Table of Contents

Contents: Adapting Idols, Joost de Bruin and Koos Zwaan; Part I Adapting the Global Idols Format: Strategic behaviour in the international exploitation of TV formats: a case study of the Idols format, Sukhpreet Singh and Martin Kretschmer; How media system rather than culture determines national variation: Danish Idols and Australian Idol compared, Pia Majbritt Jensen; Articulations of national, regional and ethnic identities in official Idols websites, Joost de Bruin; The search for an Asian Idol: the performance of regional identity in reality television, Jinna Tay; ’Accept no limitations’: expressions of diasporic identity in Nigerian Idol, Tess Conner. Part II Politics of Identity in Idols Shows: An idol against his will? Ethnicity and cultural inclusion in Czech Search for a Superstar, Václav Å tetka; The power of imitation in Music Idol: popular music and cultural agency in post-Socialist Bulgaria, Plamena Kourtova; Does race matter to generation Y? The politics of identity in Australian Idol, Henk Huijser; Superstar and Middle Eastern political identities, Mary Ghattas; Fandom, politics and the Super Girl contest in a globalized China, Jeroen de Kloet and Stefan Landsberger. Part III Producing and Consuming Idols: Can a zero become a hero? Comparing personal characteristics of audition and live show contestants of the Dutch Idols, Koos Zwaan and Tom ter Bogt; Are you a musician? The rock ideology and the construction of authenticity on Australian Idol, Nicholas Carah; Gender performance in American Idol, Pop Idol and The X Factor, Ruth A. Deller; Watching without voting: Norwegian child audiences questioning Idols’ ethos, Vebjørg Tingstad; Our own Idols: appropriations of popular television in Dutch festivity culture, Stijn Reijnders, Gerard Rooijakkers and Liesbet van Zoonen; Appendix; Index.

About the Author

Koos Zwaan, Inholland University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands, and Joost de Bruin, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand Joost de Bruin, Koos Zwaan, Sukhpreet Singh, Martin Kretschmer, Pia Majbritt Jensen, Jinna Tay, Tess Conner, Vaclav Stetka, Plamena Kourtova, Henk Huijser, Mary Ghattas, Jeroen de Kloet, Stefan Landsberger, Tom ter Bogt, Nicholas Carah, Ruth A. Deller, Vebjorg Tingstad, Stijn Reijnders, Gerard Rooijakkers, Liesbet van Zoonen.

Reviews

'Adapting Idols is a rich and complex world tour of the Idol phenomenon in a variety of forms and across a range of topics, from fan activities in the Netherlands and China to the role of ethnicity in Australian and Czech adaptations. This collection is a valuable resource for scholars and students interested in the glocalisation of television brands, media convergence and the production of authenticity in popular media.' Bethany Klein, University of Leeds, UK 'Given the demonstrated and continuing importance of music-based reality television (think One Direction), this book is a timely and solid contribution to the topic. The chapters provide a wide range of national case studies, each tied into a broader organisational scheme that is both effective and engaging.' Charles Fairchild, University of Sydney, Australia '... a wide range of fascinating case studies, thereby showing not only the relevance of studying global television formats to grasp the complex processes of globalisation but also the richness of the material in spite of the format's rather superficial and generic character ... we can only look forward to more of such inspiring research'. Necsus, the European Journal of Media Studies