The Eurovision Song Contest is a long-running annual international song competition that began in 1956. It aims to bring European countries together through music, though voting is often considered politically influenced. While intended to be non-political, relationships between countries can impact voting. It has faced criticism for being a "joke" competition with similar-sounding songs aimed at mass appeal. However, audiences still enjoy its campness and self-awareness. Presenters like Terry Wogan and Graham Norton are known for their humorous commentary of the contest.

1. Eurovision: Postmodernism

2. Eurovision Song Contest
• Created in war-torn Europe by European
Broadcasting Union (EBU) to bring countries
together
• Longest-running annual international TV song
competition
• One of the longest running TV shows in the world
• Began in 1956
• Broadcasts every year
• Audience viewing figures between 100-600
million internationally

3. Eurovision Song Contest
• 42 countries select and perform an original
song
• All countries have select ‘jurys’ of musical
professionals who rank songs and award 1-12
points in a scoring system
• Countries with the most points win…
• OR DO THEY???
• New voting system this year where jury scores
were added to audience votes 50/50

4. Eurovision Song Contest
• Long been considered ‘a joke’ competition
• Diverse supranational audience with contrasting tastes –
much of the music is geared towards ‘mass’ appeal and can
sound the same
• Voting is almost always considered corrupt (ethnic blocs
vote for each other)
• Supposed to be non-political BUT
– Judges and televoters voting based on national relationships to
other countries
– Booing of countries based on conflicts / positions on certain
policies
– Terry Wogan stepped down as presenter saying he felt the
voting was no longer fair or based on the song only
• Running orders are decided by producers and not through
randow draws – some allegations of giving highly ranked
artists bad running positions

5. Eurovision Song Contest
• General audiences and participants still believe in the
‘truth’ of the contest
• Viewers enjoy the ESC for its self-aware campness
• Terry Wogan / Graham Norton presenters in the UK –
commentaries:
– ‘See if you can watch this without being distracted by the
two idiots in the raincoats’ (on the Icelandic entry in 1999)
– ‘Who knows what hellish future lies ahead? Actually I do
because I’ve seen the rehearsals.’ (introducing the 2007
contest in Helsinki)
– ‘I love the Eurovision Song Contest and it will continue long
after I’m gone. Just please don’t ask me to take it
seriously.’ (in 2008)

6. Eurovision Song Contest –
spectacle
• Involves an aesthetic dimension
• Dramatic
• Bound up with competition
• Highly public social event
• Increasingly commercialised
• Vulgar and glitzy
• Arena of political contestation

7. Eurovision Song Contest
https://youtu.be/aMgW54HBOS0
• Parody – mimicking – affectionate fun
• Self-parody – point that originality is lost
• Pastiche – imitation of another’s style
• Homage – reference to influences
• Intertextuality – audience foreknowledge

8. Create a case study
• Create a case study of:
– a musical event
– an album / single
– a specific artist
• Identify and explain postmodern elements