The Susan Boyle phenomenon
Posted at 10:40 AM Apr 16, 2009
By Andrea Grimes |
This week, the UK's Herald ran an excellent opinion piece on Boyle, who walked out to eye rolls and groans from an audience and judges panel who didn't exactly see immediate star power in the learning disabled 47-year-old with the wild hair who spent her life caring for her parents. Writes the Herald's Colette Douglas Home:
"... only the pretty are expected to achieve. Not only do you have to be physically appealing to deserve fame; it seems you now have to be good-looking to merit everyday common respect. If, like Susan (and like millions more), you are plump, middle-aged and too poor or too unworldly to follow fashion or have a good hairdresser, you are a non-person. I dread to think of how Susan would have left the stage if her voice had been less than exceptional."I hope that even Simon Cowell would have been shamed if this had turned out to be some kind of William Hung-esque disaster, but as Home writes, thank god she was an exceptional singer. And yet praising her and writing editorials--however gracious--gives me a bit of the creeps, since she's still being put in the role of freak. In the Herald piece, Home articulates exactly what's rubbed me the wrong way about the whole thing:
"Susan has been forgiven her looks and been given respect because of her talent. She should always have received it because of the calibre of her character."Gawh. I need a tissue.
Comments
exactly.
thank you.
that editorial perfectly puts words to what it was that's been squicking me out about all the adulation she's getting now.
(i've got to say, though, that i teared up too. i have an old soft spot for les mis, and i couldn't imagine a more fitting singer for that song. or really, a more fitting song for the singer.)
Posted 04/16/2009 at 10:51:24 AMexactly.
thank you.
that editorial perfectly puts words to what it is that's been squicking me out about all the adulation she's getting now.
(i've got to say, though, that i teared up too. i have an old soft spot for les mis, and i couldn't imagine a more fitting singer for that song. or really, a more fitting song for the singer.)
Posted 04/16/2009 at 10:51:48 AMexactly.
thank you.
that editorial perfectly puts words to what it is that's been squicking me out about all the adulation she's getting now.
(i've got to say, though, that i teared up too. i have an old soft spot for les mis, and i couldn't imagine a more fitting singer for that song. or really, a more fitting song for the singer.)
Posted 04/16/2009 at 10:52:44 AMI have to agree with the UK Herald piece. Everyone is judged by their appearance. And I daresay that anyone who says otherwise is a hypocrite. To some degree or another in our everyday lives we judge people by how they look. Is it right? No. But that's human nature.
Posted 04/16/2009 at 12:34:50 PMHave you seen the Paul Potts clip? Brings me to tears every time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k08yxu57NA
Posted 04/16/2009 at 01:33:05 PMGAH BOB
Now I'm crying at that one, too.
Posted 04/16/2009 at 02:51:15 PMI agree with the article, and with Josie who said it was the perfect song for the perfect person. I particularly enjoyed how shocked Simon looked when she sang, and I knew she'd have a contract because you could see the pound symbols flashing in his eyes as he watched her.
The Paul Potts clip was nice, too, and I think reinforced the appearance argument because that female judge referred to him as a "lump of coal who will become a diamond" or "frog who becomes a prince."
Posted 04/17/2009 at 06:16:34 AM"thank god she was an exceptional singer."
Ah yes, thanks god! It wasn't as if the producers knew all about this woman and had a perfect little video ready to go on YouTube immediately.
Posted 04/20/2009 at 04:14:43 PM