Eye of the beholder
Susan Boyle's dumbfounding performance on a British talent show left Ariana Melamed wondering if we are so bound by certain ideals of beauty that we can't listen to anyone who doesn’t measure up
Listening to Susan Boyle for the third time, I thought about some of the world's greatest singers, who could never have won Britain's Got Talent, or any other singing event involving television. Mercedes Sosa, for example. Or Ella Fitzgerald. Or Maria Calas.
When you think about it, these great singers would not be the only ones to end up an audition's anecdote. Two of the Beatles – if judged by the criteria common on such shows – would be deemed unfit for the screen.
Susan Boyle was blessed with an angelic voice and an unattractive physical appearance. The unemployed, 47-year-old woman from Scotland told the judges that she lives alone, with only her cat to keep her company and that she has never been kissed. She took the stage wearing the wrong dress and with clearly disheveled eyebrows. And she's 47. By God, how dare she want to sing?
Instant stardom. Boyle (Photo: AP)
The clear amazement on the judges' faces, be it spontaneous or not, mirrored the audience's thoughts when Boyle took the stage. And then she began singing and a hush swept through the hall. The rest, as they say, is history – or hysteria, as noted by the millions of television stations broadcasting the clip and the tens of millions Youtube viewings.
The titillating effect
To try and fathom the hysteria, one has to explore the rigid ideal of aesthetics television enforces on the Western world and try to understand what it has done to us as human beings. Beforehand, however, one must understand that even the Nazis did not go as far as imposing such a strict norm of appearance on members of the supreme race.
The acceptable television aesthetic is multinational and knows no boundaries. It demands a woman have a Barbie physique, be very young – or at least appear to be very young by the grace of plastic surgery – and exude false sexuality and the promise of seduction; and all that before she even opens her mouth to speak, let alone sing.
Talent shows, regardless of whether Simon Cowell is heading their judging panel, have made it so that if a woman wants to sing, she must first titillate the audience to some extant, preferably a pornographic one.
Talent shows have much more in common with Fashion TV than they do with quality music – that much we know. Susan Boyle was on her way to becoming yet another joke until she opened her mouth. But a joke is unlikely to score such ratings, which leads me to believe something else happened here.
The plausible stereotype
When television stations around the world began broadcasting Boyle's clip they gave their viewers a chance to identify with the unavoidable chuckle her appearance evokes in such a context, followed by the immediate change of heart and a chance to wonder – should they choose to – just how much of the crazed aesthetic ideal they subscribe to.After all, there is much more to this than Boyle's clear incompatibility with the expected, plausible stereotype; it is about that fact that we – seasoned television consumers – find it impossible to believe that someone who looks like that can sing. That is because we do not get to see singers that look like her on TV and because she really does have the one of the best voices ever heard on a talent show.
Just listen (Photo: AP)
Surf the web – you can find her mesmerizing rendition of Cry Me a River on Youtube. The recording in a decade old and there too, you cannot see her, only hear her voice.
The aesthetics' ideal which causes us to giggle at Boyle before finding ourselves embarrassed is a dangerous social evil, preying not only on the singers on television, but also on its viewers.
It is dangerous because most people do not look like models, and because we are gradually loosing the ability to believe that those who do not fit the proverbial bill have the right to say or do anything meaningful.
Is it really "unbelievable" how wonderful she can sing? Why should it be unbelievable? Because years and years of brainwashing have left us with only a narrow set of physical features deemed "worthy," or indicative of any kind of talent.
Call me an optimist, but Susan Boyle's video may be the beginning of a shift in the right direction, one that respects people and does not discriminate against them based on appearance.
Obviously, this shift is meant for those who value human dignity above the size of one's waistline, and for those who truly, truly can listen to a great voice.
