American ideal

How American Idol constructs celebrity, collective identity, and American discourses

Bibliographic Data

ID20299201
AuthorsSteven K Herro (College of Southern Nevada, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume62
Issue4
PagesE6-E8
Publication date2012-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Communication (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-9916 • E-ISSN: 1460-2466
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01661.x
OpenAlexW2026714244
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited1

Like millions of Americans, I am a fan of FOX network's sensational reality television show American Idol. I enjoy watching the show each week to hear the performances (good and bad), to chime in with my own evaluation of each performance and to hear and discuss the critiques of the judges. American Idol is a television program that my family and I watch faithfully; it is one of our “can't miss” television shows. And, as someone trained in rhetorical theory and criticism that eventually gravitated to studying reality television, I see American Idol as a fertile ground in which to study American culture and society. When I started constructing a class about reality television, I was surprised by the lack of literature, at least in terms of textual analyses, about American Idol. In other words, an academic study of the discourses circulating on and around American Idol would

Advertising · Aesthetics · Art · Criticism · Culture of the United States · Ideal (ethics) · Identity (music) · Literature · Media studies · Political science · Popular culture · Reality television · Reality tv · Rhetorical question · Sociology · Gender Studies · Law · Media Studies and Communication · Rhetoric and Communication Studies · Social Media and Politics

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