{"product_id":"american-ideal-how-american-idol-constructs-celebrity-collective-identity-and-american-discourses","title":"American Ideal","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eAmerican Ideal: How American Idol Constructs Celebrity, Collective Identity, and American Discourses\u003c\/i\u003e by Amanda Scheiner McClain provides an insightful analysis of the popular television show \u003ci\u003eAmerican Idol\u003c\/i\u003e and explores contemporary notions of celebrity, American collective identity, and other American themes. \u003ci\u003eAmerican Idol\u003c\/i\u003e depicts how a new star is constructed, supports American ideals such as individualism and archetypes, and reinforces an idealized American identity through verbal and visual discourse. The monstrous popularity of \u003ci\u003eAmerican Idol\u003c\/i\u003e demands study of the program and the ideals contained within. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis book consists of discourse analyses of the first seven seasons of the program, contextual press coverage, and of the official message boards. By amalgamating this research, it becomes clear that \u003ci\u003eAmerican Idol\u003c\/i\u003e presents an idealistic vision of American life, where everyone is equal, democracy chooses the right winner, power is shared, and celebrity and success can be attained simply by \"being yourself.\" In \u003ci\u003eAmerican Idol's\u003c\/i\u003e rendering of America, racism, homophobia, xenophobia, and sexism do not exist. This idealized America consists of perfected extant ideological systems and apparatus. Through \u003ci\u003eAmerican Idol's\u003c\/i\u003e American themes, representations of celebrity, and facilitation of collective identities, the show provides an idealized version of American culture. These idealized versions of America, national identity, and celebrity support contemporary economic and cultural norms: capitalistic ideology and concomitant materialism, beauty, race, gender, and sexuality standards, and ostensible equality epitomized by possibility for success. This book is an indispensable reference for not only scholars, undergraduate and graduate students, but anyone with an interest in \u003ci\u003eAmerican Idol\u003c\/i\u003e and popular culture.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bloomsbury Publishing Plc","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54186617504088,"sku":null,"price":122.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0278\/1295\/4195\/files\/9780739164334_62aaba87-b705-43a0-bd77-ad8b254f421a.jpg?v=1769826641","url":"https:\/\/agendabookshop.com\/products\/american-ideal-how-american-idol-constructs-celebrity-collective-identity-and-american-discourses","provider":"Agenda Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}