A word on Susan Boyle
You know, this whole circus has been bugging me for a few days now, and I couldn’t really put my finger on why.
Yes, ol’ girl has some pipes. Her vocals were impressive. But I can’t help but feel like the huge DEAL that’s being made about it is counterproductive.
When I first saw the video, I was horrified at the condescending way that the judges treated her — not before she sang, but after.
“Without a doubt, that was the biggest surprise I have had in 3 years of this show. Everyone was laughing at you.”
“I know that everybody was against you.”
What? What is so surprising? I didn’t know singing ability had anything to do with looks or personality.
I can’t help but reverse the situation in my head. I mean, it’s a talent competition, right? I’m sure every season a ton of young, “pretty” girls take the stage with nice voices, and they don’t get 25 million views on YouTube. Why? Because we expect them to be talented. We expect them to do well.
No one is surprised when a good looking person is successful. When pretty people get on stage and do well, we shrug and get on with our lives. But if the talented person doesn’t fit the mold of what we consider beautiful in this culture, OMG. Stop the presses. How does she do it?! It’s AMAZING! She overcame her frumpy dress and eccentric personality to somehow SING WELL.
It reeks of condescension. I can’t help but feel like we’re patting 47-year-old frumpy Susan Boyle on the head for “overcoming the odds” by being good at something even though she’s not 22 years old, blonde, 5’6”, and 120 pounds.
Why are people so surprised that she’s talented? Are pretty people the only people who are good at things?
I’m not saying it’s not inspirational. It’s wonderful to see a woman who clearly has been discriminated against (we see evidence of it in this very video) finally be recognized for something that she’s very good at. But come on, people. Acting like she’s some sort of miracle for being talented and frumpy is just … ugh.
I guess I wasn’t surprised that they treated her badly before her performance. People who aren’t traditionally “good looking” are discriminated against on these shows all the time. But the fact that the rest of the country is making such a HUGE deal about her success is what really gets to me. It represents everything that’s wrong with the way our culture differentiates between the good looking (i.e. “good”) and the “ugly.”
Good for Susan for breaking through the barrier. She deserves to finally be recognized for her talent. It’s just depressing that she’s being recognized for being “ugly” and talented rather than just talented.
