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    AMERICAN IDEAL: HOW AMERICAN IDOL CONSTRUCTS CELEBRITY, COLLECTIVE IDENTITY, AND AMERICAN DISCOURSES

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    Genre
    Thesis/Dissertation
    Date
    2010
    Author
    McClain, Amanda Scheiner
    Advisor
    Kitch, Carolyn L.
    Committee member
    Morris, Nancy, 1953-
    Mendelson, Andrew L. (Andrew Lawrence), 1967-
    Department
    Mass Media and Communication
    Subject
    Mass Communications
    Communication
    Multimedia Communications
    American Idol
    Archetype
    Celebrity
    Collective Identity
    Narrative
    Reality Tv
    Permanent link to this record
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12613/1869
    
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    DOI
    http://dx.doi.org/10.34944/dspace/1851
    Abstract
    This dissertation is a three-pronged study examining American themes, celebrity, and collective identity associated with the television program American Idol. The study includes discourse analyses of the first seven seasons of the program, of the season seven official American Idol message boards, and of the 2002 and 2008 show press coverage. The American themes included a rags-to-riches narrative, archetypes, and celebrity. The discourse-formed archetypes indicate which archetypes people of varied races may inhabit, who may be sexual, and what kinds of sexuality are permitted. On the show emotional exhibitions, archetypal resonance, and talent create a seemingly authentic celebrity while discourse positioning confirms this celebrity. The show also fostered a complication-free national American collective identity through the show discourse, while the online message boards facilitated the formation of two types of collective identities: a large group of American Idol fans and smaller contestant-affiliated fan groups. Finally, the press coverage study found two overtones present in the 2002 coverage, derision and awe, which were absent in the 2008 coverage. The primary reasons for this absence may be reluctance to criticize an immensely popular show and that the American Idol success was no longer surprising by 2008. By 2008, American Idol was so ingrained within American culture that to deride it was to critique America itself. In sum, the findings were that American Idol presents an ideal version of American culture, where gender, race, and class issues are non-existent, power is shared democratically, the American national identity is fair, generous, familial, and celebrity and success are easily attainable. This idealization of contemporary American culture functions to sustain the current status quo of economic and cultural standards.
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