Reality TV to locals.
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