But I can't help wondering, what would have been the reaction if Susan Boyle couldn't sing?
The same reaction as when beautiful people can't sing? American Idol, at least, holds attractive but deluded non-singers in the same contempt as the ugly non-singers.
Really, the article is dumb. It asks, "What would happen to an ugly person who represented that she was a great singer but wasn't?" Since the answer is clear, the question is pointless.
I think the point is the reaction she got before she started singing: the smirks, the eye-rolls... why was all that justified, exactly? What had she done, exactly, to deserve the scorn and derision at that point?
My comment to the audience would be: sure, if she sings awfully, boo her then if you must, but before she sings a note, show the woman some goddamn respect.
What had she done, exactly, to deserve the scorn and derision at that point?
The stage is reserved for the beautiful, you don't go up there if you are not pretty.
We are forced to make an exception for the particularly talented, but anyone who is talented will have been recognized previously by a pretty person and it is expected that they will come grant them dispensation.
The unspoken message of this whole episode is that, since Susan Boyle has a wonderful talent, we were wrong to judge her based on her looks and demeanor. Meaning what? That if she couldn't sing so well, we were correct to judge her on that basis?
That wasn't how I saw it at all.
I detest Simon Cowell and the whole humiliating-people-as-entertainment thing that seems to be so popular lately, so I never watch Pop/American Idol (or any of his other shows), but I have seen enough clips to feel that I have a pretty clear idea of his modus operandi.
Perhaps it's because I loathe him so much, but I saw this video as a well-deserved smack down of Mr. Cowell (and, to a lesser extent, the other judges and the audience) for his cruel, condescending attitude.
It was obvious, from the start (as he rolled his eyes and smirked, while asking her about herself), that he was preparing to tear this poor woman down, with his usual brand of assholery, but was caught completely off-guard by her talent.
I don't think that's supposed to mean that it would've been okay to pre-judge her, if she hadn't been talented, just that her talent derailed his plans to hurt as demean her (as he clearly would've tried to do, had she not been so talented).
To me it was a condemnation of the way he treats contestants. Although it's certainly possible that I'm seeing it that way, at least in part, because I want it to be that way.
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Date: 2009-04-17 03:17 pm (UTC)Lee.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-04-17 04:01 pm (UTC)The same reaction as when beautiful people can't sing? American Idol, at least, holds attractive but deluded non-singers in the same contempt as the ugly non-singers.
Really, the article is dumb. It asks, "What would happen to an ugly person who represented that she was a great singer but wasn't?" Since the answer is clear, the question is pointless.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-04-17 04:15 pm (UTC)My comment to the audience would be: sure, if she sings awfully, boo her then if you must, but before she sings a note, show the woman some goddamn respect.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-04-17 04:22 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-04-17 04:38 pm (UTC)The stage is reserved for the beautiful, you don't go up there if you are not pretty.
We are forced to make an exception for the particularly talented, but anyone who is talented will have been recognized previously by a pretty person and it is expected that they will come grant them dispensation.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-04-17 05:06 pm (UTC)That wasn't how I saw it at all.
I detest Simon Cowell and the whole humiliating-people-as-entertainment thing that seems to be so popular lately, so I never watch Pop/American Idol (or any of his other shows), but I have seen enough clips to feel that I have a pretty clear idea of his modus operandi.
Perhaps it's because I loathe him so much, but I saw this video as a well-deserved smack down of Mr. Cowell (and, to a lesser extent, the other judges and the audience) for his cruel, condescending attitude.
It was obvious, from the start (as he rolled his eyes and smirked, while asking her about herself), that he was preparing to tear this poor woman down, with his usual brand of assholery, but was caught completely off-guard by her talent.
I don't think that's supposed to mean that it would've been okay to pre-judge her, if she hadn't been talented, just that her talent derailed his plans to hurt as demean her (as he clearly would've tried to do, had she not been so talented).
To me it was a condemnation of the way he treats contestants. Although it's certainly possible that I'm seeing it that way, at least in part, because I want it to be that way.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-04-18 01:29 am (UTC)