German Idol, "Deutshchland sucht den Superstar"

My interest in German popular culture has caused me to explore the global phenomena of American Idol. Germany has a parallel singing competition entitled, "Deutshchland sucht den Superstar". Similar to American Idol, this show has a small panel of celebrity judges that listen to the contestants and either pass or reject them to the next round. Even the judges have distinct qualities that are similar to the original American reality show. There is a mean judge, a nice judge, and a contemporary cool judge. One difference in the reality show that makes it different from American Idol is that the contestants can use portable instruments. For many of the auditions I viewed, there were a lot of contestants that performed with guitar. Another feature I noticed in viewing this show was the fact that many contestants performed American hits. One German teen, Heiko Faller, sang Justin Bieber's song, "Baby", for his audition and received a pass to the next round. Watching this reality show opened my eyed to the increased unity in our global society. Popular culture can reach the different corners of the world, and makes us as human beings more similar to each other despite the distances that separates us.