Archive for February 13, 2010
American Idol contestants and bad attitudes
Embarrassingly, I’ve been re-hooked by American Idol this season. Maybe it’s Ellen, maybe it’s Simon’s departure after this season, but I figured after skipping several seasons of the musical nonsense, I’d re-engage. As you read this, bear in mind I just got through the auditions; television is always DVR-delayed for me—often by several weeks. In any case, these comments are largely about the auditions, and somewhat about the first “Hollywood Week” episode.
To begin, American Idol has uncovered some genuine talent. Most of it has come and gone rather quickly, but some linger on, most notably Kelly Clarkson, who seems to have grown well past her humble beginnings on Idol’s first season. And who doesn’t like (or perhaps lust after) a classic Cinderella story… Someone pulled fresh off the farm, thrust into the limelight, showered in fame and theoretical fortune, etc. Stardom isn’t all it’s cracked-up to be, but lust after it we do, wishing for our 15 minutes of fame, as Warhol suggested.
But what sort of galls me about Idol, and more accurately about Idol contestants, is the prevalence of what I’m just going to call “bad attitudes.” Let me see if I can pseudo-quote some of the contestants:
- “I’m 28, and auditioning because this is my last chance to make it.”
- “This is the third season I’ve auditioned for. I sure hope I make it this time; music is my life.”
- “My son is autistic, and it’s very expensive to get him the help he needs. I’m auditioning because my family could really use the money that American Idol success will bring.”
- Fighting tears after being sent home during Hollywood Week, “I guess a music career just wasn’t meant to be.”
None of these is an actual quote, but they embody the notions many contestants did say on-air. And the common thread, if you can’t see it, is that contestants at Idol seem to almost universally believe that success on American Idol is not only a fame and fortune given on a silver platter, but it’s the only possible route available to them to achieve either financial success and/or a music career. The way most of them act after getting the yellow piece of paper (“You’re goin’ to Hollywood, baby!”), you’d think that piece of paper was the same as winning the season.
Of course, the real objective here is to create good television, and while you could argue that the Idol franchise is dwindling in importance and popularity, in the grand scheme of things, it’s still a runaway television success.
But as for the contestants and their success? Well, I wish I knew what happened to hard work and sacrifice for achieving success in life. I also wish I knew what happened along the way that we started defining “success” as financial and material trappings. Is that more important than the music for these young men and women? It would in many cases seem so.
If music was truly the first love of some of these people, they wouldn’t need American Idol to pursue it. If some of these people were truly interested in bettering the financial standing of their families, they’d be finding a way to make improvements with a method other than scratching a musical lottery ticket.
But the pursuit of one’s 15 minutes of fame (“Yay! I’m on television!”), or the dream of instant success and bypassing actual work and effort by buying lottery tickets (literally or figuratively) is too much for many people to ignore, I suppose. I just find it more than a little sad to see people figuratively spending their last dollar gambling—hoping and dreaming about change, rather than working to make it happen.
Sad or not, I’ll keep tuning-in at least this one more season. Maybe it’s the sadistic joy of seeing so many of those dreams crushed like candy in Simon’s fingers, or maybe it’s the allure of seeing what sort of talent actually does get uncovered. It’ll be interesting in any case.
