Carol
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 |  Subject: On 'American Idol,' it's all about the narrative arc  25.05.10 16:48 | |
| - Quote :
- What's good TV on "American Idol"? Well, great and ghastly performances of course. And judges acting out. But also a narrative arc that shows some young nervous kid outta nowhere blossoming into a pop star (if not necessarily a superstar). That's why I think Lee DeWyze, barring vocal catastrophe or a left-field upset, has this year's win in the bag.
I'm of a mind lately that Adam Lambert did not come in second last year on Idol because of some sort of conservative viewer backlash about his homosexuality. (It certainly isn't hurting his post-Idol career.) My theory: it was more that he arrived on the show as a fully-formed, totally confident professional entertainer, who knew exactly what he was doing and did it. He didn't have to "grow" before our amazed eyes, because he already had his act down after all those cabaret gigs, touring Broadway shows, etc. He "knew who he was as an artist," in judge-Idol-speak, and he was just hunting for a break and running with it.
Kris Allen, on the other hand, had been fooling around with music, but his prospects in that arena were so dicey when he casually auditioned for Idol, that he was probably heading back to college to study business. On the show he was the shy guy in the back row of the choir, the stealth candidate who gradually came to the fore as he gained poise, confidence, and came up with ingenious ways to show his winning personality and musicianship.
Is Crystal Bowersox a better musician than Lee? No doubt about it. How you react to her and Lee is subjective, and they both have appeal. But she's got a very elastic voice, a lot of soul, she can play a mean guitar and (from the sound of "Holy Toledo," the song we heard a brief swatch of on her celebratory visit home to Ohio), she can write a catchy, articulate tune.
But Crystal's seeming nonchalance on the air, and her rather half-hearted attempts to glam up and tackle other musical genres than the ones she likes best, somewhat squandered the initial excitement about her. This is no crime. She's very gifted, and seems blessedly sane -- especially considering the difficulties life has handed her. (Begging for insulin she couldn't afford for her diabetes? That's rough.)
Yet for "reality TV" (of which Idol is a subset), Crystal was probably too sane. She shed a few tears, but did not engage in heavy emotional theatrics. And one always sensed that being a big cheese in the music business was never her aim. Moreover, she has a groove staked out already, and she leaves the show in that same groove -- but, hopefully, a lot more and bigger outlets for her musical gifts. She was after a break, and she got a deserved one.
But in tube terms, that alone was not exciting. And talent contests with all these trappings are all about suspense, fierce competition, raw emotion -- even when the anxious Idol producers have to drum it up (or try frantically to) out of thin air.
So we have Lee. Another kid who didn't have much going on (he was working in a paint store when he auditioned). He huddled in the background in early episodes. He seemed utterly amazed when he made the Top 24, the Top 12, the Top 6.
Finally, around the Top 4, he started to gain some confidence, get a game plan together and emerged as more than a judges' favorite. Sure, his limited vocal range and Cockerish style haven't changed all that much (he is who he is), but his narrative has. He's beaming, he's teary, he's feisty, he's ready to rumble going into the finale -- even if his pal Crystal isn't spoiling for a fight, he's going to fight her to the mat.
We want narratives, it's in our DNA to want them, and that's what "reality shows" promise -- quasi-reality, with the tedious bits snipped out and more drama. We want a beginning-middle-and-end saga. Especially when we're watching the tube. Especially when we're watching "American Idol." http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/idolconfessions/2011948315_on_american_idol_its_all_about.html | |
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