These comments are based on watching the one hour long version of this documentary shown as part of BBC4's 'Storyville' strand.
This documentary shines a light on the Japanese idol phenomenon; young female performers who are followed by predominantly middle aged male fans. For most of the time we follow twenty year old 'Rio' and her adoring fans. These fans seem more obsessed with their favourite idols that the teeny-bopper fans one would expect in the West; these people have money and spend the equivalent of thousands of US dollars each month going to concerts and meet and greets with their idols.
This was an interesting documentary showing a very different culture; I was aware of the idol phenomenon but didn't know much about it. I had assumed that those being followed would be a handful of major popstars but here we learn that there are thousands of such idols and they don't necessarily have recording contracts; that is something they aspire to and appear to work hard to achieve. Their ages were a real shock; Rio seemed to be one of the older ones; some were much younger and the sight of middle aged men idolising girls as young as ten seemed distinctly disturbing to western eyes. From what the men interviewed said it appeared that their adoration wasn't overtly sexual, in fact many of them seem to have deliberately eschewed traditional relationships as too much hassle. There was more than a degree of obsession though; I couldn't help thinking of the film 'Perfect Blue' as I watched some of the fans watching their idols. Overall this was an interesting insight into a very different culture that managed to be non-judgemental with those it showed us of course viewers are free to make their own judgements.
This documentary shines a light on the Japanese idol phenomenon; young female performers who are followed by predominantly middle aged male fans. For most of the time we follow twenty year old 'Rio' and her adoring fans. These fans seem more obsessed with their favourite idols that the teeny-bopper fans one would expect in the West; these people have money and spend the equivalent of thousands of US dollars each month going to concerts and meet and greets with their idols.
This was an interesting documentary showing a very different culture; I was aware of the idol phenomenon but didn't know much about it. I had assumed that those being followed would be a handful of major popstars but here we learn that there are thousands of such idols and they don't necessarily have recording contracts; that is something they aspire to and appear to work hard to achieve. Their ages were a real shock; Rio seemed to be one of the older ones; some were much younger and the sight of middle aged men idolising girls as young as ten seemed distinctly disturbing to western eyes. From what the men interviewed said it appeared that their adoration wasn't overtly sexual, in fact many of them seem to have deliberately eschewed traditional relationships as too much hassle. There was more than a degree of obsession though; I couldn't help thinking of the film 'Perfect Blue' as I watched some of the fans watching their idols. Overall this was an interesting insight into a very different culture that managed to be non-judgemental with those it showed us of course viewers are free to make their own judgements.