Bullying For Dollars
I haven't paid much attention to American Idol since its second season (we got rid of the cable just after that), but I wanted to see it last night for the auditions held in Seattle (one of my favorite cities).
I tuned in to see a show that seems to be more about bullying and humiliating people than it is about looking for talented singers. I'm not talking about the obviously horrible singers who are only looking for a little TV infamy, ala William Hung. That's not what appalled me last night...
It was the demeaning comments from judge Simon Cowell about the physical appearance of several performers. In particular, he said to one young man, "You look like one of those creatures that live in the jungle with those massive eyes. What are they called? Bush baby."
This is what entertains America? Junior-high school level insults about someone's facial features? I wonder how many parents turned to their kids after that and told them, "That was uncalled for. It's never okay to make fun of the way a person was born."
Cowell then continued his immature display with a comment to the next performer about his weight, a condition that looked to me like it was medical or genetic.
Wouldn't it be nice if we lived in a society where bullies like Cowell didn't get rewarded with million-dollar contracts? I teach my kids that good manners and respect for others will get them far. It's hard sometimes to prove it to them.
I tuned in to see a show that seems to be more about bullying and humiliating people than it is about looking for talented singers. I'm not talking about the obviously horrible singers who are only looking for a little TV infamy, ala William Hung. That's not what appalled me last night...
It was the demeaning comments from judge Simon Cowell about the physical appearance of several performers. In particular, he said to one young man, "You look like one of those creatures that live in the jungle with those massive eyes. What are they called? Bush baby."
This is what entertains America? Junior-high school level insults about someone's facial features? I wonder how many parents turned to their kids after that and told them, "That was uncalled for. It's never okay to make fun of the way a person was born."
Cowell then continued his immature display with a comment to the next performer about his weight, a condition that looked to me like it was medical or genetic.
Wouldn't it be nice if we lived in a society where bullies like Cowell didn't get rewarded with million-dollar contracts? I teach my kids that good manners and respect for others will get them far. It's hard sometimes to prove it to them.
Permalink posted by Phil at 9:26 PM
12 Comments:
I've left all the Idols seasons for so long..and this is the same reason why I did it. I only watch the finals when I know the contestants are really good and Cowell gets 'boo'ed for whatever he says! After some time.. this programmes and other reality ones look really stupid. Here in Malaysia, the airtime is after 10.30pm so that kids don't watch them.
Lots of shows aren't for kids these days (or are they?).
My wife is infuriated about a commercial that ran during the Texas Tech Lady Raiders basketball game a few nights ago. Tech positions itself as entertainment for the whole family, and the actual broadcast is tame and inoffensive. But, the commercials for the crap carried by the station the rest of the week are NOT for little kids. Steamy almost-sex scenes shouldn't be aired during such ballgames as teasers for the "next episode," but they are. I think I'll be busy today calling around complaining about it.
We've watched the show the past two seasons and enjoyed it (especially that Taylor Hicks won last year), but after watching the first two audition shows this week we decided not to watch any of those audition shows anymore. We'll pick it up again once they get to Hollywood.
IMO, it's not even Simon that's the problem at that stage, but the producers themselves who are the really sick and cruel people. There is a rigorous process of getting through a series of producers before anyone even gets to Simon, Paula and Randy, so guess who gets put through... the very best and the very worst. So the really bad people are herded through and probably encouraged much of the way. Or they'll put through some not quite so great people whose dreams will be particularly crushed. And in those cases, their editors really need someone to hook them off the stage.
The very first thing this season was a girl who could sing okay, and she was a huge Jewel fan, so she was so excited when Jewel was one of the judges. But she wasn't quite good enough and was turned down. Okay, that's fine. Not everyone is good enough and she should have understood and accepted that. But then they kept on and on and on with this girl's disappointment. I kept fast forwarding but she was still on there, carrying on and crying. Then she finally leaves the judges' room and they stay on her for what seemed like a few more minutes out in the hallway. Sheesh. Enough, already! I don't mean that for her... but for the show's editors and producers.
I don't watch the show but my coworker told me about that comment. It seems like maybe they've run out of their limited vocabulary for insults about singing and have moved on to appearance.
Next thing you know, they'll be pulling the credit reports of applicants and laughing at their credit score...
I don't watch reality TV because it puts writers out of work, here in Hollywood. That's never good in my book.
You wonder why the world has such a sour view of the U.S.? It's because of how we are portrayed on TV and Colwell is a good example.
The world thinks it's representative and since we tend to eat it up perhaps it is. That's sad.
I have never seen the show. I loath the term idol. Never will understand why people are so fascinated by the television and what/who is on it. The show seems to promote idol worship, low self-esteem, poor body and self image and encourages people (not that they need any more encouragement) to do anything to become "famous". There is no love of music or of the craft evident, at least from the terrible ads I have seen.
We watched the show one season -- the one with the Divas. That was the last TV show we ever watched.
Cowell is English, so don't worry about our perception of you - we should be apologising. if you really want to see some bullying on reality TV head over here and see what is going on in our Big Brother at the moment.
It's horrendous that we chose this stuff for entertainment.
I saw the very first Ausralian and American Idol, Aust's Big brother and decided never again!! I think also it's immature and rude and cruel, I also don't allow my kids to watch it! What about this Wife swop series? I only saw it getting advertised and thought "YIK".
We hardly watch TV these days, we watch the evening news, maybe a quiz show or two and that's it. Waiting for Gray's Anatomy to start again, hopefully not dissapointing us and we like Third Watch.
The Australian soapies 'Neighbours' and 'Home and Away' are becomming also full of rudeness, low or no morals and I told my kids they won't view it under my roof for those reasons.
I saw it for the first time a couple of weeks ago. It really is awful, and I think is part of the explanation for the coarsening of discourse in this country. Definitely not for kids!
I'll be the contrarian again (hmmm... it seems that any time I post a comment on Phil's blog it is to present a vastly contrary view of Phil's opinion - it's okay I know he hasn't taken me too seriously in years).
So, here goes. I watched American Idol for the first time last season and found the auditions extremely entertaining. In fact, once the Hollywood part started, I pretty much stopped watching until the finale. This season, I decided to watch the auditions again. Are they cruel? Sure they are. Would I let my kids watch the show? Probably not, but I don't think I would absolutely forbid them from watching it if they had all their work done. Is Simon cruel and nasty to some poor saps? Absolutely.
However, I realize first and foremost that this is intended to be entertainment. I fully don't expect everyone to find it entertaining, but it is designed to be so extreme as to be entertaining. Essentially, the producers take miles of footage and carefully edit it to tell a story and elicit an emotion. If that emotion is outrage and that causes you to come back for more, great.
The part I find most entertaining is seeing how people perceive themselves. The fact that people with NO talent at all would sit through hours of waiting and prodding and then actually appear surprised when they're told how horrible they are *IS* interesting. I am convinced that many of these people are NOT exceptionally good actors. They look *genuinely* hurt and upset when they are told they have no talent. I suspect this is because we are so protected from cruelty and bullying in the name of building "self esteem" that we have jumped to the side of plain lying. I would guess that these no talent idiots who try out for the show have repeatedly been told how great they are and how incredibly talented they are that they have deluded themselves.
As usual, I am not claiming this is high-brow entertainment or that everyone should feel the way that I do. All I'm saying is that it is not so bad that it should be completely trashed - it does provide entertainment and holds my interest as I try and understand what makes people do this to themselves. It is the same reason I used to enjoy reading Perry Mason novels when I was younger - their only redeeming value was their entertainment content. No great high-brow learning took place with that reading list!
Oh, and BTW, if I was watching with my kids, I certainly would expect them to know that this was rude and obnoxious without my having to turn to them and say "That was uncalled for. It's never okay to make fun of the way a person was born."
They are (and will be) exposed to much worse and I am quite certain that they know there are rotten people around (and always be) and that doesn't give them ANY license to behave the same way.
In fact, I may have turned to my son during the show and asked him why HE thought these idiot contestants were deluded enough to do this to themselves on the show!
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