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Durkheim and American Idol: Religious?
Brittany Hale Religion 231-Crawford February 12, 2009
2 Currently, many modern cultures can be directly related to past theologians’ beliefs. Emile Durkheim is an example of a theorist whose ideas can undoubtedly be applied to popular culture. Durkheim’s definition of religion is a system of beliefs related to the sacred that unites people into a moral community. His ideas and beliefs can be used to analyze current popular culture quite well. For the purpose of this paper, Durkheim’s key notions will be used and related to the reality television show, American Idol. Through Durkheim’s fundamental beliefs, it will be shown how American Idol can be applied directly back to Durkheim. Durkheim sees the society as being sacred, so he would agree that American Idol is religious because it functions like a religion. It creates a moral community centered on the sense of the sacred and expression through collective effervescence. American Idol is a popular reality television show where contestants from all around the United States come to sing and audition for the chance to be the next “American Idol.” Typically the show travels to four or five cities and auditions countless perspective idols. The thousands that try out are slowly narrowed down to the “Top 12.” These 12 contestants sing one song every Tuesday, and then one person is voted off on Wednesday per America’s voting. The process is repeated until there is only one remaining, who is the American Idol. America gets to call in and vote for their favorite singer, in hopes their “idol” is not voted off the show. The final winner of American Idol receives one million dollars, a five-album major record deal, and a strong fanbase. American Idol is
3 so successful because the popular culture is interested in talent, fame, and reality, and American Idol encompasses all of these traits. According to Durkheim, a religion’s function is to build, stabilize, and reaffirm the collective. However, to fully comprehend what a religion does, one must understand what Durkheim is saying when he speaks of the “sacred.” The sacred is one division of the religious world. The sacred focuses on the interests and welfare of an entire group or community; the large concerns of society. With relation to American Idol, Durkheim would say that the sacred is the collection of the Top 12 contestants. The final 12 become a solid community that live and work together on a daily basis. Though singing on American Idol is an individual experience, the contestants have group activities such as vocal lessons, critiques, and are followed around by a camera throughout the duration of the show. Despite the fact that there is one winner, all the contestants must work together throughout the performances to showcase their voice. Another collective is the “American Popular Culture.” This is sacred because it is shared by millions through uniting people across race and class. The millions that share in this collective are fascinated by the values of popular culture such as beauty, talent, completeness, and uniqueness. The show is so successful because it appeals to the values that people are interested in. The sacred is a group of people that function to reaffirm the collective and that is exactly what these two groups do. The notion of collective effervescence is quite evident in the reality show. Collective effervescence occurs at ceremonies where emotional energy emerges
4 within the collective. American Idol is a great example of this because it reaffirms the group’s identity through participation in an overwhelming exciting energy. The energy of the audience and the national viewers all calling in together is such an emotional time full of energy and excitement. The fans at home participate in the emotional energy by calling in to vote, without physically being in the same building. There are millions of fans all dialing at the same time with the hope to get through and vote for their idol. This interactive experience of the whole nation voting, and the idols representing America’s opinions is very Durkheimian. He would love the fact the millions of people are all dialing at once and praying they get through to vote. One does not have to be in the same vicinity where the contestants are, you can experience this feeling at your own home. Collective effervescence occurs when the fans and contestants celebrate the moment, and become so wrapped up in singing and voting that they leave behind themselves and only care about the group for this ceremonial occasion. Durkheim’s notion of rituals applies properly into the ideas behind the American Idol show. Rituals are a way for people to renew their commitment to the community and sacred. If there were no rituals, then society would fall apart. Durkheim would see the generalized rituals being that every Tuesday night, contestants sing their chosen song, and then the following Wednesday night, one contestant is voted off the show. These two rituals are very vague and not expressive of Durkheim. However, more specific are the negative, positive, and piacular rituals. A negative ritual is very restrictive and set apart from the sacred. In relation to American Idol, this is when the contestants are only concerned with
5 their own well-being. This takes place every Wednesday night when the results of the voting arrive, and they are only hoping that their friends, rather than themselves are sent home, which leads to participating in the profane. Profane things are little matters; they reflect the day-to-day business of each individual. This negative ritual is one that very few will admit to, but occurs every week. A positive ritual requires one to enter into a scared place or time. A positive ritual would occur when the contestant is singing their song, because it is an emotional time. When that one contestant is on stage singing, that time and place becomes very sacred to the person experiencing it. Finally, piacular rituals restore the community and are usually mourning rituals. These occur when one person is voted off the show and grieve for a few days after. This is an upsetting time for the contestant voted off since they are no longer in the running to be the next American Idol, and are separated from the group, which was their identity for so long. On the other hand, the rest of the contestants become even better friends since there is one less person and are one step closer to winning American Idol. All of these rituals work to restore the collective after a negative, positive, or piacular ritual occurs. There are many prominent rituals throughout American Idol, the show is based upon rituals, and they help keep the group together. According to Durkheim, a totem is a symbol for worship and represents a collection’s uniqueness. Relating American Idol to Durkheim’s notion of totem is done a little differently than relating most other things to Durkheim’s ideas. The totem for the Top 12 is the Top 12. America chooses their totem out of the Top
6 12 contestants, and that one person represents what it means for their community to be an American Idol. The fans choose their idol and that person becomes their totem for worship, and they do so by faithfully voting every Tuesday night. America knows they must keep their idol in the running each week by voting for them. The totems are symbolically representative of the collective. Durkheim would understand the totem as not one set person or thing, because all 12 perspective idols are worshipped by America. Another piece to the totem theory is the “totemic principle.” Durkheim has defined the totemic principle as the center of rituals and beliefs, or the power within the totem. Durkheim would relate the totemic principle to the talent and fame of the idols, since the totemic principle is energy, spirit, or quality found within the totem and that is exactly what talent and fame are. The talent is the center for which the collective is centered around. If there were no talent then the show would not be successful. The talent is something that everyone wishes he or she had, but only few do, so the closest some will get to a singing talent is through their idol. Fame is what is found while one is on the show. Most everyone within a collective wish he or she was famous but only a few will attain this. Fame and talent are the force within the totem that drives the idols and makes the show successful. Although American Idol fits into the terms of collective effervescence, totems, rituals, and the sacred, there are some faults. For example, for the most part, the show focuses on the greatest welfare of the group, but since there is only one winner, there is some profane. The contestants are competing against
7 each other though they do most everything in a group, resulting in no absolute sacred since there is profane evident. In relation to the totems, there is not one totem for the show. Each idol is a totem to a different person. Also, sometimes religion is reduced to only social functions, and should not be the case. Like any argument, there are faults that must be addressed when making the connection between American Idol and Durkheim. American Idol is a current television show that an abundance of people watch and partake in, as they would any religion. From the emotional energies emerging from the fans and Top 12, different rituals, totems and symbols, American Idol proves it is religious. This interactive religious activity works to create a sense of the collective through the Top 12 and American Popular Culture. The nation votes and the idols are a representation of popular culture. American Idol is religious and sacred because the idols are our totems, chosen, by the collective to symbolize and represent the qualities we value such as talent and fame. When we celebrate through the rituals of performance and voting we experience collective effervescence and reinforcing the sacred.