Manufactured Stardom

Our course reader article encouraged me to think about how big a difference there is between the ‘manufactured’ pop stars of reality television and your average ‘self made’ pop star. It easy to forget that the artists we perceive to have made it on their own have also been carefully constructed in order to achieve their celebrity status. Granted they have not been constructed in quite the same way the reality television formats prescribes but they have still been styled into certain moulds in order to achieve their success. As Su Holmes describes, the difference with pop idol shows is that it reveals this process of construction. This begs the question; are these manufactured stars any more manufactured then other pop stars? Reality music shows do show the creation of these stars and reveal the behind the scenes process of achieving stardom. A similar tension exists in the backstage musical which works to demystify the production process at the same time as it creates an effective illusions which encourage the audience to buy into the its fantastical side.
I was also interested by the ‘realness’ associated with the level of audience interactivity in reality pop television. The audience’s feeling of inclusion and ability to have effect seems more real in pop television because it is more immediate. This is interesting because there is also a level of interactivity involved in other pop stars in that the audiences buy in has a great effect for the artists success. The pop television format however makes this buy in more immediately obvious because the audiences ability to vote results in a relatively quick result; someone being voted off.
Kathryn B