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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

Pop Idol - why the all-male final?

13:56 / 03.02.02

I'm sure there must be some of you out there who, like me, have faithfully followed ITV's 'Pop Idol' from the compelling breaking-of-dreams beginning through the get-on-with-it slump in the middle to the final stages. Last night's show - in which Darius, the relentlessly cheesy/corny Housewives' Choice confection, was voted off - drew some five million telephone votes.

Which makes next week's final a bloody battle between gap-toothed Gareth the Human Puppy and cello-visaged Will (why the lo-o-ong face, Will?)

One thing which seems odd is the inevitability which which the vast number of contestants was whittled down to a final three which is all male. No-one seemed especially surprised: all the way through, the male contestants (including big-boned Rik) seemed to make more of an impact on the cultural psyche than did the females.

Why? Did the cameras (consciously or unconsciously) concentrate more on the boys? Is the whole thing driven by pre-teen girls who instinctively vote for non-threatening males? Is 'idol' status (as determined by the spending habits of pre-pubescent girls and extremely post-pubescent gay men) reserved for baby-faced men and older divas?

Kylie and Britney both succeeded in becoming single-monicker pop idols. Why haven't the girls of 'Pop Idol'?

[ 03-02-2002: Message edited by: Ganesh v4.2 ]

14:54 / 03.02.02

I've got a feeling (just don't ask me to justify it) that Pop Idol's drawn in more female viewers than male. Put the voting-off of all female contenders down to that.

14:59 / 03.02.02

So... d'you think it's likely that all such 'instant popstar' shows will favour male over female entrants?

16:05 / 03.02.02

It depends on exactly how they market it. This is, after all, one huge marketing ploy.

I've got to admit that I have been watching this regularly, but only since it went to the last six (or seven, I forget). Part of the reason has been to see if anyone truly shags it up (Rosie Ribbons last appearance being eardrum-shatteringly awful; our entire household, even the tone deaf ones, winced in pain).

My main gripe is that hardly any of the short-list have been able to infuse their performances with even the slightest hint of emotion. The best, by a long shot, was the brummie girl (Hayley?), whose last, Big Band routine was fantastic. Shockingly (but not surprisingly), it got voted worst song of the night. I can't for the life of me remember what it was. A smouldering, sexy number. That the audience liked it the least goes some way to backing up my 'female viewers' theory.

Intrigued as to the final result, though. Gareth's got the sympathy vote and looks cute, but is a complete and utter drip. Will is the stronger performer and, out of all the male contenders who made the final ten, has the best voice. Won't get the teenage vote, what with looking like Mr Ed's stunt double and all.

[ 03-02-2002: Message edited by: E. Randy Deep Joy ]

16:25 / 03.02.02

quote:Will is the stronger performer

but he's in a choose - chin situation. the choreiform movements of the right hand are extremely irritating, however. Mick Hucknall lite, vocally.

my money's still on Gareth "When the Shark Bites" Gates.

as to no females in the search-for-a-star final - put it down to the Curse of Sheena Easton...

[ 03-02-2002: Message edited by: ZoCher ]

14:12 / 04.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Ganesh v4.2:
cello-visaged Will (why the lo-o-ong face, Will?)
don't diss will! i'm sorry i know yr all going to laugh at me but i think he's a fox. he makes me feel giggly when he sings his numbers. it's like he's singing it just for me!

he is a chum of my housemate, too. he is very rich, isn't he?
to the question in hand...the two boys left are harmless looking. maybe the audiences thought that the girls were too sexual?
i am a feminist totally but i can see how the girls revealing clothes might have put some people off. i don't know who dressed the poor girls up like that.
even that doesn't make any sense to me, though, because everyone seems to dig half naked chicks on top of the pops, so i don't know.

i remember reading some interview w/ nicky
the female judge whose surname i can't remember, who was saying that more male viewers have to vote. that more women than men were calling in. but where did she get these facts from? no-one asked me whether i had a cunt or not when i called in for will.

edited to say: vote will!

[ 04-02-2002: Message edited by: suds ]

14:20 / 04.02.02

"Vampy"? I think pretty much everyone in the show, male or female, has been devoid of sexuality - cute, yeah, cut manga-cute rather than 'phwoar'-cute. Mind you, I'm hardly the target demographic.

(Actually, thirtysomething gay male... I probably am.)

They've been pretty nebulous about what, exactly, they're searching for - nothing as specific as a "great voice", great looks or indeed, a great (in a Geigeresque 'Alien' kinda way) chin - and keep burbling on about the 'X-factor'.

Makes me wonder if we expect fundamentally different qualities in our girl pop-muppets from our boy pop-muppets.

(Now, if only Will would keep his non-microphone hand still and stop masturbating the invisible giant who stands to his right when he sings...)

14:26 / 04.02.02

not sexy? are you kidding me? i'm sorry but i fancied hayley and will a bunch!

Goodness Gracious Meme

14:27 / 04.02.02

oh definitely we do. aside from the probable female/gay male projected demographic (which is so is, back to that old chestnut), I think there's probably something about the concept of 'pop idol' that genders it male. Or suggests a male object of desire/star rather than a female one?

Not quite sure why.

Idol also suggests quite an old-fashioned take ( as opposed to popstars ) on the celebrity-to-be, which might be why the less overtly sexualised contestants are doing better?

Personally i think they're both mingin', though.

[ 04-02-2002: Message edited by: Lick my plums, bitch. ]

14:32 / 04.02.02

well....maybe pete waterman and simon cowell and doctor fox are pushing their insecurities onto the boys they picked. maybe the boy finalists are all pete, simon and foxy wanted to be, and more, when they wre growing up.
paging dr. freud!

16:03 / 04.02.02

"Put yourself into a child" Legz Akimbo

12:00 / 06.02.02

Vote G-G-G-Gareth!

12:05 / 06.02.02

Bit harsh, that.

07:17 / 07.02.02

did you hear gareth on the chris moyles show? it was excruciating to listen to. the dj was trying to get gareth to be involved and in on his oh-so-ironic jokes and gareth was just not interested. very weird.
*cough* vote will!!! *cough*

The Return Of Rothkoid

07:17 / 07.02.02

From today's popbitch: quote: >> The Great Pop Idol Swindle <<
And the winner is... everyone!

Excited about who's going to win Pop Idol
and get themselves a record deal? Don't be.

Gareth has of course already been signed, and
won, - sorry, will win the competition. Simon
Cowell has also signed Will, and staff at BMG
are already talking about Will's first single,
which will be the version of Light My Fire
he sang on the show.

It gets worse - Cowell is also trying to sign
Darius, so that another record company doesn't
snap him up and use him as a spoiler against
the Will and Gareth singles.

So if the losers are actually winners, who
are the losers? All the gullible people who
donate their money by phone-voting, of course.

And the real winner is of course the sinister
Simon Cowell, whose label will own the rights
to any international spin-offs of Pop Idol. Ker-ching!

16:10 / 08.02.02

Originally posted by Sax:

Bit harsh, that.

Well, you're only saying that cos he lives up your way...

And you won't want to hear the even more offensive joke about Gareth's first single being a cover of 19 by Paul Hardcastle, then.

16:34 / 09.02.02

+

=

?

Nelson Evergreen

21:29 / 09.02.02

If the kind of horrible soft focus bilge mooted for the single is anything to go by then here's where the heartwarming spectacle stops and the dreadful reality kicks in: Shit ballads. Really, really, depressingly shit ballads. Lots of them, saturating our lovely popcharts.

The show's been a great bit of light entertainment, but as with Popstars previously, the sidelining of challenging/challenged left-field talent in favour of wholesome lowest common denominator fluff was a serious miscalculation. Imagine an alternative Hear'say made up of the kind of sweaty, tone deaf lunatics who never made it past the first audition. Now that would have been a class act.

Anyway, bravo William. There must be thousands of great songs being written every year, and presumably you've now got access to any of them. Please put your foot down and choose humanely.

10:03 / 11.02.02

i am very dorkily chuffed that will won. i am looking forward to seeing him on top of the pops!

[ 11-02-2002: Message edited by: suds ]