The media scientist I try to hide comes to surface. American Idol is a show one doesn't need see to know what is about. The name is pretty eloquent. I had never watched a single show until last Thursday, for the last show of the season, the finale...and it happened when I was high as hell.
Here some notes:
- Reality shows have been around for a while but I don't believe hyperreality is understood as the latest thing in mass media, the latest spectacle. Here Middle America celebrates itself, whatever it believes it is.
- Have you JuanMapu.info reader, while watching a reality show, ever asked yourself, Why am I not the one there? Why am I not the participant? Pierre Bourdie has stated that for some "existence is about being on TV"; still AI participants are courageous although it takes a lot of humiliation.
- The AI finale is a night of awards too. The show gives awards based on what happened within the show during the season unlike the Oscars or Grammys, which cover a whole industry. The awards night implies a parallel reality therefore expanding the sense of hyperreality.
- Nominees to the new American Idol -the main award that is not presented as an award- are granted to sing along with an "Idol." (Cindy Lauper, Lionel Ritchie, Kiss, Rod Stewart were there this year.) However, it is clear the participant will remain as a participant, the wannabe. They are the stars of the show while they keep their status of an average person, which is what the show is about.
- Of course the winner carries a different aura, especially after being named. It is graduation time. He is one step ahead from the others. He is ready to record, begin this journey, and probably become a celebrity. There will not be all that time on TV. The winner biggest trophy is that he can resume his life. Of course he took a tortuous shortcut.
