Appearance and Perception
Thanks to the sort of world we live in – of Twitter, Facebook and Youtube – Susan Boyle within a matter of days and even hours became on of the most famous people in the world and also challenges us about our preconceptions about appearance. At birth she experienced oxygen deprivation which left her with some partial brain damage and learning disabilities. After school she enrolled in some government training schemes and on the death of her father she spent the rest of her time looking after her mother who died in 2007. However one of her passions was singing and she became a member of the local church choir.
Finally she decided to audition of a TV talent competition “Britain’s Got Talent” and appeared on the show a few days ago. Walking on the stage produced laughter from the audience for she looked dumpy and far from attractive and her answers when questioned by the judges, particularly when she confessed that she had never had a boyfriend and had never been kissed, produced a great deal of laughter from the audience. When asked her ambition she said it was to be a professional single like Elaine Paige – one of the top stars of English musical theatre.
Then Susan began to sing and the audience went wild – not with laughter but cheering such an exceptional performance. In just 24 hours the You-tube clip of her performance was seen by 4.5 million people. As of 15.00 on 20 April over 87 million people had viewed the clip. She was being followed by Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore and 4393 others on Twitter.
You can see the Youtube clip at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxPZh4AnWyk
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By Gloria, April 20, 2009 @ 4:35 pm
The point is, though, will this sudden fame be enough to make her dream come true? Will she in fact become a popular,appreciated singer? And even if she actually manages to get some success, how long will that actually last? And most importantly, will she be able to “cope” with it outside of her choir?
And last, it’s true that she makes us all think that we should not focus on appearances as much as we do, but we all still seem to focus on her appearances quite a lot.
Well, good luck to her!
By F. David Peat, April 20, 2009 @ 8:53 pm
Good points. I think it is a very complex story about many different things. In part its because of her looks that people are amazed at her talent. In part it is the expectation that not only singers but even cellists and violinists, if female, should look physically attractive so they can be marketed by agents and record companies.
In part it is about people wanting a simple story, that she went from nothing to great fame, when in fact it turns out to be more subtle than this – she had performed once at the Edinburgh Festival.
In part its about the power of modern communications. In the three of four hours since I posted the item five more million people had seen her on Youtube!!