The American Idol PhD thesis

Posted on May 31, 2007
Filed Under Entertainment |

American Idol logoAmerican Idol has dominated TV ratings since its appearance on the airwaves in June 2002. The show which is based on the UK reality show Pop Idol allows any aspiring singer to take a chance to making big in the music scene. This premise has resulted in the discovery of some good and some god awful singers. Most people probably still remember William Hung and his launch to stardom after his off-key singing of She Bangs during his audition; in case you are wondering, William is rumored to have made some 500 million dollars in record sales after his brief appearance and massive failure on the show.

Now, a 33-year-old ethnomusicology student at the University of California at Santa Barbara is preparing to defend a PhD thesis centered around the popular TV show. Kathrine Meizel has prepared a thesis titled “America Singing: The Mediation of Identity Politics on American Idol.” Kathrine’s thesis covers much ground in over 300 pages but the emphasis is on the role of regional, ethnic and religious affiliations that voters identify with when time comes to choose who stays and who leaves the show. In her dissertation, she explains how she became an active voting participant and how even her choices were often based on the singer’s identity. I guess such behavior would explain how someone such as Sanjaya Malakar can so far in the competition even though his singing talent was clearly lacking. Kathrine hopes to publish her thesis as a book in the not so distant future so look for it in your neighborhood bookstore.

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