Video Assignment #3-Global Popular Culture
The Eurovision Song Contest.
The Eurovision Song Contest began in 1956 and is a major global event that, much like The World Cup, people in the USA generally don’t give much attention. Nations from around the globe, though primarily Europe, submit a song and its performer into a competition to determine the “best” international pop song of the year. It is like the Olympics for pop songs, except the USA participates in the Olympics.
Over the decades, several global pop stars have been born in this competition and several globally known songs as well. Celine Dion first gained significant notoriety through this contest. The 70s group called ABBA started their career through this. Måneskin, who had the hit “I’m Begging” a year or two ago, won this contest in 2021.
In 2019, comedian Will Ferrell made a movie centered around the contest called “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga.” I thought the film was very funny, but I knew what the song contest was when I saw it. A friend of mine who had no idea the contest was real turned it off before it was halfway over.
The contest was canceled in 2020 due to the virus.
The contest is culturally diverse by definition. English is not the only language in the contest. The earliest winners in the 50s and 60s were usually in French (not always from France). However the contest is not exactly global, even though participation is open globally. Eastern European countries are well represented in the contest. Many countries that were formally part of the Soviet Union did not participate when the Soviet Union existed. Israel and usually at least one other middle eastern country participates. Armenia is in it. Lebanon was in it last year or the one before. Israel has won the contest a few times since the 1970s. Ukraine won in 2022. I don’t know why no African nations are involved. I think North African countries have participated in the past, but I don’t think Nigeria or Senegal have. Im surprised to see Korea absent. I’ll assume Latin America thinks its quaint and adorable and just doesn’t care, with the song from Spain occasionally getting some airplay in Chile or Argentina.
The contest has evolved over the years to the point where the performance—the dancing, the costumes, the lighting—is just as significant as the song. Performers create videos and it has become a multi-media event.
Please watch this 20 minute video. It has short clips of all 37 entrants for 2024. The contest takes place next month from May 7th through May 11th in Sweden. It will be broadcast on the Peacock Network in the USA.
What is your overall impression of the contest? What do you notice? Have you ever heard of it before?
Is there racial and cultural diversity among the contestants? How so? Remember that this is multiethnic without question, so dont limit your thinking to simply skin color.
How is gender being presented? Do you see any themes in the presentation of gender? There is a lot one could unpack about gender and sexuality in these videos. Be sure to look at the video of the 2014 winner below.
How linguistically diverse was it?
Do all of these songs sound the same? Personally, I love this contest but I would never want to listen to most of this music. In 2024, i feel like it sounds more like average pop music than in the past. Past years, people seemed more obsessed with Operatic singing over techno beats.
Now that I’ve been following the contest for 6 or 7 years, Im starting to see trends and themes. Im curious what you see. You don’t need to look anything else up, but you are free to search for other videos or information. Please make citations if you get info from a website
These are a few more videos to look at about the contest.
Here are the winners from all the past years including 2022. Its interesting to see how fashions changed and which languages win the most. I did not count, but I think the French won more than English.
This is a video for the 2023 winner– Loreen “Tattoo”. From Sweden
This is a video for the 2022 winner,– “Stefania” by The Kalush Orchestra from Ukraine
This is a video for the 2021 winner, “Zitti E Buoni” by Måneskin from Italy
I don’t remember when I first became aware of the contest. Its quite possible I first heard of it when I saw ABBA on TV in the 70’s when I was 9 or 10. But I didn’t start to pay attention until 2014 and this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fvLtTRzdHw . this is the 2014 winner
And here is a scene from Will Ferrell parodying the contest.
@2 pages.
use the links given to you to create a 2-page response
