American Idol’s Influence on Present Day Society

Media Influence on Today's Society

Details of the Media Artifact

The reality TV show, American Idol, was derived from Pop Idol (a British singing competition; Simon Fuller is credited with creating both. Nigel Lythgoe, a TV producer got the idea from Australian talent show, Popstars, and helped begin a similar concept in the UK (Armstrong). Popstars' concept of auditioning singers through a panel of judges was utilized by Fuller while designing the show. American Idol personally engaged TV audiences with contestants by means of voting, and required contestants to give their best shot because, on TV, communication takes place, for the most part, by way of visual imagery; that is, TV portrays conversations in images, rather than words (Postman 7). American Idol became, by the year 2004, the most popular and most-viewed of American shows-- it retained this status for seven seasons in a row.

How this Medium Influences Society

According to McLuhan's 1964 classification of media categories, American Idol comes under the "cool media" type; McLuhan differentiated media into cool media, characterized by high participation or audience completion, and hot media, characterized by low participation. High participation levels in American Idol have significantly affected the American society in many areas.

Expansion of the American reality TV domain in the last two decades is ascribed to American Idol. The show broke American TV records by growing to become the most-widely viewed primetime, non-scripted TV show, for nearly a decade (2003-12). The Idol is regarded as one among the most powerful and successful shows in American TV history, and has greatly influenced both TV and the wider entertainment realm (Rackl).

Social Historical Context

Aired from 11th June, 2002 on Fox, the U.S. reality series, American Idol, has emerged into one among the most successful of U.S. TV shows. The series aims at discovering fresh artists to add to the solo recording arena; American viewers decide who wins, by means of telephone, SMS text, and Internet voting. Its origin lies in Britain's Pop Idol; spin-offs cropped up in over a hundred countries across the globe. However, in America, the audience could still envision a quintessentially American aspect in the way the show is designed to employ democracy for granting success, wealth and fame to one of the worthy contenders every season. This show was launched soon after a decline was perceived in the U.S. album sales; it began defining the sort of career in music that blooms in today's post-CD world (Kornhaber).

The current determinants of the nature of American Idol include: its host, Ryan Seacrest; judges Keith Urban, Harry Connick Jr. and Jennifer Lopez; show ratings; and most importantly, its viewers. The series has a very bleak future; latest news indicates chances of it coming to a close. Fox TV has, for long, relied heavily on the Idol. After a long deliberation with show producers, regarding its future, it was collectively agreed that it is now time to wrap up the show (Nededog).

Positive Influence on the Society