1st Edition
Adapting Idols: Authenticity, Identity and Performance in a Global Television Format
Since the first series of Pop Idol aired in the UK just over a decade ago, Idols television shows have been broadcast in more than forty countries all over the world. In all those countries the global Idols format has been adapted to local cultures and production contexts, resulting in a plethora of different versions, ranging from the Dutch Idols to the Pan-Arab Super Star and from Nigerian Idol to the international blockbuster American Idol. Despite its worldwide success and widespread journalistic coverage, the Idols phenomenon has received only limited academic attention. Adapting Idols: Authenticity, Identity and Performance in a Global Television Format brings together original studies from scholars in different parts of the world to identify and evaluate the productive dimensions of Idols. As one of the world's most successful television formats, Idols offers a unique case for the study of cultural globalization. Chapters discuss how Idols shows address particular national or regional identity politics and how Idols is consumed by audiences in different territories. This book illustrates that even though the same television format is used in countries all over the globe, practices of adaptation can still result in the creation of unique local cultural products.
Biography
Joost de Bruin
’Adapting Idols is a rich and complex world tour of the Idol phenomenon in a variety of forms and across a range of topics, from fan activities in the Netherlands and China to the role of ethnicity in Australian and Czech adaptations. This collection is a valuable resource for scholars and students interested in the glocalisation of television brands, media convergence and the production of authenticity in popular media.’ Bethany Klein, University of Leeds, UK 'Given the demonstrated and continuing importance of music-based reality television (think One Direction), this book is a timely and solid contribution to the topic. The chapters provide a wide range of national case studies, each tied into a broader organisational scheme that is both effective and engaging.' Charles Fairchild, University of Sydney, Australia ’... a wide range of fascinating case studies, thereby showing not only the relevance of studying global television formats to grasp the complex processes of globalisation but also the richness of the material in spite of the format’s rather superficial and generic character ... we can only look forward to more of such inspiring research'. Necsus, the European Journal of Media Studies
