The Susan Boyle Perspective (or lack thereof)

I’m about to sit down with M to watch the final of Britain’s Got Talent and just wanted to write my thoughts on “THE SUSAN BOYLE PHENOMENON”. I haven’t actually followed the series and so have only seen clips of the lady herself sing but that doesn’t really matter as the story of the Susan Boyle Saga is the crazy attitudes of both supporters and detractors in a typical example of overreaction to a “celebrity” story in Modern Britain.

The reaction to her initial appearance on the show was obviously manipulated to play on the audience’s preconceived notions of what a pop singer should look like and, perhaps more importantly, our notion of what somebody who looks like Susan plays on modern reality talent shows. So when she opened her mouth to sing, everybody was shocked at how good she was (because as everybody knows, there is an scientifically proven correlation between vocal chords and looks).

So then Susan Boyle became some sort of inspirational elixir to the current ills of society – and that she was able to do all this in spite of her looks made her story all the more inspirational. But even in her triumph, her looks were always considered central to her being – she gained the horrifically patronising moniker “The Hairy Angel”. And stories about what would be done to “fix her up” abounded in the tabloid press.

And then the worm turned fully (as it always does when the British Tabloid Media is involved) as she was accused of a four-letter rant backstage, although this was apparently aimed at a British Tabloid Journalist (something which should be compulsory) and was subjected to scathing criticism by Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revell Horwood, who said “I think Susan Boyle sucks and I’ll tell you why – she can’t sing and that really bugs me. [She] sings as bad as she looks.” There were rumours that she might quit.

So let’s get this straight – Susan Boyle is not The Second Coming, but neither is she a talentless freak – she’s a regular woman who, from what I have heard, has a very good voice and I wish her well tonight and in the future.