American Idol Websites

TOP 5 ANALYSIS WEBSITES:

Blog: Popwatch – American Idol
http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/american_idol/index.html
This is a constantly updated blog that analyzes various aspects of American Idol each week. The top story right now is "Can't We Just Focus on Antonella Barba's Singing?" which discusses the rumors and pictures circulating about the Jersey Girl, and why this relates to her performance on Idol.


AfterEllen.com - Are Americans Ready for "Idol's" Briana?
http://www.afterellen.com/archive/ellen/People/briana.html
Discussing Season 3’s “Every bit the butch lesbian” Briana, lesbian representation on television, predicting the public's problems with her sexual orientation, and how her appearance on Idol is bringing discussions on gender and appearance into average American homes.

Blog: Grade This – American Idol gender bias
http://campusprogress.org/features/226/grade-this--april-8-2005
Article discusses how Fox holds an anti-women gender bias, based on Frenchie Davis getting kicked off after revealing that she had appeared topless on a website, but Scott Savol was allowed to stay after revealing that he had assaulted and threatened the mother of his son.

Associatedcontent.com – American Idol: The Search for Homophobia
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/23279/american_idol_the_search_for_homophobia.html
A gay author discusses homophobia on American Idol, including the “outing” of certain contestants, speculation about others, and the homophobic banter between Ryan Seacrest and Simon Cowell.

A Fat Activist in Defense of American Idol's Simon Cowell
http://www.fullliving.com/simon.html
A defense of Simon Cowell’s comment to a contestant that she should “lose some weight.” The author relates this back to America’s idealization of the extremely thin.



ADDITIONAL SITES:

Blog: Chronicles of Marnia by the American Idol Insider Blogger
http://myidol.americanidol.com/blogs/MarnieSl

Popculturejunkies.com: American Idol
http://popculturejunkies.com/category/american-idol/
A blog that focuses on several aspects of American Idol, including some of the contestants and “the Look.”

Idol-mania: American Idol Fan Site
http://www.idol-mania.com/american-idol-fan/
The ultimate fan site of American Idol; this will be a great place to analyze what the fans are thinking.


Rottentomatoes.com – American Idol Season VI Thread http://www.rottentomatoes.com/vine/showthread.php?t=530491&page=6 This will be a great site for analysis because you see all viewer comments on who they are rooting for a why, and within the first few posts I saw, there was a comment about how one guy is “rooting for that Shakira lookalike because [he wants to] bang her.” Great opportunities for gender stereotype analysis.

Homophobia and American Idol
http://top40.about.com/b/a/207730.htm

Gay Group Questions “American Idol” Judges
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10994783/

Television Without Pity: American Idol
http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/articles/category_1187.html

How Homophobic is American Idol?
http://www.hecklerspray.com/how-homophobic-is-american-idol/20062068.php

Blog: Althouse – American Idol
http://althouse.blogspot.com/search?q=american+idol

IM Expands the American Idol Experience
http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/7462.asp

Blog: Mercury News – Ron Kitagawa blogs on American Idol
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/?s=ron+kitagawa+american+idol




There will be plenty more of these sites to come once I find more time to search the web. Enjoy!
-Amanda