It Brings Out That Inner Diva

Michael Hedges May 6, 2011 Follow on Twitter

We love the Eurovision Song Contest. The production is big and it consistently draws more than one hundred million viewers. And every year there’s something a little different.

Dress rehearsals are fully under way in Düsseldorf for the 2011 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. The German city was awarded the opportunity to host the big show when singer Lena Meyer-Landrut wowed the home audience last year. There are 47 nationally nominated contestants this year who, over the course of the new week (May 10-14), will compete for the grand prize.

There will be an Italian entry this year after a lapse of fourteen years. Italian public broadcaster RAI backed out in 1997 to give preference to broadcasts from the San Remo Music Festival. RAI will join public broadcasters from the UK (BBC), Germany (ARD affiliates), France (Radio France) and Spain (RTVE) as the ESC “big five” – the biggest financial contributors which do not need to face competition for the ESC finals.

Naturally, with a fifty-five year history, the Eurovision Song Contest has been the subject of deep analysis and research. Dozens of academic dissertations have picked apart every aspect. The two main themes have been East-West tensions and the queering of Eurovision.

Formed by two academics – University of London Royal Holloway lecturer in theater Karen Fricker and University of Warwick assistant professor Milija Gluhovic – is the Eurovision Research Network. It’s sponsored a series of workshops this year, which will conclude in Düsseldorf.

Fricker, Gluhovic and others have looked at the ESC as a post Cold War exercise in nation branding, noting that Serbia, Ukraine and Russia invested significantly, winning the ESC in 2004, 2007 and 2008. What appeared to some, including founding ESC sponsors faring poorly in the results, was a shift to winning contestants from Eastern Europe.  Estonia’s entry won in 2001, followed by Latvia, Turkey, Ukraine, Greece, Finland, Serbia and Russia. Contest rules were changed to include national juries in an effort to blunt the alleged voting blocks of expatriate viewers.

“It could be destabilizing to some people that the idea of European culture is satin pantsuits and guys dressed up as monster rockers and screaming fans,” said Dr. Fricker to the Wall Street Journal (March 15). Finnish hard rock band Lordi’s winning entry was said to be “a nation expressing itself” as was the cross-dressing Israeli entry in 1998. 

Exploring television talent shows generally but with an eye on the ESC is a recent Opinion Matters study conducted in several countries. A significant portion of talent show viewers (24%) would like more control over presentations, whether to change camera angle or silence the commentators. Some would like, with the push of a button, change a singer’s voice.

Home viewers are an impatient lot giving, on average, a singer about 15 seconds before grabbing the remote control, the study showed. Italians are the most impatient, 45% changing channel within a minute. Italians are also the most likely (50%) to sing along with a song and 27% of Italians use the remote control as a faux microphone.

By contrast, Scandinavian talent show viewers are far more restrained, only 16% would dare sing along. More than one in three Scandinavians (38%) say they would never change the channel once the show started. Indeed, Scandinavian viewers are most annoyed when the channel is changed, even during a commercial break, with the potential of domestic intranquility.

The Opinion Matters survey, sponsored by remote control manufacturer Logitech, was conducted in March 2011 with interviews in the UK, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Scandinavia. “It’s always interesting to understand people’s behavior in their living rooms,” said Logitech digital Home product manager Fred Boutin, in the press release.

The majority, it’s deduced, want the ESC and other TV talent shows just the way they’ve always been. Pass the popcorn.

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