"Globalization and the Public Cartographies of Vietnam Idol"

The creation of Vietnam Idol, if anything, seems less like an attempt to integrate Vietnam into the global ideas of what is popular and more of an imposition of Western ideals.  A fine line distinguishes these two, seeing that the things that are popular around the world do tend to originate from the West, aided by their large presence in the world’s social, political, and economical arena.  I interpreted this difference as letting Vietnam find its own way to incorporate aspects of global culture in a way that works for them as opposed to the forcedness of Vietnam Idol.  It’s apparent that the mannerisms and mindset of Vietnamese people are not the same as their American or British counterparts, who hail from places where Idol is popular and functioning well.  At the introduction of Vietnam Idol, Vietnam is already at a disadvantage because essentially, they are taking medicine that the West prescribes and that they do not know works for their body.  Evidently, Idol enforces the idea of the neoliberalism and the American Dream, placing stress on individuality.  While this might make sense, given that Vietnam’s reorientation towards free trade was mentioned at the beginning, thus invoking ideas of Western capitalist economy and along with it, the concept of pulling oneself up by the bootstraps, it must be remembered that poor, rural areas are still prevalent in Vietnam.  These areas are glossed over by Vietnam Idol, which did not attempt to cast for any participants around those parts; this acknowledges that the adamant push Vietnam’s technoculture towards public engagement isn’t best suited for Vietnam, since a big part of the public is still being excluded.  Furthermore, the juxtaposition of Vietnam Idol and its more popular American Idol counterpart reiterates the superiority that the West feels, because in terms of popularity and which program is doing better, Vietnam always appears to be lagging behind.