Reality Doesn’t Make It Through to the Next Round
For a lot of people, the rise and rise of reality-based entertainment helped define the most popular media experiences of the last decade. The phenomenon is beginning to seep into culture in ways we are only just beginning to notice. It has a cool bit: The power of open-format media can help us champion those with real talent who have somehow become lost in the system. The risk: The most interesting and original communicators historically exist on the fringes of culture, not in the center. The damage: Mass media formats only pay their way if they have instant appeal to mass audiences, and these require specific rules to help guide these audiences to participate. The result: Those on the fringes, the misfits, the odd ones, the potential geniuses, don’t make it because they don’t fit into the format. They don’t conform. Some may be mad, but others may be true originals.
But here is the “reality”: Lets take The X Factor as an example. Many of the most iconic rock stars of the last century would certainly not have passed the popularity linked to convention test. Let’s suspend reality for a moment, and imagine what would have happened if The X Factor had been going on since the birth of rock ‘n’ roll:
1955 X Factor: Elvis Aaron Presley fails to make it to the next round after he mumbles his words too much and appears to lose control of his hips halfway through the audition. Doctors insist that he be committed to a wheelchair until off the company premises.
1961 X Factor: Bob Dylan is soundly rejected by the judges for his appalling enunciation, scruffy looks, and insistence on playing his guitar during the audition when the rules firmly state that no accompanying instrument apart from the officially sanctioned banjo can be used.
1963 X Factor: James Hendrix fails to make it onto the live shows for regularly forgetting the lyrics and then setting himself on fire during every performance, resulting in a judge suffering badly singed hair and forcing Hendrix to perform standing in a bucket of sand as a fire precaution.
1968 X Factor: A contestant called James Osterberg from Detroit, who insists on being called Iggy Pop, is not put through to the next round after revealing his private parts during the performance and claiming he wants to be “the judges’ dog.”
1976 X Factor: The show is almost cancelled because so few contestants are deemed capable of reaching the required level. A young man called John Lydon, who insists on being called Johnny Rotten, is rejected due to his total inability to sing. Ian Curtis suffers an epileptic fit while performing. Joe Strummer fails to secure more than two votes due to concerns over his hand-painted outfit, his bad teeth, and the strange Jamaican tinge to his voice. The Ramones are not voted through in the band section due to their inability to dance and a sense that they don’t credibly gel as a boy band.
Here’s what worries me: As has happened time and again over the years, repeat behavior creates trends and shifts values. A 15-year-old now has ten years of powerful advice from the X Factor format that the most important element in being a successful pop star is the ability to sing perfectly. That’s from the age of 5 upwards. But this is a convention that only has validity in a TV format. And of course it’s a total illusion – it’s just the way TV happens to work. I wonder if popularity has been so powerfully and publically linked to conformity since the 19th century. Popularity linked to convention – what an uninspiring equation.
OK, so none of this X Factor scenario really happened, but I think it makes a point. Popularity is linked to originality. Popularity is linked to originality. Popularity is linked to originality.
It’s an obvious statement, but I am hoping for a renewed love and respect for originality as consumers, cultural commentators, voters, and brand owners increasingly realize just how reality can be misleading.
Note: For some other critiques of the X Factor convention machine, check out the following:
http://www.radiotimes.com/blogs/189-why-i-hatethe-x-factor/
http://www.nme.com/news/rage-against-the-machine/48816
