The Singapore Identity
~ Journey to Finding our Roots ~
A closer look at...
Variety - Singapore Idol
Singapore Idol belongs to the ‘post-documentary’ reality television genre, developed in many ways as a response to looming worldwide economic crisis in the broadcast television industry, which started to face increased competition from other media around the turn of the millennium. Such shows according to Dann (2004) has since been “a lesson in how to make money”. The profit oriented points include how votes were made based on phone calls and the wide array of product placement (7-eleven), merchandising and product sponsorship. It also markets new pop music products surrounding the newly installed Idols, such as records, concert tours, fan memorabilia.
Of all these reality television shows, SIngapore Idol was the most highly-rated. Former MediaCorp CEO Ernest Wong describes it as “a great success beyond our expectations. It was a phenomenon. It showed Singapore has talent. And it bounded the nation in a very entertaining way.”
The Singapore Idol is also an interesting example of ideological forces at work. Embedded in Singapore Idol were themes, morals, narratives, characterization, styles and tropes that are conducive to and supportive of capitalist practices and values as they have been understood and internalized in Singapore. For example, the place of ‘meritocracy’ and prospects of upward social mobility in Singapore’s public discourse, key ideas that make modest conditions of work acceptable even to those who will have nothing to gain by them, were affirmed when Singapore Idol audiences witnessed how ordinary people could become celebrities and ‘national heroes’ through hard work and talent.
Singapore Idol was also mimetic in its representation of democratic practice and political participation in SIngapore. Every week, the host (Gurmit Singh) preceded his announcement of the results with “Singapore has voted” and in the finale Taufik was “the people’s choice.” Responding to the host’s urgent calls to vote for their favorite Idols, Singaporeans viewers were interpellated into democratic subjects in the telephone calls that they paid to make.
SG Idol’s mimicry of democratic practice also served to reinforce government warnings against the wholesale adoption of “Western liberal democracy” which could turn out arbitrary and irrational outcomes based on populist sentiment. The early elimination of forerunner Jessica Thyidor has often been cited as an example of the irrational outcome that ‘too much’ democracy can produce. However, it has also been argued that insufficient participation was what led to such a perverse outcome.
