Vietnam Idol

Danielle Marie Herrera
Prof. Maira
ASA 4
4 May 2017

Long Bui's "Globalization and the Public Cartographies of Vietnam Idol" puts the reality show in the context of the American Dream and the greater context of poverty in Vietnam. I found it interesting that Bui described the show as attempting to bring Vietnam up to speed with the rest of the world, and perhaps yearning for equal treatment as other countries in that aspect, but instead, reinforced the inferiority of Vietnam. I find this can be related to the existence of Philippine spinoffs of American reality shows. The reality shows in the Philippines have lower budgets and less cinematic quality than their Western counterparts due to the Philippines' general lack of expensive equipment for entertainment. This imitation may be reinforcing the power of the U.S. by flattering it as an exceptional, imitable country rather than proving a capability of other countries to have their own version of American public television.