Análisis de razones financieras

Both  American  Idol  and  The  Voice  contained  discourses  vouching  for  the  fairness  of  each  show’s   singing  competition.  Since  the  fundamental  assumption  of  neoliberalism  is  that  all  aspects  of  society   should  operate  using  market  logic,  through  which  unrestrained  competition  is  believed  to  be  a  priori  fair   and  impartial  and  therefore  assumed  to  produce  the  best  outcomes,  the  idea  that  the  competition  on   the  singing  talent  RTV  shows  is  fair  supports  neoliberal  ideology.  As  I  argued  in  Chapter  2,  the  presump-­‐ tion  of  equality  has  become  a  pretext  in  U.S.  neoliberalism:  the  assumption  that  society  has  been  rid  of   inequality  has  become  a  taken-­‐for-­‐granted  common  sense  belief  that  is  used  to  justify  post-­‐racism,  post-­‐

8

_{This is the terminology used on the show despite the fact that most of the female contestants}

are, in fact, women. I decided to stick with the show’s terminology in order to avoid confusion

and to make my references to the program easier to follow.

sexism,  and  ultimately  to  establish  the  neoliberal  assumption  that  any  failure  of  Black  women  to  suc-­‐ ceed  in  market  competition  has  everything  to  do  with  their  individual  effort  and  ability  and  nothing  to   do  with  the  unique  and  various  forms  oppression  they  suffer—because  neoliberal  intersectionality  re-­‐ jects  the  notion  of  systemic  oppression.    

By  vouching  for  the  fairness  of  the  competition  on  the  show,  American  Idol  and  The  Voice  com-­‐ municate  a  key  tenet  of  neoliberalism.  But,  as  I  argue  in  Chapter  1,  hegemonic  ideas,  such  as  the  fairness   of  market  logic,  must  constantly  be  re-­‐asserted  and  maintained.  The  maintenance  of  hegemony  is  ac-­‐ complished  in  large  part  via  popular  culture,  and  in  particular,  on  television  shows.  And,  as  I  argued  in   Chapter  3,  reality  television  has  been  actively  conveying  and  maintaining  neoliberal  ideology,  post-­‐ racism,  and  post-­‐sexism  in  the  U.S.  for  at  least  the  last  15  years.  Although  the  Great  Recession  was  a   threat  to  neoliberal  hegemony,  it  was  quickly  neutralized  by  the  constant  reassertion  of  the  principles  of   the  ideology.  American  Idol  and  The  Voice  rework,  repackage,  and  relay  the  idea  that  society  is  fair,  and   that  competition  produces  the  best  results,  in  such  as  way  as  to  contribute  to  the  hegemony  of  neolib-­‐ eralism,  and  in  the  process,  this  supports  continued  racism,  sexism,  and  intersectional  oppression.  

The  primary  theme  that  supported  the  presumption  of  fairness  was  the  claim  of  equal  oppor-­‐ tunity.  On  American  Idol,  the  idea  that  anyone  has  a  chance  to  be  an  American  Idol  was  highlighted   throughout  the  season  that  I  studied.  For  example,  at  the  beginning  of  the  second  auditions  episode,   Ryan  Seacrest  tells  the  viewers,  “It  doesn’t  matter  where  you  start.  It  doesn’t  matter  who  you  are.  It   takes  a  nation  to  make  an  idol.  They  come  from  all  corners  of  the  country  with  dreams  bigger  than  you   can  imagine”  (Episode  2).  Once  the  top  30  contestants  were  selected,  the  contestants  were  introduced   in  alphabetical  order  (Episode  11),  which  is  an  organizational  technique  used  to  avoid  the  appearance  of   preference,  special  treatment,  or  any  kind  of  rank  ordering.    

Equal  opportunity  was  also  emphasized  on  The  Voice.  The  fact  that  the  auditions  were  “blind”— that  the  coaches  could  not  see  the  contestants  until  they  turned  their  chair—implied  a  fair  and  equal  

chance  to  be  chosen  for  the  show.  Contestants  remarked  upon  this  theme  often.  According  to  the  con-­‐ testants,  the  blindness  of  the  auditions  leveled  the  playing  field  in  terms  of  appearance  and  age.  Country   singer  Kristen  Merlin,  who  looked  like  Ellen  DeGeneres  and  might  be  characterized  as  “butch,”  said,  “The   Voice  is  the  perfect  show  for  me  because  I’m  going  to  be  able  to  showcase  my  talent  before  I’m  ever   judged  by  my  looks”  (Episode  1).  Tanner  Linford,  a  short,  thin,  white,  16-­‐year-­‐old  male,  was  also  happy   to  be  able  to  be  judged  solely  for  his  singing:  “The  Voice  is  really  unique  because  they  are  not  judging   you  based  on  how  you  look  or  how  small  you  are.  I’ve  been  cut  from  a  couple  of  things  because  of  my   size,  so  this  is  a  really  cool  opportunity  for  me  to  be  judged  just  by  my  voice”  (Episode  1).  Allison  Bray,  a   16-­‐year-­‐old  white  female,  noted  that  the  coaches  couldn’t  judge  singers  based  on  age,  either:  “This   show  is  so  important  to  me  because  I  don’t  think  age  plays  a  big  role  in  this  competition.  Now  I  have  the   opportunity  to  be  recognized  specifically  for  my  singing  voice”  (Episode  3).  Tyler  Montgomery,  a  rela-­‐ tively  older  (24)  white  male,  explained  that  the  blindness  of  the  auditions  meant  that  “no  matter  how   old  you  are,  no  matter  how  banged  up  you’ve  been,  no  matter  what  kind  of  road  you’ve  come  down,   you  get  the  same  opportunity  as  everyone  else”  (Episode  5).  None  of  the  African  American  women  on   the  show  articulated  this  benefit  of  the  blind  auditions.    

The  celebrity  coaches  on  The  Voice  also  talked  about  the  equal  opportunity  that  the  blindness  of   the  auditions  provided  to  the  contestants.  Adam  Levine,  one  of  the  celebrity  coaches  and  a  pop  music   star,  made  this  claim  at  the  beginning  of  Episode  Three:  “The  only  thing  that  matters  in  the  blind  audi-­‐ tions  is  discovering  amazing  voices.  That  is  why  we  are  here.”  This  claim  was  expanded  upon  at  the  start   of  Episode  Four,  in  a  pre-­‐recorded  package.  Celebrity  coach  and  country  music  star  Blake  Shelton  told   the  camera,  “The  blind  auditions  are  about  one  thing  and  one  thing  only,  and  that  is  finding  an  amazing   voice.”  As  video  from  the  previous  episode  of  Sissaundra,  one  of  the  African  American  women  contest-­‐ ants,  was  shown  singing,  Shelton  continued:  “Every  artist  is  here  for  a  different  reason  but  they  all  have   the  same  goal.  They  want  to  win  The  Voice.”    

The  blindness  of  the  auditions  on  The  Voice  was  authenticated  by  the  reaction  of  extreme  sur-­‐ prise  from  coaches  who  did  not  turn  their  chair  until  the  contestant  was  done  singing.  This  reaction  indi-­‐ cated  that  the  way  the  contestant  sang  didn’t  match  the  coaches’’  preconceived  ideas  about  her  or  his   appearance.  This  kind  of  reaction  happened  several  times  during  the  auditions,  but  the  reaction  to  Ste-­‐ vie  Jo,  a  white  male  with  long  hair,  singing  an  Usher  song  in  a  high  voice,  is  illustrative.  This  interaction   occurred  between  Shelton  and  Levine,  who  did  not  turn  their  chairs  around,  and  Usher,  who  did.  Shel-­‐ ton:  “What?  That’s  not  who  was  singing  that!”  Levine  (singing):  “It’s  a  white  maaaaaaan!  I  was  pretty   sure  that  you  weren’t  a  white  guy,  and  you’re  a  white  guy!”  He  continued,  “That’s  a  pleasant  surprise  to   see  someone  that  is  like  the  exact  opposite  of  what  you  might  have  thought.  It  blows  away  all  pre-­‐ conceived  ideas  of  everything,  and  that’s  why  we’re  here,  and  that’s  why  we  love  music.”  Usher  chimed   in,  “I  was  really  blown  away  because  I  thought  you  were  Black,  too,”  to  which  Levine  responded,  “He   sounds  like  Usher  and  he  looks  like  Blake.”  While  this  exchange  suggests  that  the  auditions  might  be   blind,  the  fact  that  the  coaches  clearly  think  about  the  race  of  the  contestants  belies  their  claim  that   blindness  guarantees  equality.  Also,  the  blindness  valorized  here  only  begins  and  ends  with  each  con-­‐ testant’s  audition  performance.  Once  the  audition  is  over,  the  supposed  benefits  of  blindness  disappear   long  before  the  actual  competition  begins.  Being  chosen  for  one  of  the  coach’s  teams  is  only  the  start  of   the  show.  From  there,  each  contestant  is  in  full  view  of  the  coaches  and  the  audience,  which  allows  for   racism,  sexism,  and  other  forms  of  discrimination  to  factor  into  who  wins  the  competition.  

In  addition  to  the  equal  opportunity  theme,  the  contestants  on  American  Idol  were  consistently   represented  as  being  equal  in  terms  of  talent.  Starting  with  the  cut  to  the  top  30  contestants,  a  constant   theme  spoken  by  the  judges  and  Ryan  was  that  this  was  the  most  competitive  season  ever,  and  the  most   difficult  to  judge,  because  all  of  the  contestants  were  exceedingly  talented  and  deserving.  The  difficulty   for  the  judges  was  mentioned  multiple  times  every  episode,  beginning  with  the  final  cuts  to  the  Top  30.   Jennifer  Lopez  articulated  this  quite  clearly  when  explaining  the  cut  the  judges  had  to  make  to  get  down  

to  the  Top  10  final  girls:  “This  is  very  difficult  for  us  because  we  only  get  to  choose  ten  to  sing  tonight  of   the  fifteen.  We  really  believe  in  every  single  one  of  these  girls.  We  think  they’re  all  amazing.  So,  again,   another  tough  night  for  us  to  do  this”  (Episode  11).    

Another  way  that  the  presumption  of  equality  was  rendered  on  The  Voice  was  in  terms  of  the   diversity  of  musical  genres  on  the  show.  As  with  post-­‐feminism,  where  the  successes  of  feminism  and   individual  successful  women  are  referenced  to  imply  that  sexism  no  longer  exists,  the  show’s  genre  di-­‐ versity  discourse  suggests  that  equality  exists  on  the  show  because  a  diverse  group  of  musical  genres   are  represented.  The  categorization  of  contestants  by  musical  genre  was  the  most  consistently  occurring   discursive  element  of  the  Blind  Auditions.  Throughout  the  auditions,  all  but  a  few  contestants  were   placed  into  the  following  popular  musical  genres:  Country,  R&B,  Rock,  Indie,  Blues/Soul,  and  Pop.  In  Epi-­‐ sode  6,  when  each  coach  selected  the  final  member  of  his  or  her  team,  Blake  Shelton  noted,  “Team   Blake  for  Season  6  couldn’t  be  more  diverse.  I  have  R&B.  Country.  I  have  pop.  I  have  a  duo.  I  have  rock.”   When  Shakira’s  team  roster  was  full,  she  explained  that  her  team  was  “very  well-­‐rounded—it’s  multidi-­‐ mensional.  I  have  pop  singers,  I  have  R&B  singers,  and  that  was  kind  of  my  plan  this  season,  to  get  the   best  of  each  world.”  This  theme  was  extended  in  the  Best  of  the  Blind  Audition  episode,  which  showed   clips  from  the  Blind  Auditions  and  was  divided  into  segments  introducing  each  coach’s  team.  As  contest-­‐ ants  were  reintroduced  to  the  audience  as  team  members,  they  were  also  tagged  with  the  music  genre   into  which  they  fit.  For  example,  when  four  of  Blake  Shelton’s  team  members  were  featured,  Carson   introduced  them  as  “aspiring  pop  artist,”  “country  singer,”  “country  duo,”  and  “rocker.”  This  emphasis,   articulated  by  the  coaches,  on  selecting  singers  that  fit  neatly  into  specific  musical  genres  denies  and   devalues  singers  who  are  able  to  cross,  combine,  or  transcend  the  traditional  forms  of  music  and  sing-­‐ ing.  This  kind  of  border  policing  stifles  the  possibility  of  intersectional  musical  genres  and  of  the  ability  of   artists  to  cross  those  borders.  

both  shows  asserted  that  anyone,  no  matter  what,  could  win  the  contest  as  long  as  they  were  great   singers.  This  creates  the  context  for  the  rest  of  the  show,  namely,  how  the  judges  and  coaches  evaluate   contestants,  and  how  decisions  are  made  as  to  who  is  cut,  who  gets  to  compete,  and  who  ultimately   wins.  More  specifically,  the  discourse  of  equality  on  these  shows  implies  that  the  judges,  the  audience,   and  those  who  vote  for  contestants  are  essentially  blind  to  issues  of  race,  gender,  class,  and  sexuality.   All  that  matters  is  singing  talent.  The  discourse  of  equality  found  on  these  shows  is  analogous  to  the   presumed  equality  of  the  market,  where  anyone  is  able  to  compete  and  win  regardless  of  anything  out-­‐ side  of  the  market  logic.