You hardly need to spend hours in front of the telly to conjure up the narrative of the prize as it unfolds every week. Choose an entertaining journalist's blog and the job is done for you. The boring bits are filtered out by the wit and elegance of the writer's style, and you are spared the many many ads. But, you're probably missing the point of the whole endeavour, because prizes are not just about who wins, they're about the drama! The entertainment! It's like reading only summaries of novels. You don't get the feel for the different styles.
Still, there are some delightful blogs out there. Here is one on the finale of Project Runway. Spot some of classical elements of the prize: the scripted squabble, the moments of intimate confession, the celebrity judging.
http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/2010/04/23/project_runway_final_recap_open2010/index.html
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
It's not the result (of the latest American Idol show - see the post below) that fascinates me as much as the two comments that follow: admonishments that the two girls should "tidy themselves up a bit". Why? I would have thought that a quirky individualism is a good thing in such a competitive environment. Crystal should brush her hair? How representative is this of the criteria of the voters?
Day1
I was amused last night by the extent to which the American Idol judges conformed to Ben Elton's parody of the show in his novel, Chart Throb. There were disconcertingly regular gushes of "You took ownership of that song" and "you own that music", or something to that effect. The support for "having taken advice on board and grown with it" was also a regular of the script. The judges seemed to have their personae down pretty pat too. And the contestants are introduced in unashamedly stereotyped terms: the mother! the builder! the father! Not very original, but easy to remember. I watched for the first time last night, scoffed away at the predictability of it all, but actually rather enjoyed it! The contestants are all so nice: so fresh-faced, even in a dreadlogged, facially-pierced kind of way. And their voices are all good. This is a celebration of beauty, talent, and is maybe a little self-congratulatory about how we're (Americans, today's youth, whatever ....???) looking good.
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