Class TV
The best explication of the American Idol phenom that I have yet come across was in yesterday's New York Times. I cannot watch the show--I have a low tolerance for humiliation, for myself or for other people, even if the other people have signed on willingly and seem to embrace it, so long as it comes with 15 seconds of national exposure. "But the unquenchable appeal of "the Apprentice" and "American Idol" lies at least in part in their poignancy: both series combine the preposterous feel-good optimism of "42nd Street" with the desperation of "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" The article goes on to discuss both Idol and its companion piece, The Apprentice in terms of class warfare--a model that made the penny drop for me. Apprentice is hitting this gong very hard in their promos this year, pitching the "book smart" team--the people with fancy pants education and (the subtext suggests) fancy money and fancy manners--against the "street smart" team--who are positioned to be the trailer trash who worked themselves up from the gutter and are the more virtuous for not having any of that there fancy book-larnin.'
It's red and blue by other names, is what it is. It's spinach, and I say to hell with it.
It's red and blue by other names, is what it is. It's spinach, and I say to hell with it.
posted by Madeleine Robins at 8:56 PM
3 Comments:
I hate the way we assume book smarts and street smarts (or sometimes common sense) are two different and mutually exclusive things. I hated it when I was a kid being told I had book smarts but no other kid, and I hate it all the more now that we seem to be in yet another national phase of propogating this.
I'm with you, Janni. Me, I always wanted to be smart. I sort of figured that if I was smart enough that would permit me to do anything. And the subtle (or not so subtle) dismissal of smartness--or rather, of education--irritates the hell out of me. I do not think everyone should go to college; I do not think people who don't go to college aren't smart (my brother didn't, and he's sharp as a tack, and makes far more money than I do). But nor do I think going to college somehow makes one effete or a class warrior or even stupid. Feh.
I do not think people who don't go to college aren't smart (my brother didn't, and he's sharp as a tack, and makes far more money than I do). But nor do I think going to college somehow makes one effete or a class warrior or even stupid. Feh.Nodding vigorously.
I figure, if those of us with so-called book smarts didn't also have common sense, how is it that we managed to build more or less functional lives? In my experience, doing so isn't something only those who skip school manage, any more than it is something only those who excel in school manage.
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