I didn't watch the American Idol finale, but I'm interested -- surprise! -- in how it's being read by some as another red state/blue state fight, and specifically, a fight between liberal gays and conservative Christians. After all, the judges gave gay glam rocker Adam Lambert far higher marks that Christian competitor Kris Allen, but Allen ran away with the over 100 million votes cast by the national television audience.
Get Religion suggests that the MSM is missing the God angle in this story.
Mark Joseph, writing on his Fox News blog, frames Allen's victory over Lambert as a popular triumph of conservative, middle-American values. One overexcited commentator cited on a gay California-based blog likened the Idol result to the Proposition 8 victory.
Sorry, but I'm not buying any of it. I agree with Get Religion that the religion angle ought to be reported in these stories, but I believe Sarah Hepola at Salon has the best explanation:
Of all the reasons Adam Lambert might have lost the eighth season of "American Idol" --
homophobia, media overexposure, judges swooning with hyperbole, the cultural triumph of banality -- let me add this to the pile: the power of tween girls.Tween girls are the fuel of the "American Idol" mothership; they are the ones who jam up the voting lines, texting until their fingers bleed, and they are no small part of the reason 23-year-old Kris Allen -- supremely crushable, pocket-size, deeply religious, utterly unthreatening Kris Allen -- became the "American Idol" winner in the biggest upset in the show's history.
This may also suggest why it's so important for leading male movie stars to keep their homosexuality hidden, for career reasons. Is it so hard to imagine that men and women who may have no particular problem tolerating homosexuals nevertheless depend on the emotional identification with male screen heroes (for men, as action avatars, for women, as lust objects) that knowing about a male actor's homosexuality ruins the possibility of illusion for them? That would suggest that there's something more complex than flat-out homophobia going on here. I remember seeing a community theater production of "The Music Man' some years back, and the leading man was -- well, he wasn't exactly effeminate, but he was obviously gay -- and it completely ruined the illusion of heterosexual romance necessary to the play's success.
Anyway, I would bet that all the tween girls who voted for Kris Allen would have been far more likely to vote for Adam Lambert had he been less open about his sexuality -- and had he not worn heavy make-up. I mean, come on! And I don't think that's either a matter of pure homophobia, or a case of middle-America standing up for good old-fashioned Christian values.
Here's a good comparison between their two styles. Judging from the clip, Adam is clearly the more talented. I am sure I would have voted for him. But I cannot imagine a 14 year old girl voting for his Maybelline'd face over Kris Allen's traditionally masculine appearance:
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Dreher is assuming straight girls don't like gay boys.
From my experience nothing could be further from the truth.
Here's the problem with the Culture War: nobody is trying to deny the citizenship of conservative Christians (like they are of gays), we're just demanding that said conservatives share this country with everybody else who has just as much right to be here.
"Anyway, I think Michele is actually right about Kris being the more "current"-sounding artist. It's Adam who seems to be more of a throwback. Far from being "edgy," he comes off as kind of corny.
I'm also getting quite irritated with those who insist that it's absolutely clear that Adam is more talented than Kris. Kris, IMHO, had a better sense of "musicality" -- maybe it comes from playing his own instruments -- and was the better singer than Adam, in the sense of being a better interpreter of songs. Adam rarely gave me any sense that his singing was about anything more than showing off his vocal range (and yes, the "vibrato" devolved into screaming on several occasions), except perhaps when he sang "Mad World."
Exactly. I initially liked both men, BUT after awhile I noticed that Adam's performances became redundant while Kris Allen continued to surprize me with inventive arrangements, and unusual song choices, i'e., "Falling Slowly," and "Heartless," not to mention that I love his smooth beautiful voice with the little cry in it. I found myself listening to Kris Allen's performances again and again, but not so much Adam's (and out of the performances available on youtube, I much favor Adam's theaterical performances over the "rock" stuff.) For the record, I am 53 and not a christian, and I have long given up worrying about appearing "hip," and thus am free to like the music I like without peer pressure. Kris Allen is wonderfully talented and won, no doubt, on his own merit, and not because Adam haters propped him up (Adam was voted through week after week, so there was hardly a big backlash at work, IMO.)
I think if it was between Chris and Adam the first time we heard them4 sing, Adam may have won. But over the long weeks I bet there at lot of folks, like me, who just had enough of the screaming.
Infidel, I think you are not only getting into another topic you are also incorrect. No one is denied citizenship. (except maybe infidels)
Congratulation to Kris Allen for winning the American idol season 8. The American Idol winner graduates to fame and fortune at the conclusion of the show, or so it's thought. The American Idol winner automatically gets a recording contract, which may not be exactly the ticket to fortune and mountains of cash you might think. They might even need a quick payday loan at some time. According to insider info, the contracts that the Idol winners get are incredibly stingy, and show co-producer Simon Fuller (not Cowell) gets a mammoth cut from album sales, concert sales, and merchandising. Recording contracts from major labels are notorious – Aerosmith only has 50% ownership of their 70s and 80s recordings – and even huge successes need debt relief, even if they are an American Idol winner.
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