Saturday, October 30, 2010

A life without the X Factor

When I returned from Argentina recently, I was struck by the stark contrast between life here and life there. Nowhere was this clearer to me than in looking at the differences in terms of culture.

There are many things in Argentina which are mainstream and have mass appeal, but I still didn’t find myself met with slogans, images, videos, conversations etc. all centred around one topic. On returning to the UK, this changed: sheep, as we so often are, can find themselves blindly following something without any clue as to what our individual feelings about it are.

For me, the TV talent show The X Factor has grown and is continuing to grow increasingly out of control in its presence. I’ve decided I’ll try my level best to completely avoid the show – be it trails, news stories, photos or whatever – just to see how today’s rolling media and the like may or may not make that impossible.

Working in the media as I do will make this all the more tricky, but I still fancy the challenge. So far today, I’ve already had to report on one of the North West contestant’s bid for stardom….shortly afterwards, I nipped to Tesco to buy some bread and found myself coming face to face with a stand packed with X Factor magazines (I didn’t even know such a thing existed). Other than this, my quest for avoidance for today at least has been a success.