The title of the article says it all. If you haven't already watched the clip, it is embedded in the article. Here's what bothers me. Why is Susan Boyle an "unlikely singer"? An unlikely celebrity? Maybe. An unlikely pop star? Sure.
Now, I love Britney and her very mediocre voice as much as the next red blooded westerner, and I'm not trying to get all "oh the media is so unfair and we're all ageist and superficial, etc." I buy $25 face lotion just like the next girl and obsess over my looks just like the rest of us. (Actually, $25 is probably on the low end of the spectrum, but it's still kind of a lot.)
There's just something highly disturbing about the unquestioned notion that youth and beauty automatically mean someone is talented, and that not being young and beautiful means you are dog poo. Haven't we all known so called beautiful people who we want to spear in the eye with a fork after spending five minutes with them? Susan Boyle, even before she sang, seemed like a sweet kinda goofy lady who probably never harmed a fly and yet people were already grimacing.
There is nothing unlikely about her being a singer. Simply by looking at her, is she an unlikely neurosurgeon? An unlikely astrophysicist? An unlikely serial killer? How the hell are we supposed to know?
End rant.
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3 comments:
I wholeheartedly agree.
She's DEFINITELY an unlikely serial killer. But that's just because most are white men. ;)
Personally I think the med student from BU kind of looks like an unlikely prostitute killer...but I'm with you on the Susan Boyle thing. She was fabulous & lovely. And awkward, but a lovely kind of awkward.
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