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darcy log... darcy log...
 
M$1 January 22, 2009 12:39 AM

Have American Idol contestants become predictable? Do you agree with these stereotypes of them?

I've been watching American Idol the past two weeks, and it appears to me that all of the contestants could fit into one of several stereotypes:
  1. "Delusional Wannabe" The ones that really think they have a good voice, but don't, and are crushed that when they don't make it. Reactions are usually extreme anger or sobbing.
  2. "Flamboyant Willneverbe" The ones that know they won't make it and dress up in some extreme costume so they can get their 15 minutes of fame.
  3. "Touching Sob Story" The ones that have some hardship they have had to overcome in order to make it to idol. About 75% of these make it to Hollywood.
  4. "Personality with Moderate Voice" These are contestants that don't have great voices, but have a great personality so they make it to Hollywood about 85% of the time.
  5. "Voice but nothing else" these are ones that have a good voice but almost nothing else to offer. They have a 50/50 chance of making it to idol.
  6. "Great Voices" are rarely seen on American Idol until they are back in Hollywood.
Any stereotypes I missed? Can you think of early contestants that DON'T fit one of these categories? Do you think this is why less and less people watch the "preseason" game of American Idol? I mean, there are only so many times you can watch someone's dreams get crushed by Simon before you stop watching.
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kraevin kraevin
 
 January 22, 2009 01:12 AM

Last season Brooke was shown on her audition and she made it to the top 5.  She had both the looks and the talent... unfortunately her best performances where early on and really kinda collapsed as the pressure mounted.

I would say this is the Pot of Gold stereo type.  The hot girls with the potential to make simon a ton of money from merchanizing as well as album sales.  Fortunately for most of america we dont like these types and want to shelter our young from them so they dont make it to the end


Asker's Rating:
• Yep, I think bikini girl definitely fits into your category.


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clarusvisu... clarusvisu...
 
January 22, 2009 12:49 AM
Remember that American Idol is not a talent show, it's a TV show. Tons of applicants don't even make it to Simon and co. Under a normal competition format, only the best of the best would make it to the 'final round' of auditions with the TV judges, but notice how many people who are plainly horrible make it. Fact is, people are let through based on their ability to entertain, or at least provide a decent backstory.

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clarusvisu... clarusvisu...
 
January 22, 2009 12:55 AM
That's because those are the types of people that do the best with focus groups, and put together get the largest combined audience through amassing the largest number of people who can find someone to identify with; it's as simple as that, really

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alfy alfy
 
January 22, 2009 02:56 AM
I am new to the show and i have only seen season 7 (re-aired in my country) plus the current season 8 ones.

Sadly Darcy is right in my opinion, i think that the contestants we are shown are carefully picked to comply exactly with those stereotypes.

There is of course a reason for this, the format requires these figures in order to work, it feeds "silly toons" for a surprised laugh, theatrical figures for entertainment, emotional characters to move the spectator's feelings and the last two types to keep it a competition.

After a while you get the feeling that your have seen it already, although i must admit i keep being surprised by the first type you listed.
It would be interesting to know how do they choose the first two types.

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