American Idol Essay

Rock ‘n’ Roll began and evolved around the late 1940’s and 1950’s time frame. There were many groups that participated in the creation and origin of Rock ‘n’ Roll, however the two primary groups were rhythm and blues and country music. “The origins of rock ‘n’ roll are often described in a way that could be represented by an algebraic formula: r&b + c&w = r&r” (Garofalo & Waksman, 2016, p. 56). While the formula is rather simplistic, it ignores the many groups of individuals, social and cultural influences that impacted the formation of Rock ‘n’ Roll. As Rolling Stone’s Robert Palmer (1990) noted:

Country music is everywhere in the United States. It is America and people either love it or hate it. There is usually no middle ground. It accounts for sixteen percent of the nation’s radio stations and is the most common genre played on the radio. There are many different types of country music around today, including Americana, bluegrass, honky tonk, and contemporary country. Music of all genres has an evolution through the years. Country music hasn't

The Motown Museum in Detroit is truly a motivational part of America’s history; it stood for another way for African American voices to be heard on a much greater scale both national and even world wide. Motown has become America’s pop soul music for anyone and everyone.

Glee is a musical-comedy drama TV series that revolves around the glee club in William McKinley High School. The show follows the members of the glee club through their high school lives, such as academic, romantic relationship and friendships and bullying. Glee was perhaps one of the most racially-diverse shows. In glee club, there are 12 kids: seven white, two Asian Americans, two African-Americans and a Hispanic. Given the fact that one of the white kid is gay while the other one is on a wheelchair also makes the show socially diverse. Even though the show seems diverse, it nonetheless fails to resist the temptation to revolve around the white characters more. For example, the Hispanic girl named Santana has no line until episode 11. The two Asian Americans in glee club – Tina and Mike, similar to Santana, have barely no line as well. In the first episode Pilot, Tina only has two lines, which are “we’re d-d-doomed” and “I-I…”, extracted from below:

I find myself in a daze of happiness as I realize what i'm on the brisk of accomplishing. Despite the screams of thousands of drunken women in their 20s in my ears and the cringe-worthy feeling of their sweaty bodies practically compressed on mine, I’m exuberant. Not only am I exuberant in this moment, but i’m also eternally grateful for being as small as I am, without it I probably would not have been able to maneuver myself into the front and center spot at the one direction concert and fulfilled my middle school heart’s biggest desire. To most people, this achievement would seem irrelevant and insignificant, however, If you ever told 12-year-old me that, I might’ve raised hell from beneath me. Now here’s where it all began;

There’s no better feeling than being at a concert and jamming along to songs that you love while surrounded by people who share the same love for the music. Music concerts are majestic environments where a variety of different people come together in order to share their love of music. A few weeks ago I attended a Zac Brown Band concert for the first time and I was truly inspired by the band’s artistry and skill. The band was fully able to captivate their audience with their soulful tunes and obvious passion for performing. One moment of the concert that particularly stood out to me was when the band performed a cover of The Beatles hit song “Let it Be.” Zac Brown Band was able to stay true to the original song while bringing a whole different level of soul to the music through the addition of a gospel choir. The audience immediately related to the song and came together to sing along to a song by one of the biggest bands in music history. Zac Brown Band was able to successfully deliver such a powerful song as “Let it Be” which was off of The Beatles final studio album.

Young minds can be easily persuaded by celebrities they admire, so it's no disbelief a director would select these influential people to get teenagers to watch their show. With these celebrities, directors believe their ratings will go up and more people would be inspired to be like them. Reality TV mainly effects teenagers because they're easily manipulated and swayed that beauty, sex appeal, and verbal aggression is tolerable.

Among the risky messages that reality television conveys is the importance of body image over ability and the complete obsolescence of education. The hit show ‘Beauty and the Geek’, is promoting the fact that it is ok if you are a ‘dumb’ blonde, because you can go onto their show and become rich and famous overnight. In fact to enter the show you need to be a high school drop out with an intellectual level lower than eighty. This promotes the uselessness of education, which would create for a really unknowledgeable group of teenagers. Reality television sends out the message to its viewers that the key to success relies solely on your image, and very little on your ability. On many shows like ‘American Idol’ and ‘Masterchef’, the contestant who proves to be the most competent loses out to another contender who has a trendier image. No one ever has the true full package that the reality shows claim to have, it is all just an illusion of reality. How can we let the media get away with

Since America’s Next Top Model gave a label to all the contestants in the show based on their race, ethnicity and cultural background, they were all expected act in a certain way. For instance, “because she always wants to feature another “black bitch” ── especially of the ratings-generating “ghetto” variety ── Banks brought Tiffany back for the fourth season, after she’d been through anger management classes.”(Pozner). Also “a black teenager thinks she’s hot until America’s Next Top Model’s judges convince her she’s an ugly ape,”(Pozner). Clearly, after participating in America’s Next Top Model, most its contestants were broken, taken apart and and sometimes put back together in a completely different way. Contestants on this show were treated more as an object rather than as a human being with morals, values and

After a long tragic four-year break-up the boys are back and determined to save rock and roll. If their comeback suggests delusion of grandeur, they’re only picking up where they left off.

One study has shown good responses to a reality program relating to cosmetic surgery. Results indicated that the participants viewed the program positively and endorsed the importance of physical attractiveness. They also believed the psychological benefits and entertainment value it can bring to the reality TV show (Charlotte N, 2012). This proves that physical appearance does

A star’s image is a concept carefully molded by the celebrity himself or herself with the aid of many factors such as audience reception and current ideological trends. Star image, by definition, given by O’Shaughnessy and Stadler, is “the qualities, ideals, and values that a star represents, based on their films and other performances, and on media information circulated about them” (430). A change of star image encompasses the sum of everything we, as in the audience, affiliate with that star. That means changing the star’s body of work, promotion, publicity, and audience practices. These factors put together is also known as star text (Professor Josh Jackson, September 8, 2016, University of California, Berkeley). Jennifer Lawrence had a particular star text before she took on the role of Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games and was instead known for her role of Ree Dolly in Winter’s Bone. This new role launched Lawrence into a different star text she was previously known for. Though it seemed like the change is solely based on her landing an already popular role, the change in her star text is still calculated in order for her to maintain a certain image that landed her at the top of the celebrity social ladder. This careful manipulation of a celebrity’s image as she takes on a role that guaranteed a big impact on her acting career demonstrates how a star’s image is important when it comes to maintaining what the celebrity, and everyone who is working with that

MTV can be defined as “a cable and satellite television channel which broadcasts popular music and promotional music videos.” (oxforddictionaries.com.n.d.). Launched on August 1st 1981, MTV’s programme started out by helping musicians gain exposure through music videos. This helped TV audiences connect with music by new means. As MTV became more recognised, the network branched out by creating new means of entertainment. MTV has remained relevant by continuously adapting throughout its existence to meet their audience’s entertainment requirements. (International MTV and Globalisation).

A. Media has a huge impact on how people truly see themselves, particularly in women and young female teens. Reality television has made the standards of beauty quite high these days and there is a definite change in society’s view on what is truly beautiful. Turning off the TV has simply become too hard when it comes to reality TV shows

Michael Jackson, the King of Pop would not be who he is today without his inspirations, James Brown and Jackie Wilson (Taraborrelli, 2). James Brown, the godfather of soul, emphasized the genre of soul and the formation of a new music style called funk. He was a well-known singer, dancer, composer and performer. In his songs, he focused on the rhythm and groove making him different from the rest of the music artists of his time. His performance style was full of energy and different with his various dance moves and he was always ready at the mic on perfect que (Appell and Hemphill 320). Jackie Wilson on the other hand was well-known also for his stage performances and his songs would be a mix between James Brown and